Meat + Poultry - October 2009 - 74

SHELF-LIFE

such as uncured poultry, are more
susceptible to off-fl avors caused by
non-meat ingredients. As such, the
antimicrobial levels used in these
products are less than in other RTE
meat products. Hence, the resulting shelf-life is less."
PURAC's most recent product
line is called PuraQ Verdad, which
consists of clean-label alternatives
that aid in shelf-life extension and
food safety. The PuraQ Verdad line
contains three products, NV10,
NV15 and NV55. NV10 is cultured
corn sugar and is typically used for
shelf-life extension of fresh-meat
products. NV15 is also cultured
corn sugar but is blended with vinegar to provide Listeria control for
cured RTE items. NV55 is a blend
of cultured sugar and vinegar and
is the most potent bacteriostatic
ingredient in the PURAC product
line. It can inhibit the growth of
Listeria for 90-plus days in uncured
turkey products. The company's
NV55 product does not have the
same f lavor impact as other antimicrobial blends.
"I do believe there will be increased activity in shelf-life extension projects," Veasey says. "As
global trade continues to grow,
there is an increasing demand from
overseas markets for U.S. meat and
poultry products. In order to meet
these demands, U.S. processors
must increase product shelf-life, especially for refrigerated products."

Meeting demand
Most current customers of World
Technology Ingredients Inc., Jefferson, Ga., want the ability to
promote extended shelf-life products, says Robert Brooks, former
technical specialist for WTI. "As
companies have grown their distribution, longer product shelf-life
has become necessary to facilitate
expanded logistics and storage requirements," he adds.
Brooks feels there is a danger

of extending shelf-life too far. "In
many cases, shelf-life analyses
only consider microbial growth in
the determination of a product's
stated shelf-life," he says. "However, enzymatic deterioration of
the muscle or the development of
rancid or off-f lavors may significantly affect a product's shelf-life,
but may not be detected when only
testing for microbial growth. Even
if the product is still considered
safe or wholesome, from a quality
perspective, a processor's objective
must be to provide a product that
is of the same quality near the end
of its shelf-life as it was initially."

"As global trade
continues to
grow, there is an
increasing demand
from overseas
markets for U.S.
meat and poultry
products."
One major challenge for ingredient suppliers is maintaining pace
with a moving target, Brooks says.
"Bacteria are constantly evolving to adapt to their environment,
and as such antimicrobial ingredients must evolve as well," he adds.
"The bacteria that do not evolve are
eliminated from the system, but are
typically replaced by a more tolerant species."
WTI's Ional Plus and Ional LC
have proven their ability to stand the
test of time, Brooks says. "These ingredients have provided processors
the ability to extend shelf-life and
food safety for nearly a decade," he
adds. "The MOstatin line of products were added to provide processors of natural products a means of
providing products with shelf-life
similar to that of conventional products while maintaining a consumerfriendly label declaration."

74 * Meat&Poultry * October 2009 * www.MeatPoultry.com

Natural shelf-life
extenders
Although BindMax Proteins, New
Berlin, Wis., does not market ingredients specifically to extend shelflife, Rick Cassidy, vice president of
product development, has developed
all-natural shelf-life extenders made
from salt and herbal extracts "that
work," he says.
"Products that contain enough
oregano oil, clove oil or garlic to
kill bacteria, usually change the
fl avor profi le of the meat product,"
he adds. "Also, it is extremely expensive to get university test data
that verifies the effectiveness of the
natural herbal blends."
For fresh, refrigerated meat and
poultry products, the shelf-life critical control point is controlling microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, yeast,
mold, etc.), Cassidy says. "The oldest and most common ingredient
used is salt," he adds. "Salt can be
used in conjunction with ingredients
like sodium or potassium lactate, and
sodium diacetate to control organisms like Listeria, E. Coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, etc. For cured
meat products, sodium nitrite adds
a secondary level of protection, especially for the deadly food poisoning
caused by Clostridium botulinum."
Meat and poultry processors that
comply with U.S. Dept. of Agriculture natural or organic product
claims are not allowed to use lactates, diacetates or nitrites. Alternatives to these traditional ingredients include: apple-cider vinegar,
lemon juice, oregano oil, rosemary
extract, garlic, cultured-celery extract, green-tea extract and lacticacid starter cultures, along with
either salt or sea salt to slow down
bacterial growth.
Regarding frozen meat products,
bacteria are not normally the limiting factor on shelf-life, Cassidy says.
"Oxidative rancidity of fat usually
limits shelf-life in a freezer," he adds.
"Items like raw, frozen pork sausage

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Meat + Poultry - October 2009

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