Applications of natural ingredients in savoury food products - Natural Food Additives, Ingredients and Flavourings - page 309

spoilage bacteria and their replacement by purely natural alternatives is diffi cult.
Adequate natural replacements for sorbic acid, sodium sulfi te and metabisulfi te
are not yet available. Lactic acid can be produced in a natural way by the
fermentation of sugar or glucose. It inhibits a wide range of bacteria with both
food spoilage and food-borne pathogens being inhibited.
Combinations of lactic acid and acetic acid are used to control a range of
spoilage organisms but do not adequately control moulds (Garg et al. 2010). New
natural antimicrobials are now developed containing cultured corn sugar and
vinegar. For example, Puraq Q™ and Verdad™ offer natural antimicrobial
inhibition of a wide range of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. For the future, new
natural solutions will be available including lauric arginate and nicin, but these are
not yet fully approved for use in the EU.

Removal of antioxidants, E300s
The most commonly used antioxidants in savoury products are vitamin C
(commonly at 250 parts per million (ppm)), or a combination of one part vitamin
E and three parts vitamin C ester (20-40 ppm total in RTE). All these may be
replaced with a commercial rosemary extract which now has an E number
designation in the EU of E392. It is worth noting that rosemary extracts give
protection against oxidation and hence rancid off notes or warmed over fl avour.
They do not give any substantial protection against microbiological pathogens.

Removal of thickeners and stabilisers, E400s
Included in this category are gums and phosphates, which are both extremely
important and useful ingredients in a wide range of savoury foods and ones which
have particular challenges associated with them.
• Gums such as xanthan and guar. Due to their multifunctional properties
(notably thickening, emulsifi cation and stabilisation), replacement is diffi cult
and remains a challenge on a product-by-product basis - a combination of
starches, natural emulsifi er and vegetable fi bres being key ingredients.
• Phosphates are the chemical ingredients responsible for holding water (and fat)
in a plethora of comminuted meat products by shifting the pH of the meat to
either side of the isoelectric point in order to better bind water in the meat
(Lawrie 1998).
• Just removing the phosphates entails shrinkage on cooking with a loss of shape
and a loss of yield. These losses can be controlled to some degree by the
incorporation of cook up starches into the product at up to 2%. For the future,
natural ingredients are sought that affect the pH of the meat in a similar way to
phosphates.

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13.8 Future trends
There is little doubt that the trend toward using natural ingredients will continue
as a natural approach provides food manufacturers with a route map to premium
products. Today's more discerning consumer has developed a new vocabulary