Citri-Fi® To Be Introduced To the Meat Industry at IFFA in May
04 April 2007
Fiberstar will introduce the line of Citri-Fi products to the world meat industry at the upcoming IFFA in Frankfurt, Germany. Citri-Fi is a novel, all-natural ingredient that has a wide usage in meat products. You can learn more about Citri-Fi and its meat applications by visiting stand A-10, in hall 6.1, during the IFFA show.
CITRI-FI AS A FUNCTIONAL INGREDIENT
Citri-Fi, made by Fiberstar, is an all-natural multi-functional food ingredient specially suited for controlling moisture migration, fat reduction, yield improvement, and as a processing aid.
Other fibre-base products initially hold water but then release the water over time and / or during various treatment conditions. Citri-Fi's high internal surface area exposes many hydrogen-bonding sites to tightly bind water without releasing it.
Citri-Fi has properties similar to many hydrocolloids and phosphates, due to its ability to absorb water, but with several added benefits: Citri-Fi is non gummy / slimy; hydrates easily; has superior flavour release; has reduced formulation costs; has a clean taste; and is considered all natural.
MEAT AND POULTRY APPLICATIONS FOR CITRI-FI
Citri-Fi, which generally has usage levels of 1% or less, can be used in many product applications. If a food product has too much water or oil, Citri-Fi binds it. In meat fillings, just 0.75% will absorb the free water and oil that occurs on cookout.
Citri-Fi serves as a great processing aid to reduce free oil separation that often occurs during the processing of meats and meat fillings. The free oil would otherwise result in a greasy finished product or reduced yields.
PHOSPHATE REPLACEMENT
Phosphates are frequently used in meat and poultry products to bind moisture, reduce purge and maintain yields. Some disadvantages of other moisture-retention ingredients include their labelling requirements, availability, and / or cost.
However, Citri-Fi offers an all-natural solution to reduce phosphate levels. For example, in comparison testing of a control to Citri-Fi and sodium tripolyphosphate, the purge levels for a control (no phosphate or Citri-Fi), was 6.3%, compared to 0.5% sodium tripolyphosphate at 3.5% purge. 0.5% Citri-Fi 100FG had 2.7% purge.
Additionally, green yields for the control were 81.8% while the 0.5% sodium tripolyphosphate green yield was 92% and the green yield for 0.5% Citri-Fi 100FG was 90.4%.
FAT REPLACEMENT
Citri-Fi products offer a unique solution to fat replacement in a wide array of meat and poultry products without compromising taste, texture or cost of the finished product.
The formulation for replacing fat using Citri-Fi is extremely straightforward. Fat can be replaced with Citri-Fi and additional water, along with the addition of a higher content of lean meat to replace the fat.
For example, in chicken mortadella (total weight 100kg), 24kg of the total fat can be replaced with 1.18kg of Citri-Fi 200 and 17.72kg of additional water and 10.05kg of mechanically deboned chicken. The taste, texture or cost of the final product remains the same. The details of this or similar formulas are available upon request.
YIELD IMPROVEMENT
Yield losses during the cooking process are major issues during the manufacturing of many meat and poultry products. By using 1% or less of Citri-Fi 100FG or Citri-Fi 100M40, the yield can be maintained or improved compared to many other moisture retention ingredients.
For example, in comparison tests versus soy protein isolate and a starch in a sausage product, we obtained the highest yield result with Citri-Fi products. The levels of yield for Citri-Fi100M40, modified starch and soy protein isolate were found to be 69.1%, 67.1% and 63.5% respectively.
