Last month we discussed how to break down and interpret the ingredient statement of a Honey Ham with Natural Juices. In this blog post we will dive into learning how to generalize the information on the Nutrition Facts Panel (NFP) and how it correlates to the Ingredient Statement. In the end, we’ll review an example formulation based on all the information available. The label we
We started a series on evaluating and reverse engineering meat products by looking at the physical properties of some ham products. We will dive deeper into the evaluation by interpreting the ingredient statement(s) and begin to understand how to start the formulation process. Let’s start with recreating a straightforward product- like honey ham. The label states the following:
As processors, we are all generally curious individuals and are most likely interested by learning new things or seeing new products in the marketplace. For most of us in the meat processing industry, we are guilty of taking a stroll down the meat aisles to see what new and interesting products are in the marketplace and whether or not we are looking to match something
Data collection is often an overlooked part of food processing. Removing or changing ingredients to create a cleaner label can exasperate or expose flaws in the processing of your product. Creating adequate process controls helps eliminate those flaws but requires you to have sufficient data collection. Numbers don’t lie — they help track your product’s performance over time. They can help fine-tune your process by
Replacing functional ingredients with natural alternatives can cause serious product quality issues without the right process controls. Many processors are replacing, reducing, or removing functional ingredients to create a cleaner label, but don’t fully understand the impact those replacements can have on product quality. Last month, we shared 9 natural alternatives that were the best to use if you wanted to avoid product quality issues.
Over the last 10-15 years, the food industry has made a shift to create products with “cleaner labels” or natural ingredients. This trend stemmed from consumers demanding healthier options. Think back to Panera Bread’s “No-No” List that pushed the demand to remove chemical-sounding ingredients from their products. Ingredients containing “-ites” and “-ates” in their name, such as sodium lactate, sodium phosphate, and sodium nitrite were
