Meat + Poultry - June 2006 - 37

Listeria

the growth inhibitor is something that
consumers associate with the product
not tasting right."
The component Marsden refers to is
diacetate, which is generally combined
with lactate or citric acid to complete a
growth inhibitor. "The problem is that
in most cases the usage levels are so
high it disrupts the flavor profile of the
product," he says.
Rick Hull, vice president of technology and business development at World
Technology Ingredients Inc., Jefferson,
Ga., notes, "All bacteriostats have some
impact on the flavor profile."
However, today's processors can
achieve the efficacy desired without
the undesirable flavors, according to the
companies supplying growth inhibitors
to the industry.
Most of the time processors can counter any flavor effects by adjusting salt,
dextrose and seasoning levels, according to Robin Peterson, senior market development specialist with Purac America, Inc., Lincolnshire, Ill. "Process
improvements by Purac including enhanced filtration, the addition of flavor
neutralizers and higher concentration of
product are all beneficial in reaching the
most desired flavor," she says.
The primary issue is to use the minimum inhibitory concentration required
to achieve the desired affect, Hull says.
WTI's buffered citrate-based products
are effective at much lower usage levels
than alternative technologies to achieve
degree of inhibition, he says. "Less is
definitely much better in terms of negatively affecting an overall acceptability/
performance of a food product."
Wilke International has been able to
address flavor issues by making a higher quality product, according to Reising.
It makes a pharmaceutical quality product for food applications and is the only
U.S. company making lactate using the
same process as injectable lactate, he
points out. "Our products are manufactured to pharmaceutical standards in a
pharmaceutical manufacturing facility," he says. "We use some proprietary
40

MEAT&POULTRY

June 2006

standards that are unique to the pharma
industry to improve flavor."
Other companies are adding additives and trying to change products
specifications from industry standard
to compensate for flavor issues, Reising
notes. "We have (addressed flavor issues) without changing product specs,"
he says. "We've done it without adding
any significant cost and without changing ingredient statements or labeling
requirements."
Wilke International's NuLac Ultra
products have been available for approximately two years, and flavor issues

F.S.I.S. technician using computer-assisted
methods to record growth of Listeria
monocytogenes on ready-to eat meat
products. (Photo courtesy of U.S.D.A.)

were one of the key reasons behind their
development, Reising says. However,
while it has focused a lot of its attention
to its lactate products, Wilke has also
looked at "what we thought at the time
was some very promising technology
from Europe." However, while the technology worked in the lab it failed field
testing, Reising says. He says the company is still planning to do more work
with the product to overcome some of
the hurdles it presents.

Other challenges
Purac, whose latest offerings include
Purasal Opti-Form powder, which is a
combination of powdered lactate and
diacetate, is constantly re-evaluating
the needs of food safety programs to

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provide processors the highest quality
and trusted ingredient solutions, says
Peterson. "Purac has also introduced
a new line of lactate ingredients and
blends called Purasal Plus, with a higher concentration of potassium lactate is
30 percent more concentrated than the
industry standard for potassium lactate," she says.
Processors do not want the antimicrobials to detract from product processing. They have to address some of the
challenges presented by these ingredients, Peterson says. "Color, flavor and
solubility are all factors to take in to
account when choosing growth inhibitors," she says.
Some of the inhibitors can have a
negative impact on yield and purge, Reising says. Wilke has had some significant improvement when using its Ultra product with a particular phosphate
versus a standard competitive lactate/
diacetate product and using the same
phosphate, he says. At this point, the
work it has done is on whole muscle and
chopped and formed product; however,
he says it is in the process of studying
emulsion products.
"Conservatively, we have 1.75 to 2
percent yield improvements, using Ultra versus standard competitive lactate/
diacetate blends," Reising says. "We
have had reports from customers using
blends that are even better than that."
Consumers do not like to read ingredient labels that read like chemical statements, Hull says, so WTI has
recently introduced MOstatins, an allnatural line of microbial statins. These
clean label, consumer friendly ingredient systems feature ingredients, which
"consumers can relate to and fi nd in
their kitchens," he says.
Another challenge for processors is
marinade/brine solubility, according
to Hull. In some cases there is not sufficient water to adequately keep ingredients dissolved, he points out. "If an
ingredient does not stay dissolved in the
brine or causes other ingredients to fall
out, then it is difficult to ensure that the

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Meat + Poultry - June 2006

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