Improved taste and color with new meat culture from Chr. Hansen

A new ingredient solution improves taste, appearance and process economy for producers of sausages and cooked meat.

Global natural ingredients supplier Chr. Hansen launches a new meat culture for cooked ham. The new culture Bactoferm® CS-300 is also suitable for other cured and cooked meats as well as bacon and fermented sausages like salami.

“The main advantage of the two selected bacterial strains used in this blend is their ability to provide a mild, round taste and the typical color of cooked cured meat products. The culture simply has a high nitrate reductase activity and provides the desired color much faster than market standard,” says John Jensen, Marketing Director, Chr. Hansen.

Meeting health trend spot on

All over the world the pressure from the consumers in terms of demanding healthy, natural products with no artificial additives keeps increasing, and the supermarkets want to offer products that meet that trend.

According to the daily online news service Foodnavigator, data provided to FoodNavigator.com by market researcher Mintel indicates an increased consumer focus on ‘all things natural’ and ‘no additives/preservatives’.

A review of all new food and beverage product launches in Europe over the past year (a total of 88,364) has revealed that these priorities have jumped into the top 10 list of product claims, joining the likes of ‘low fat’ and ‘low sugar’, which have remained popular over the past five years.

The changes observed in the top ten list over the past five years are a direct response of food companies to changes in consumer priorities and purchasing habits, and that puts demands on the ingredients suppliers for innovative solutions – an area in which Chr. Hansen excels.

“With our new culture meat producers can add value to their product by the use of a natural ingredient and at the same time ensure a short ingredient list. This is without compromising on the quality and with an attractive appearance of the sausage or ham. On top it even provides the “home-made” taste experience,” explains John Jensen.

Easy and cost-effective in production

Not only consumers benefit from the new invention from Chr. Hansen. The new culture, which is an enhanced version of the already successfully selling Bactoferm® CS-299, brings several advantages to the producer with no change of process.

“A great benefit is the possibility to add this culture together with our vegetable powder blends, which are all-natural products ensuring high product safety and enhanced freshness during shelf-life,” says John Jensen.

Meat cultures – good taste made better

At the upcoming FIE event in November in Frankfurt, Germany, Chr. Hansen will showcase how we develop and produce meat cultures that provide optimum flavor development, visual appearance and at the same time deliver a fast and consistent fermentation. The result is meat products with better taste, texture and visual appeal, produced in less time.