Applications to Meat Products Preservation

Meat is one of the most perishable foods due to its susceptibility to microbial and oxidative spoilage. Raw meat itself is often associated with a variety of bacteria, including Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli, but commodities derived from pork, beef and chicken have also been identified as important sources of a variety of spoilage microorganisms. For example, eating hamburger patties sickened more than 700 people. Aspergillus and Penicillium species isolated from dried bacon, dry-smoked meat products, and canned poultry and beef. Aspergillus basilica has been detected on the surface of salami, other processed meat products. These bacteria not only cause food spoilage, but also produce toxic substances that affect human health. Therefore, the current food industry urgently needs new preservation technologies to improve the quality of meat products, inhibit spoilage microorganisms, and extend the shelf life.

Preservation of Different Meat Products

Although meat itself is free of microorganisms, it is an extremely perishable commodity because spoilage microorganisms can contaminate meat products through various stages of processing and production. In order to improve the biosafety and commercial value of meat products, a variety of emerging food preservation methods have been applied.

Fresh Meat Products

Fresh meat products include beef, pork, chicken, etc. In the absence of microorganisms, meat may also deteriorate due to proteolysis, fat decomposition, and oxidation. At present, some researchers have successfully extended the shelf life of fresh meat products by adding sodium lactate. Treatment of refrigerated mutton with a compound formula containing potassium sorbate, sodium acetate, sodium citrate, sodium lactate and sodium chloride significantly improved its storage quality.

Bacon Products

For longer storage and unique flavor, people invented bacon. The processing technology of each country is different, but in general, smoked and air-dried are used. However, it will still deteriorate during long-term storage. Many preservation methods are also used for bacon products. The latest discovery is that the delivery of clove essential oil via cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks (β-CD-MOFs) microencapsulation significantly enhances the preservation effect of bacon products.

Fig.1 Mechanism of microencapsulated delivery of CEO for preservation of bacon. (Wang, et al., 2023)

Sausages

Sausages contain at least 50% more meat, fat, collagen casings and other additives. Generally, sulfite is used to inhibit microbial corruption of raw sausages, but people are skeptical about the safety of sulfite. Therefore, green and safe biological preservation methods are increasingly used for sausages preservation. For example, the chicken sausage added with mango peel extract in the current study has significantly improved its lipid oxidation stability, antioxidant activity, phenol content, overall color and DPPH activity.

Meat Patties

Chopping meat into meat patties is a common reason to enhance lipid oxidation and microbial growth, which is due to the destruction of muscle membrane integrity and increased surface area exposure leading to more contact with microorganisms. Therefore, it is more necessary to apply safe and efficient food preservation methods to prevent meat cake from corruption. In addition to adding some natural antibacterial and antioxidant substances to the meat pie, some studies have used essential oil/protein edible composite film to keep the beef pie fresh, reducing the total number of bacteria and the production of volatile substances, and extending the shelf life.

In addition to the meat products mentioned above, other different types of products such as canned meat products, dried meat, dried meat and other ready to eat products will also be applied to a variety of food preservation methods in production and processing. The traditional physical and chemical methods can no longer meet the development needs of the current food industry, so the development of new, safe and efficient biological preservation technology has great prospects.

Aprofood is committed to developing a variety of biological preservation technologies and providing comprehensive food preservation solutions for customers around the world. If you are interested in food preservation projects, please contact us for the best solution!

References

1. Wang, Y., Du, Y. T., Xue, W. Y., Wang, L., Li, R., Jiang, Z. T., Tang, S. H., & Tan, J. (2023). Enhanced preservation effects of clove (Syzygium aromaticum) essential oil on the processing of Chinese bacon (preserved meat products) by beta cyclodextrin metal organic frameworks (β-CD-MOFs). Meat science, 195, 108998.
2. Jing Qian, J. Qian, Ying Zhao, Y. Zhao, Longfei Yan, L. Yan, Ji Luo, J. Luo, Wenjing Yan, W. Yan, & Jianhao Zhang, J. Zhang. (2022). Improving the lipid oxidation of beef patties by plasma-modified essential oil/protein edible composite films. LWT, 154, 112662.