Basic knowledge of meat ingredients

Since ancient times, the additives used in traditional Chinese meat products (generally referred to as seasonings) are nothing more than red yeast rice, wine, sugar, nitrate salt and various spices. Until modern times, with the frequent exchanges between China and the West, more and more Western-style meat products were introduced into China. Foreign advanced meat ingredients are gradually becoming popular in China. As early as the Second World War, the canned meat represented by steamed, ham and luncheon meat until the early 1990s was still the mainstream of the meat industry in China. At that time, the additives were nothing but sodium nitrite, sodium tripolyphosphate and vitamins. C and pepper, jade fruit powder, etc. In addition to a slightly different form of these products, the flavor is basically the same. In the mid-nineties, it was a turning point in the development of China's meat products. Chinese new products are constantly changing, and Western-style products are changing with each passing day. These changes are inseparable from the development of food additives. From the early 1980s to the present, the large-scale industrial production equipment for meat products has not changed much, but the variety of meat food samples has undergone earth-shaking changes, which further demonstrates that the development of meat food ingredients is a key factor in the progress of the meat food industry. .

1. Moisture retaining agent - provides a fresh and juicy taste to meat products

As a moisture retaining agent, phosphate is developed from a single sodium tripolyphosphate to a complex phosphate composed of sodium pyrophosphate and sodium hexametaphosphate and other phosphates, which greatly improves the water retention of meat products; The effect of pH reconciliation is such that the same amount of addition has less effect on the taste of the meat. With the intervention of some advanced molecular composite phosphates and potassium salts, the water retention and processing properties of the composite phosphates are getting better and better. The application of compound phosphate in the processing of western ham and enema makes the meat tender and taste good, and the slicing and yield are greatly improved.

2, antiseptic preservatives - to ensure the safety of meat products in circulation

The toxic effect of Botox, a common pathogen in meat products, is very large, because the nutrients of meat products are high, and other harmful bacteria are also easy to breed, so the preservation of meat products is essential. In the past, high-temperature products could achieve a shelf life of more than two years without adding any preservatives. With the continuous improvement of the cold chain of meat processing to circulation, the low-temperature meat products with fresh taste and pure flavor are more and more abundant. More varieties of preservatives provide guarantee for the circulation of low-temperature products, with sodium lactate, sorbic acid and lactic acid chain balls. The antiseptic and fresh-keeping structure, such as bacteriocin, not only provides safety for the circulation of low-temperature meat products, but also these preservatives are safe and healthy.

3, hair coloring agent and hair coloring auxiliaries - add luster to meat products

Traditional meat processing, because the use of hair coloring agents and hair coloring auxiliaries is rarely used, making meat products dull. In the processing of new meat products, the meat is first subjected to a pickling process (including dry pickling, wet pickling and injection rolling). When marinating, it is necessary to add some kind of meat coloring agent and coloring auxiliaries. These coloring agents can interact with meat protein to make the cured meat have a good ruddy color, and the chromophoric auxiliary can promote the color presentation. It works well and has a strong protective effect on color. The most commonly used in the processing of meat products are nitrates and nitrites as color formers, L-ascorbic acid, sodium L-ascorbate, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide as coloring aids. On the basis of vitamin C, nitrite is compounded with various color-protecting agents including niacin and nicotinamide, making the low-temperature meat products more and more safe and the colors more and more vivid.

4, excipients - keep meat food in good shape and taste

Excipients are substances that modify and stabilize the physical or tissue state of a meat product. Excipients conventionally used are starch, agar, edible gelatin, poultry, skim milk powder and soy protein. The new excipients include emulsifiers such as cheese protein and lecithin, and polysaccharide gums such as carrageenan, gellan gum, xanthan gum and konjac gum. They not only improve the morphology of meat products, but also have an effect of inhibiting starch retrogradation and emulsification of fat, so that meat products can maintain elasticity and good taste for a long time without oiling and dehydration.

5, food coloring - more pigments enrich the color of meat food '

Monascus pigment is a natural pigment used in the processing of meat products. In the past, only its raw materials - red yeast rice or red yeast rice powder. Their defects are inconvenient to use, uneven coloring, and the formation of red spots in the filling product, which is obviously unrealistic. In recent years, due to the appearance of water-soluble monascus pigment, the water solubility of Monascus pigment has been improved, so that it has good dispersibility in the marinade and the injection solution, is easy to formulate, and is stable to heat. The results of the study showed that the addition of monascus pigment to the pickled products reduced the use of nitrite by 60%, while its sensory properties and storability were not affected. The appearance of more natural pigments makes the color matching of meat products more accurate and natural, such as sorghum red, carmine red pigment and red yeast red, which makes the color of meat products more vivid and vivid. Chili red makes the appearance of the barbecue more natural and bright, and attracts appetite. Temptation red was allowed to be used in ham processing in 2003, so that the thermal stability of synthetic pigments can be exerted, and the produced ham is more red and charming.

6. Seasonings and flavors - flavoring meat products

Natural spices give the product a certain flavor and also suppress and correct bad odors. China has the largest variety of spices and the longest use time. For many years, most meat processors have used powders and water for meat processing in accordance with ancient methods of use. The water is scented, the aromatic substances are volatile, and the water itself cannot extract many organic ingredients of the spices. Adding ground powder spices has many drawbacks: the flavor is greatly lost due to high temperature grinding; the flavor distribution is uneven; the appearance of black spots will affect the appearance color of the product; because natural spices are susceptible to insects and bacteria, it is often the cause of meat product corruption. At present, the spices sold on the market have a wide variety, and the standards are difficult to unify. These are very unfavorable for the standardization of meat products. In recent years, various spice extracts, high concentrates, and resin essential oils have emerged, which provide a basis for the standardization of meat flavoring.

The emergence of new seasonings represented by nucleotide-based odorants and meat flavors has undoubtedly injected new vitality into the processing of meat products. The meat flavors with the main varieties of paste, powder and essential oil are already near. An indispensable means of flavoring for the production of meat in the year. Many new products can win the market, and its secret is to distribute it with the perfect flavoring. The vegetarian meat products provided by vegetarians are inseparable from the flavor and flavor of meat flavors.