A process for preparing pepperoni, includes the steps of preparing the meat mixture by grinding and mixing to specification. The sausage is stuffed into casings or is extruded into sheet form for fermentation and cooking, following cooling and slicing or dicing. The resulting product is dried in a perforated drum dryer where it is exposed to a relatively warm forced air stream which dries and also assists in conveying the product through the dryer. The dried sausage is then typically passed to a chiller or freezer.