Processors Get to the Meat of the Matter with Protein

A lot of flavor, especially savory and umami resides in fat. IDF also has a shelf-stable chicken fat that is light yellow and available with natural antioxidants, typically rosemary-derived varieties. The company uses no artificial ingredients or chemical antioxidants and only minimal processing. Applications include wet and dry soup and broth formulations, soup bases, sauces, gravies, stuffing, marinades and flavorants, as well as seasoning for rice, pasta and ramen-type noodle cups. Or, they can be applied to pot pies and similar finished products or in breading, batter, coating, stuffing and marinade formulations.

Salt has been the primary meat flavor enhancer ever since cavemen chased down their kill in a dried up sea bed and noted what a finer flavor the prey had. However, and in spite of the growing recognition that dietary sodium only impacts a small percentage of the population, the demand for low-sodium products is still high enough that processors are looking for enhancers and reducers for their new lines.

Natural, non-sodium flavor enhancers designed specifically for meat applications and heightened umami and kokomi characteristics are being derived from plant extracts. LycoRed Inc. (www.lycored.com), Beersheva, Israel, developed its Sante brand from tomatoes to act as a highly effective flavorant/salt reducer. It's composed mostly of glutamic acid, amino acids and maltodextrins and is an off-white soluble powder. It also is available in liquid form in several concentrations.

Soy has amazing versatility for taking on almost any texture as an excellent analog of meat, poultry or fish. In addition to acting as a high-protein extender, soy also is a flavor enhancer with a centuries-old track record at boosting umami qualities. Amino acids -- in the ideal amounts and ratios -- are critical to the umami sensation that makes foods more savory and satisfying, according to Magda Dziembowski, foodservice coordinator, and Taku Otsuka, senior manager of technical support at Kikkoman USA Inc. (www.kikkomanusa.com),Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.

Above Sea Level

Barramundi—a sea bass-like fish with a clean flavor and meaty texture, is a true fish of the future. Australis Aquaculture (www.thebetterfish.com), Turners Falls, Mass., is a vanguard of a coming trend in aquatic protein, addressing the two huge yet often conflicting concerns with seafood, that wild-caught is depleting the sources far faster than they can be replenished and the aquacultured product is weakening the species while polluting the environment.

Australis raises its popular fish in the world's largest and most ecologically friendly indoor systems. Using giant, 8,000-gallon tanks, with waters, temperatures and natural feed that replicates the fish's natural habitat, the company supplies an ecologically friendly, ultra-high quality product that is completely free of hormones, antibiotics and colorants —not to mention mercury, PCB's and other contaminants.

"As much as sugar molecules interact with taste receptors to generate sweetness, glutamate salts of glutamic acid trip the taste receptors that generate umami," explains Otsuka.

"Fermented foods like naturally brewed soy sauce contain the right quantities of amino acids in the right proportions -- glutamic acid being among the most predominant -- to act as natural flavor potentiators and umami contributors."

The team notes also that glutamic acid appears to work synergistically with salt to "produce an exponential effect that is greater than the sum of its parts." This means that, while still a sodium-based product, these extra compounds in brewed soy sauces could, in formulation, help to slightly reduce overall sodium content.

Soy sauce also provides a variety of benefits for stabilizing and preserving meat and poultry such as bacon, beef, chicken, jerky and other cured meats, add Dziembowski and Otsuka. Soy sauce products also add some deeper color notes, enhance preservatives, balance sweet and smoke flavors and help blend the flavors of spices added to meats. The ancient use of brewed soy sauce for curing meats and poultry is becoming more popular among U.S. chefs due to these complexities and attributes.

Stay fresh

For companies using meat as part of the chain toward a finished product, contamination and oxidation can be a challenge, especially with ground products with a huge increase in surface area open to exposure. This challenge can be addressed through the use of certain natural ingredient systems such as rosemary extracts.

PL Thomas Inc. (www.plthomas.com), Morristown, N.J., offers Slovenia-based Vitiva Ltd.'s line of natural and healthy rosemary extracts for the use in meat products. As alternatives to synthetics, the rosemary extracts protect the meat fractions by inhibiting rancidity from oxidation of fats.

"Rosemary extract solutions work to prevent or delay any undesirable flavor, color and taste changes caused by oxidation processes that take place in food, while improving shelflife and overall stability," remarks Ohad Cohen, Vitiva's CEO. Vitiva's oxidation management solution systems include its Vivox Aquarox, Inolens and Synerox product lines. All are 100 percent natural, certified kosher and can be labeled as "spice extract" or "natural flavor."

How Now, Ground Cow?

No food ingredient finds itself at the point where formulation and food safety converge as strongly as animal protein, especially the highly processed stuff such as ground beef. The nation did not need the "pink slime" uproar to make it wary of anything other than whole-muscle meat.

What seems a constant stream of recalls and scandals has been the smoking gun in the meat industry's own hand. Just in the past year, Dale T. Smith and Sons Meat Packing Co. recalled 38,200 lbs. of beef products, Cargill recalled 29,339 lbs. of ground beef, and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. voluntarily recalled more than 130,000 lbs. of ground beef after an Ohio family became ill following a meal including the beef in question. And who can forget the Hallmark meat scandal of a few years ago?

While these companies are not alone by a long shot, they're the most visible because they process huge amounts of animal protein products.

According to Mintel Group, most consumers will positively react to organic, ecofriendly, and animal welfare-related labels on their products. Other surveys have shown that, even in tough economic times, consumers are willing to spend extra hard-earned dollars on social and ecological value-added products. This is why sources of humanely raised meat and poultry have seen demand often outpace supply. One example is Niman Ranch Inc. (www.nimanranch.com), Alameda, Calif., a collective of ranchers and farmers throughout the country providing humanely raised, cruelty-free meats and poultry.

Importantly, the trend is leap-frogging, having jumped from the home table and upscale restaurants to larger chains and key suppliers to the foodservice industry. Bon Appetit Management Co., Palo Alto, Calif., a national institutional catering company with hundreds of locations across America, established a "humanely raised ground beef only" rule in effect as of last month. The beef will have to be certified by at least one of the four independent animal welfare organizations, something the company had already instituted for a third of the more than 1 million pounds ground beef it already uses annually. The company had already made the switch to cage-free eggs and sustainable seafood.

This follows moves by the trio of restaurant giants Burger King Corp., McDonald's Corp. and Wendy's Co. in similar directions, toward shunning crate-raised animals and animal products. For food processors involved in the world of animal protein, kindness will be an ingredient of major concern as they compete in the coming years.