Keeping Ready-To-Eat Prepared Refrigerated Foods and Entrees Fresh and Safe

Recent food trends indicate consumers want freshly prepared and less processed foods with clean labels. For manufacturers and food retailers, distributing fresh refrigerated foods require additional protection from spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. Beyond the normal hurdles of a cooking step,lower pH,reduction of moisture, and competitive exclusion of unwanted microorganisms, food companies are investing or treating their prepared foods with HPP (High Pressure Pasteurization). Although the HPP process is very effective, it is very expensive (25 to 30 cents per pound) and is commonly used on many RTE (Ready-to-eat) foods like deli meat sandwich slices as a key Listeria and spoilage hurdle. In addition, HPP processing can negatively affect the color and texture of some foods, such as ground beef.

As an alternative to HPP, food developers and processors are considering cleaner labelled alternatives to synthetic preservatives by using lactic bacteria metabolites(commonly called “fermentates’) as additional hurdles to growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. During their growth,lactic acid bacteria in the presence of a carbohydrate source like sugar(dextrose) or starch, produces metabolites,including organic acids, alcohols, bacteriocins,enzymes and various other compounds which inhibit the growth of unwanted microbes. These metabolite mixtures(fermentates) can vary in the culturing organism used and the fermentation conditions and thereby provide different protective qualities. For example, Propionibacteria strains can produce propionic acid and acetic acid as some of their protective metabolites, which are effective inhibitors of yeast and mold growth in bread. In this case the favored product is called MicroGARD 910,a cultured wheat starch product.

Similiarly, a DuPont Nutrition and Health fermentate, MicroGARD 730 is made by fermenting dextrose with specific LAB (lactic acid bacteria) strains and inhibits the growth of Gram positive spoilage organisms as well as Listeria monocytogenes. Availiable in (CO) Certified Organic and approved for use in Canada, MicroGARD 730 recommended usage level varies from in freshly prepared and refrigerated foods like soups,salads,dips and entrees. These fermentate mixtures are recommended at levels of 0.5 to 1.5% dependent on the initial food product quality, pH,and water activity.

For a dairy-based products, MicroGARD 430 is a “cultured non-fat dry milk”  controls unwanted yeast and molds and bacterial strains which would shorten shelf life quality.

Contact your area’s SPI Group sales manager with additional information about these or other clean-labelled ingredients or call our office @(510) 351-8012.