Among the many roles that functional proteins play in meat processing, increased yield is perhaps the most directly tangible source of profit. Consumer demands lean towards quality, affordable, clean label options -which is why premium ingredients are the best solution all round.
Transcript of the video
"Today's topic will focus on yield improvement in the meat industry. Essentially, it's about getting the most out of what you already have. We have invited meat application specialist, Carsten Doktor, to help us explain how functional protein solutions can contribute to a substantial yield improvement in meat products.
Welcome, Carsten.
Before getting into the details, I'd like to know what type of yield improvement we can expect to achieve when using functional protein solutions in meat recipes. Carsten, could you list the areas where protein solutions contribute to increase yield?
Yes. The first one I could mention is meat extension. And, by meat extension I mean that you can grow the overall volume of the meat products and you can do this by adding our solution of proteins together with water into the meat block. You can do it by injection, you do it by tumbling, or also in the bowl chopper or in the mixer. You can add the water and the protein to get yeah... more meat, you can say. Also reduction of purge is one way to improve the yield. You can also reduce the cooking loss by adding it could be our plasma as an example. And also in the final meat product, we can help you with the improved slicing yield.
Producers of sliced meat products can also use our proteins to enhance the slicing yield. How is that? Well, this is because our proteins will improve the general texture. And this is due to the firmness and also elasticity. So, it is easier to produce thin slices. And also you will increase the number of acceptable slices. Which again leads us to less waste and increased yield.
You mentioned purge reduction as one of the means to yield optimization. I believe, at least I have tried several times going to the supermarket and leaning over the counter of meat to pick up a package just to discover that the juices have seeped out into the packaging. Well, to be honest, I don't feel like bringing that home to my family. Please explain how proteins can reduce the purge.
Well, our proteins bind water and are able to form a gel. And this is the reason for why we can control the purge, because of the ability to gel with our proteins. So, adding these functional proteins will help you retain the water, but not only the added water, but also the meat juices inside the meat
You mentioned that yield can be optimized through injection of brines consisting of water and protein. How much can be injected and where are the limits, if any?
Yeah, it's a really good question. And I will also say it depends of which area of the world we are in. What is okay to do, what is acceptable to do? What you ask me is there any limit. And I will say no, actually not. We can inject as much as a customer wants. It is not only related to our proteins, it's also related to the equipment they are using, the meat quality. So, there are many factors that can affect how much can we inject. But in general, I would say no, there are no limits.
How do you handle cooking loss in extended products?
Well, cooking losses is all about water management. We need to control the water during the cooking process. So, by a combination of functional ingredients, this could be our collagen-based proteins and our plasma proteins, we can make sure that you will obtain a high final yield and low cooking losses. In some cases, could be for really high extended products. Sometimes we need to combine it also with other functional ingredients to get the right bite and also the high final yield.
I'd like to thank Carsten, for taking us through some of the main attributes contributing to increased yields. Using functional protein solution in meat applications can definitely help improve the yields.
And more importantly, it also help optimize the cost of use.
What we learned today is that yield improvement relates to meat extension, purge reduction and slicing yields.
Thank you for joining us today. Be sure to tune in the next time where we will focus on another challenge within the meat and food processing industry."
