ABSTRACT The consumption of meat and meat products can pose consumers into risk due to the presence of biological hazards that can cause foodborne diseases. Thus, this study aimed to compare the microbiological quality of illegal and inspected salami sold in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. For this purpose, 80 salami samples (40 illegal and 40 inspected) were purchased and their microbiological quality was assessed according to the protocol established by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. All samples were considered as acceptable for consumption according to the Brazilian law. However, the samples of illegal salami were significantly higher contaminated with bacteria belonging to the genus Staphylococcus (p = 0.002) and had a higher trend to be contaminated with total coliforms (p = 0.08) and thermotolerant ones (p = 0.07) compared to inspected salami. Salmonella spp. and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus were not detected. In conclusion, although all samples were considered as safe for consumption, illegal salami had a worse microbiological quality when compared to inspected ones.