15.04.2011

"Food additives in production of sausages and pates" – "Meat Business", May 2011

Food additives in production of sausages and pates

Strict requirements for use of food additives in the meat-processing industry do not allow manufacturers to use potent additives. Same antioxidants, which slow down processes that cause spoilage of fat, can not fully fulfill the role of additives. What's to be done?

According to experts of the Technology Trade company, at present more than 30 kinds of additives are used in the food industry. The most common are salts (compounds of sodium and potassium with chlorine). The second most popular group is antibiotics such as nisin, pimaricin, nipamycin, and others. The third group consists of potassium and calcium sulfate compounds (potassium pyrosulfate, calcium sulfate, sodium hydrosulfite), which, besides the role of additives, also serve as antioxidants. The fourth group consists of compounds of sorbic and benzoic acids (calcium sorbate, potassium benzoate). The fifth group includes compounds of food acids (malic, lactic, acetic). All these groups of additives do not have harmful effects onto human body, which has been confirmed by many leading universities in the world, – experts say.

There is also a classification of additives depending on the way they are added to the product: for application of the shell on the surface or directly into minced meat. In this case, there are universal additives that can be used in production of sausages and pates, and in composition of brine preparations for production of whole-muscle delicacies, and for processing of shells, for example, natural intestinal.

Stabilization of blood and blood plasma

In connection with increase of capacity for slaughter by many producers of meat products and primary processing of livestock at their production sites, they are interested in the question: What kinds of ingredients are most effective for stabilizing blood and plasma?

Answering this question, Mr. Serhii Strashchenko, the Chief Engineer technologist of the Technology Trade company notes that trisubstituted potassium or sodium citrate and sodium dihydropyrophosphate are mainly used for stabilization of blood and blood plasma in the meat-processing industry. "Peculiarities of their application are that first two products are highly soluble not only in aqueous solutions, but also in complex protein systems, such as blood and blood plasma. Average consumption of such products is 8-12 g per 1 liter, but due to the fact that they are very expensive, phosphate derivatives (sodium or potassium pyrophosphate) are used at the rate of 4-6 g per 1 liter of brine."

These products are identically introduced into a solution, blood or plasma is added, defibrillation occurs (i.e., separation of fibrin fibers from the blood), in addition, all products interfere with the rapid coagulation of blood, which contributes to a more complete way of its processing.

Ingredients of the phosphate group were very widely used for stabilization of blood. "For stabilization of blood (preventing coagulation), meat processors most often used sodium phosphate (E 450, 451, 452), because they have sufficient efficiency and have a relatively low cost. As a rule, sodium triphosphate (E 451) is used. It is introduced into the blood vessel at the beginning of collection and is periodically mixed during the process for better dissolution" – says Mr. V. Severin.

COMMENTARY OF THE SPECIALIST

 Serhii Strashchenko, the Chief Engineer technologist of the Technology Trade company:

"Staff of the Technology Trade company together with Aromadon LLC (Russia) and the SFINC company (Belgium) developed two additives: Kutter Don 6 (TM  Aromadon) and Foodsafety Total (TM Sfinc). Both products were created on the basis of combinations of acetates, diacetates and antibiotics. The combination of these additives allows not only to influence the traditional microflora inherent in meat raw materials, but also to bacteria of the species Bacillus Mesentericus, which are always present in bulk ingredients. The dosage of this additive ranges from 0.5-1.5 g per 1 kg of minced meat, in addition, it is used in brine preparations where it performs an additional role of color stabilizer.

A 9% solution of this additive treats any intestinal membrane, which prevents it from premature spoilage, appearance of mold on the surface. In addition, the shell treated with these additives stabilizes the color of loaf surfaces after heat treatment. Practical use of these additives was confirmed by production tests at leading Ukrainian enterprises.

The multi-profile additive Kutter Don 5, which removes the smell inherent in refrigeration chambers, also accelerates the ripening process of meat raw materials, and when processing intestinal raw materials it removes the smell and taste of the raw material in the final product, especially for beef intestinal raw material. It also removes the white coating from the surface of intestine cover and neutralizes the effect of sedimentation in formulations with a lot of fatty raw materials."