Chr. Hansen says that its new protective meat culture SafePro ImPorous targets the part of a 20 million tons cooked meat segment that experiences quality issues in terms of formation of holes in cooked ham or cooked whole muscle products. The holes/pores are mostly caused, said the company, by spoilage bacteria which produce gas as part of their metabolism.
“Pore formation is observed from time to time, and the cause of these pores has been a puzzle to the industry,” said John Jensen, marketing director, meat cultures at Chr. Hansen. “But Chr. Hansen set out to investigate if certain bacteria can be the culprit and that has been confirmed through a collaboration with Hohenheim University in Stuttgart, Germany.”
Good manufacturing practice and high quality raw materials can remedy the situation to some extent, according to the company, but Chr. Hansen says that SafePro ImPorous enables meat producers to not only minimise the pore formation with no change in process – the improved quality of cooked whole-muscle products also leads to reduced scrapping (or re-processing).
Chr. Hansen believes it can also increase consumers’ positive buying decisions.
“Taste and appearance are crucial when consumers decide to buy a particular product,” said Jensen. “At first the appearance is very important, but if the taste is not as expected consumers will not buy again.”
At triangle-tests carried out at the university in Stuttgart, hams treated with SafePro ImPorous were apparently preferred (88% positive buying decision) over the non-treated product (20% positive buying decision).
Chr. Hansen is launching the new product globally, although Central and Eastern Europe are initially considered to be the main markets. “We are in no doubt that this will increase our sales and allow us to penetrate new market segments,” concluded Jensen.
