Phosphate is currently the most widely used food additive in various food production areas and plays a vital role in improving food quality. The phosphate used in food processing is usually sodium, calcium, potassium salts, and iron and zinc salts as nutritional fortification agents; sodium phosphate is currently the primary food phosphate consumption.
Sodium phosphate is included sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium pyrophosphate, trisodium phosphate, disodium hydrogen phosphate, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate, etc.
The addition of these substances in food can help diversify food varieties, improve its color, flavor, taste, shape, maintain the freshness and quality of food, and meet the needs of the processing process, which is a very important quality improver in food. Especially in meat products have an indispensable role.
The role of phosphate in the processing of meat and poultry products:
a. Improving the quality and bonding of meat products and improving the slicing performance of meat products.
b. Improving the water-holding capacity of meat so that meat products can still retain their natural moisture during processing and cooking, reducing the loss of nutrients in meat, preserving the tenderness of meat products, and improving the yield of finished products.
c. Control the pH value of meat products in the range most suitable for protein swelling and produce the best color of meat products.
d. Improves emulsification performance and emulsion stability and effectively prevents fat and water separation.
e. Delay oxidation reaction in the processing of meat products, effectively reduce the rate of product rancidity, inhibit the decolorization and rancidity of meat products, and extend the shelf life of meat products.
f. Improve the processing performance of meat products and increase production efficiency.
What is the water-holding capacity of meat?
The water-holding capacity of meat generally refers to the ability to maintain the moisture of meat and the moisture added to meat during processing, and the level of water-holding capacity is directly related to the texture and yield of meat products. The use of phosphate and other additives can maximize the water retention and adhesion of meat products and reduce the cooking loss of meat products without affecting the flavor.
The role of different types of phosphates in meat products varies mainly focused on improving water retention.
How much proportion of phosphate in meat processing?
In practice, according to the type of meat products, texture requirements, production processes, raw materials, and other circumstances, combined with the characteristics of various phosphates to select the appropriate phosphate type and amount of addition.
The effect of using a variety of compounds in meat product improver and the water retention of surimi products is better than a single phosphate, no matter color, favor, or texture of products and others.
Different varieties of meat products on the best proportion of mixed phosphate requirements are different.
The most proportion of compound phosphate for pork ham, beef, and minced fish, is 2 : 2: 1 (sodium tripolyphosphate: sodium pyrophosphate: sodium hexametaphosphate).
The optimal phosphate proportion for maximum yield in chicken products was 32.6 % for sodium hexametaphosphate, 45.6 % for sodium tripolyphosphate, and 21.8 % for sodium pyrophosphate.
The optimal amount of phosphate compound is generally 0.1-0.5%, which varies for different products.
For ham, the optimum amount is 0. 4 %.
For fish, the optimum amount is 0.5 %;
For chicken, 0.4 %.
The amount of phosphate added to meat products should still follow the relevant national standards. Mixed phosphates are used in strict control of the amount. If the amount added is too high, the original taste of the meat will be affected, and the color will be affected by the rise in pH value.
In practice, various compound phosphates as food ingredients and functional additives are increasingly widely used and become the development direction of food additives.
