NaturCEASE Dry is a clean-label combination of buffered vinegar and natural plant extracts developed to keep processed meat products safe and fresh.

"Meat spoilage can be divided into two criteria: oxidative rancidity and microbial spoilage. Both have a sensory impact and an impact on colour, but, more importantly, microbial contamination affects meat safety," said Anja Verbiest, Customer Laboratory Services and Quality Assurance Manager, Kemin Food Technologies – EMEA. 

NaturCEASE Dry combines multiple benefits into one blend. The one-stop solution controls spoilage bacteria while maintaining the bright red colour and fresh flavour of processed meat products. 

"Our NaturCEASE Dry solution offers a total freshness package. Its user-friendly for customers and provides the needed convenience they seek," said Kelly De Vadder, Marketing Manager, Kemin Food Technologies – EMEA.

Consumers today are demanding natural food products without artificial ingredients. The meat industry is facing this trend as retailers push for cleaner, clearer and simpler labels. With NaturCEASE Dry, meat manufacturers can better meet this growing demand for clean-label ingredients and transparency. 

Mincing of meat speeds up quality deterioration. This is due to the increased surface area and microbial contamination caused by grinding. In the meat industry, antioxidants such as ascorbic acid (E300) are used to delay lipid oxidation, thereby delaying the development of off-flavours and improve colour stability. To ensure products stay fresh and safe to consume, antimicrobials can be used to inhibit growth of microorganisms. Commonly used synthetic antimicrobials are sodium lactate (E325) and sodium acetate (E262(i)). 

However, the use of natural and label friendly food ingredients has become more preferred by consumers. Some natural plant extracts (e.g. natural rosemary extract and green tea extract) have strong antioxidant properties. Others, like acerola extracts, a natural source of vitamin C, also exhibit excellent colour stabilising properties. In addition, Buffered Vinegar Dry has shown to have a microbial inhibitory effect. Both Buffered Vinegar Dry and natural plant extracts are label friendly alternatives to synthetic ingredients. 

Processed meat manufacturers and spice blenders prefer ready-made blends with multiple benefits that are natural and clean label one stop solutions. Hence, the positive effects of natural plant extracts (green tea, rosemary and acerola extract) and Buffered Vinegar Dry were combined in 1 clean label blend, NaturCEASE Dry food safety solution with antioxidant properties. 

While rosemary and green tea extract act as free radical scavengers, acerola extract has multiple modes of action (e.g. oxygen scavenger, reduces metmyoglobin formation and free radical scavenger). A combination of these natural plant extracts in 1 blend offers an optimal delay of lipid oxidation and a more effective meat colour stabilisation. NaturCEASE Dry combines the power of these plant extracts with Buffered Vinegar Dry adding an additional microbial inhibition effect to the blend. 

Raw minced meat is more susceptible to quality deterioration compared with whole meat. As the lipid oxidation products (TBARS) increase during the 8 days of refrigerated storage in the dark, the appearance, palatability and redness (a* value) of raw minced beef decrease. Nevertheless, NaturCEASE Dry effectively delayed formation of lipid oxidation products and stabilised the colour. As from day 1, NaturCEASE Dry had higher (p<0.05) redness (a*) values and lower (p<0.05) lipid oxidation products (TBARS) compared with the untreated raw minced beef. And as from day 2, it showed significantly lower microbial growth compared with the untreated control. The positive control treatments (sodium acetate and -lactate) were outperformed (p<0.05) as from day 1 and 2, based on TBARS and redness, respectively. As from day 4, raw minced beef treated with NaturCEASE Dry showed lower (p<0.05) microbial growth compared with the sodium acetate treatment. There was no significant difference between sodium lactate and NaturCEASE Dry.