Extending meat product shelf life naturally: an alternative way to fight food waste
New acerola & onion blend offers shelf life boost for meat products & preparations
Avignon, 29 April 2015. As consumers are increasingly focused on what goes into their food, clean label and naturalness are no longer just a trend but a well-established industry norm. But the quest for simpler ingredient lists sometimes leads to higher turnover rates for food products. While we are struggling to figure out how to feed the planet, we currently waste about 40% of the entire food supply (US data), a cause for serious concern.
This is particularly true for the meat & poultry category, for which “natural” expectations are among the strongest. New product launches with “all natural” or “no additives, no preservatives” claims have increased tenfold over the last 10 years. Consumers mostly base their meat purchasing decisions on the product’s color. A “healthy red”, indicator of freshness & wholesomeness, is key to success on the supermarket shelves, whereas discolored meat often gets discounted or goes to waste even though it is still safe to eat.
A natural and effective solution to preserve color in meat preparations
Naturex launches Xtrablend® OA, a 100% natural solution to increase color stability by preventing color degradation in chilled products. Thanks to the synergistic blend of two natural compounds, acerola standardized in ascorbic acid and onion standardized in polyphenols, this new solution provides perfect color protection without impacting the product’s overall taste. In addition to improving color stability, Xtrablend® OA is also a powerful antioxidant. In a comparative test on refrigerated pork sausages, natural Xtrablend® OA showed results equivalent to conventional BHA/BHT antioxidants, helping the sausages to keep an appealing color and a very low oxidation rate until the end of their shelf life.
Meeting the transparency demand
On many mature markets, consumption of meat & poultry products is rather flat and is even decreasing in some areas. To achieve better results, meat processors must differentiate themselves by having their products stand out from the crowd. Xtrablend® OA can be labelled as “acerola powder and onion extract”, thus enabling the claim “no additives” to be used on the ingredients list.
“As calls for transparency are growing louder, this friendly labelling and natural positioning is a critical point of differentiation from the competition. Xtrablend®OA is a very effective tool to help food manufacturers meet consumer expectations for convenient and healthy products, ” says Catherine Bayard, Category Manager at Naturex.
About Naturex
Naturex sources, manufactures and markets natural specialty ingredients for the food, health and cosmetic industries. As the Natural Maker, the company actively supports the global shift to natural by directly addressing key consumer expectations through an offer built on two main focus areas: My Natural Food and My Natural Selfcare.Naturex’s portfolio includes colors, antioxidants, specialty fruits & vegetables, phytoactives, and numerous other plant-based natural ingredients, designed to help its customers create healthy, authentic and effective products.
The Group’s strong commitment to sustainability, continuous innovation process, and the talent of its people are at the heart of its success.
Headquartered in Avignon, France, Naturex has experienced steadily-increasing growth throughout the last 20 years. The group posted €397.8 million in sales in 2015 and employs 1,700 people worldwide. Naturex is listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment B – Index: Euronext Next 150, Enternext CAC PEA-PME 150, CAC Small & Mid, CAC Small, Gaïa - Ticker: NRX - Reuters: NATU.PA - Bloomberg: NRX:FP - DR SYMBOL: NTUXY
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