MEAT+POULTRY - June 2015 - 70

INGREDIENT ISSUES

"Ingredient
suppliers
must partner
to help meat
processors
with their
daily
challenges."

whereas Listeria is often the main concern in
the RTE products."  

CAREFUL CONSIDERATION
There are several considerations when choosing
food safety ingredients. This includes regulatory
approval through the US Dept. of Agriculture
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). 
"But even if FSIS approves an ingredient,
the consuming public may not consider
the ingredient to be acceptable," Wyatt
says. "Chemical preservatives are slowly
losing favor by the industry due to consumer
objections, so the use of natural or clean-label
alternatives continues to grow."
In addition to regulatory and labeling
considerations, when working with food safety
ingredients, processors should consider ease
of use, efficacy against target microorganisms,
impact of processing on the ingredient,
interaction with other components of the
protein matrix, organoleptic effects and, of

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course, economics. Formulators should also
determine the target shelf-life and factor in
packaging conditions.
"Once these parameters are understood,
the most effective food safety ingredient can
be chosen, whether it be liquid or dry or maybe
even a combination of multiple ingredients,"
Schwartz says. For example, a naturally cured
hot dog would have different food safety
parameters than a frozen beef patty.

UNDERSTANDING ORGANIC ACIDS
Organic acids and their salts are the drivers
behind many food safety ingredients, in
particular those used to control for product
adulteration from Listeria.
The level of effectiveness of organic acids
is determined by the amount of undissociated
acid that penetrates the bacteria cell wall
and disrupts its physiology. Research shows
that organic acids vary in effectiveness, with
propionates being much more effective than
lactates. Effectiveness further
varies by pH and bacterial strain.
"Lactic acid is widely used to
control pathogens on raw meat
carcasses before processing,"
Rourke says.
For RTE meat and poultry,
lactates and diacetates have
historically been considered the
industry standard. Recognizing
that propionic acid is a timetested antimicrobial ingredient
used in various Food & Drug
Administration (FDA)-regulated
food products, Kemin petitioned
FSIS to amend the Code of Federal
Regulations to list liquid sodium
propionate as an acceptable
antimicrobial agent for use in RTE
meat and poultry products in 2010.
The regulations were amended and
now processors have another food
safety ingredient option.
Prior to this amendment,
lactates and diacetates were the
only approved antimicrobials
for RTE meat and poultry. While
studies have verified that these
additives are useful, consistent
performance and effectiveness
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