At Poultry 201 this week, we really focused on four components to making great further processed products for consumers and customers: incoming ingredient quality, recipe, process and equipment. Whenever I have to troubleshoot issues with customers, I always go back to these four basic principles.

Incoming raw ingredient quality includes meat, water, and any ingredients added for functionality. We cannot produce a good product from poor starting quality. The final product is only as good as the poorest starting material.

Recipe — most recipes are formulated for flavor, not for functionality. However, with the increasing trends of low salt, no phosphate and all-natural clean label ingredients, formulating for functionality first, and then flavor, is even more important. These functional ingredients (salt, phosphate, starch, gums, soy proteins, etc.) are critical to ensure water holding capacity, texture, color and eating quality acceptance. And don’t forget about order of ingredient addition as part of the recipe and process to achieve the most functionality.

Process — How many steps are there from raw to further processed finished product? The more steps, the more process tolerance is needed, especially if freeze/thaw is involved. This is where we can formulate with ingredients for functionality to ensure good quality finished material. The consistency of the process is critical for consistent end products for customers and consumers. Training employees across first and second shift is important to ensure a smooth transition. I was at a plant once where they were getting inconsistent products between first and second shift and after some questions, we discovered the second shift employee was not pulling the same level of vacuum on the tumbler as the first shift. Details matter.

Equipment — Do you have the right equipment for the process? What kind of extras are available to help you ensure process and recipe consistency?I was at a plant troubleshooting some marination pick up issues. After reviewing the process, the recipe and the starting material, we looked at the equipment. The brine tank was square — not round — which created pockets where the ingredients were being trapped instead of going into solution/suspension. At another plant, they had the right equipment but the wrong settings. The injection needles were not low enough to inject into the meat which can be a problem for marinated products. Sounds simple, but these are the major points to consider.

I love teaching about meat quality and food safety and I especially love to make and to eat further processed products. This week was really fun, and to put our words into practice we were even a little creative and formulated some candy corn bratwurst to celebrate Halloween. Surprisingly, all of our course participants tried it and 50% said they would eat it again. Next on the menu might be gummy bear brats.

Whatever we add next, we will make sure and abide by our four basic principles: incoming ingredient quality, recipe, process and equipment.

A further processing recipe for success

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