Meat oxidation is a constant challenge to food manufacturers and Janice Johannes spoke to Sharon Bolel from Sharon Bolel Marketing about trials that could prevent meat oxidation.
Oxidation in meat products is a constant challenge to food manufacturers. The consequences of oxidation are degradation of flavour, loss of colour and texture, degradation of nutritional properties and shorter shelf life – all contributing to consumer rejection and economic losses for the meat processor. Added to the challenge is growing consumer demand for natural products.
Owing to the fact that oxidation in meat products is a constant challenge to food manufacturers, Naturex, leading global natural ingredients manufacturer and solely represented in South Africa by Sharon Bolel Chemical Marketing, is conducting ongoing trials in conjunction with meat processors on applications in the meat industry for its highly effective antioxidant, StabilEnhance, a range of rosemary extracts.
‘Consistency is a key requirement for the success of any commercial antioxidant,’ says Sharon Bolel of Sharon Bolel Chemical Marketing, ‘and it’s one of the features of the rosemary extracts.’
She explains that carnosic acid is a potent antioxidant from the oil-soluble fraction of rosemary, outperforming other phenolic diterpenes such as carnosol or rosmanol. Rosmarinic acid, on the other hand, is a potent water-soluble antioxidant compound from rosemary, making it highly effective in dairy-type products, which are high in fat content.
‘Naturex uses both carnosic and rosmarinic acids as qualitative tracers to guarantee the consistency of the antioxidant properties in rosemary extracts,’ says Bolel StabilEnhance is available in water- and oil-soluble variants (WSR and OSR) and enables formulators to go the natural route without compromising on oxidative stability. It is also cost-effective with low usage levels.
‘A trial that contributed to Pizza Hut’s launch of its all-natural pepperoni pizza was conducted to determine the appropriate level that a rosemary extract standardised to carnosic acid imparts similar oxidative stability as a combination of phenolic compounds BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), and citric acid (each used at 30ppm), in all natural pepperoni without adversely affecting the sensory attributes,’ says Bolel.
She explained that colour stability was evaluated with a Hunter Chromometer. Results showed 0.05% StabilEnhance OSR 20 provides stability similar to the BHA/ BHT/citric acid combination, and when used at 0.07% and 0.09%, the colour stability was even better.
‘Lipid oxidation was monitored using the TBARS method. Results showed StabilEnhance OSR 20 used at 0.05% provides an oxidative stability similar to the BHA/ BHT/citric acid combination over at least 130 days at 2.7 degrees celcius,’says Bolel.
Another trial using StabilEnhance OSR was conducted on chicken fat. ‘Poultry fat tends to have a high content of unsaturated fatty acids that are extremely sensitive to oxidation,’ says Bolel. The recent study investigated the effect of StabilEnhance OSR on chicken fat compared with BHA and BHT,’ says Bolel.
Sharon Bolel Chemical Marketing has extensive trial data at its disposal from Naturex, which is available to formulators on request.
