Fotos: Colourbox.de
Continued from page 21
Erythorbic acid (isoascorbic acid,
E 315) and sodium erythorbate
(E 316) have the same antioxidant
effect, are cheaper, but their addi-tion
is limited by law and does not
have the effect of vitamin C.
However, ascorbic acid and its de-rivatives
are not expected to act as
vitamin C in meat products. When
ascorbic acid acts as an antioxi-dant
in meat products, it oxidizes
to dehydroascorbic acid, which
is no longer a vitamin. The idea
of fortifying meat products with
vitamin C by adding E 300 is naive.
We simply don't make a lemon out
of a sausage.
Extracts from some plants, such as
rosemary, sage, oregano, acerola,
etc., can also be used as antioxi-dants.
In addition to its high
ascorbic acid content, acerola has
a red colouring and can make
a significant contribution to co-
louring. The vitamin contained in
acerola is actually the antioxidant
E 300, which performs a techno-logical
function here. We are once
again on the question of whether
there is a veiling if only one of the
uses is listed.
Dyestuffs
In general, the sense and purpose
of adding dyes should be con-sidered.
Such an addition could
be relevant for chicken muscle
products that contain very few
hemp dyes and are almost white.
There are situations where it is
useful to dye the meat product. If
the fermented salami is to show
a high contrast between particles
of fat tissue and lean meat in the
cut, then the addition of red dye is
certainly appropriate and does not
conceal anything.
The choice of dyes depends on the
current legislation and the current
price. Cochenille, paprika and bet-alains,
monascic red, lycopene and
others are used.
Cochineal (carmine) is most com-monly
used. The active ingredient
is carminic acid (E 120). Cochenille
is obtained from the insect Dacty-lopius
coccus, the cochineal scale
insect that lives on opuntia (flat
cacti) in Latin America. It is used
as a dye for dairy products, drinks
(Campari) or surimi ("crab sticks").
The colour is very similar to that
of meat.
Betalaine (E 162) are red beet
dyes, betanine is the main active
ingredient. They are mainly used
for fermented meat products. The
problem with heat-treated prod-ucts
is the highlighting of collagen
particles, which also absorb wa-ter-
soluble dyes when swelling.
Until recently, a red dye from the
mould Monascus purpureus was
used, which grows on rice and has
been used for thousands of years
for food in China. However, current
legislation does not generally allow
it to be used in the meat industry.
Flavour enhancers
The taste of meat products can be
refined with various ingredients,
traditional salt and spices. During
the heat treatment of meat, glu-tamine,
one of the amino acids (a
component of proteins), is broken
down into ammonia and glutamic
acid. This acid contributes signifi-cantly
to the characteristic taste of
meat, which is called the fifth taste
(umami) in addition to sour, bitter,
sweet and salty. For example,
sodium glutamate (E 621) is added
to various instant soups and meat
products. Since it has an E code,
some manufacturers try to disguise
glutamate by using yeast extracts
as natural flavours, for example.
Are flavour enhancers really neces-sary?
If the product contains a high
proportion of lean meat, this is not
the case. Glutamate is safe because
it is a component of protein. How-ever,
it is not suitable for children
under the age of three.
Preservatives
The purpose of other flavour en-
hancers such as sodium 5-inos-itate
(E 631) or sodium 5 is also
questionable. One should rather
improve the taste by adding spices
24 5 / 2019 ADDITIVES
ZUSATZSTOFFE