Control accessories hygiene to reduce secondary pollution for reasonable packaging

Meat products processed at lower temperatures are called low-temperature meat products. This meat product has a good flavor quality, and can better retain the original nutritional content of the product.

However, low-temperature meat products are prone to spoilage. Dr. Sun Jingxin, deputy chairman of the Storage and Preservation Committee of the Chinese Livestock Products Processing Research Association and associate professor of the Laiyang Agricultural College in Shandong Province, believes that the sanitary materials with good quality and reasonable packaging technology are used to strictly control the sanitary conditions in the processing and reduce secondary pollution. Can effectively guarantee the hygienic quality of low-temperature meat products.

Control accessories hygiene quality

At low temperature storage, the corruption of meat products is usually caused by two reasons: First, due to the insufficient degree of thermal processing, the residual non-germ spores grow excessively; secondly, during the packaging process, secondary contamination causes bacteria These bacteria multiply and multiply.
When the meat products are vacuum-packed, double-sterilized, and fully killing all heat-resistant non-spore bacteria, the key factor causing the spoilage of meat products becomes excessive growth and reproduction of the spores. Therefore, controlling the initial presence (especially the initial quantity) of Bacillus sp. in the raw materials is the key to ensure that meat products have a longer shelf life. In order to understand the source of contamination of the spores in meat products, the experts on storage and preservation of the China Animal Products Processing Research Institute conducted experiments and investigations on the hygienic conditions of various raw and auxiliary materials required for the production of meat products. The experimental results show that the excipients, especially the spice, contain high levels of spores and are the main source of spores in meat products.

In the production process of meat products in Western developed countries, if spices are to be used, manufacturers often use extracts of spices. By doing so, the degree of contamination of the products by the spores can be reduced. As China's fine chemical industry is still relatively backward, the cost of producing spice extracts or essential oils is high, and the effect of using extracts is not very satisfactory; therefore, in the production process of China's meat products, the use of spices in the original powder is still mainly used. Mainly.

Pepper, pepper, ginger powder and other spices are commonly used in the production of meat products. In order to ensure the hygienic quality of meat products, in view of the actual situation in China, when using auxiliary materials, on the one hand, materials with good sanitation quality and a small amount of bacteria contamination should be used; on the other hand, accessories including spices should be lowered. Bacteria processing, which is a key control point for the production of shelf-stable meat products.

The main methods for killing microorganisms in food raw materials include: general heating and sterilization, high temperature and high pressure sterilization, microwave sterilization, electromagnetic wave sterilization, and radiation sterilization.

Reduce secondary pollution

Many production processes of low-temperature meat products are filled with cellulose fillings into cellulose film casings. After heat-molding, the cellulose film casings are peeled off and the contents are placed in a vacuum packaging container to enter the small packaging production. Process. This process is basically done by hand, which inevitably causes secondary pollution. How to reduce the secondary pollution to a minimum is another critical control point in the production process of low-temperature meat products.

After checking the hygienic condition of the packaging environment, the hands and tools of the operators, the researchers found that these sites or parts contained a certain amount of microorganisms. The specific quantities of microorganisms contained were as follows: air, 100-1000/cm2; , 10000—1000000/cm2; work surface, 1000—100000/cm2; electronic scale surface, 100—1000/cm2; plastic turnover box, 100—1000/cm2; work clothes, 10000—10000000 / Square centimeter. From this set of data, it can be seen that if strict hygiene management of the packaging environment and facilities is not carried out, the whole packaging process will become a process of bacterial inoculation of food.

How to carry out strict health management on the environment and work utensils of packaging workshops, food hygiene experts conducted a lot of detailed analysis and research, and worked out appropriate solutions. First of all, the packaging workshop is thoroughly cleaned every day; then, before the start of each day, the irradiation of the workshop with an ozone generator or UV lamp is sterilized for 40-60 minutes, so that airborne bacteria fall below 10/cm2; For disinfection of work tools, 75% alcohol solution, 1% sodium hypochlorite solution or 1% trisodium chloride solution can be used.

The above three kinds of solutions were used to sterilize the operators' hands and work instruments. The results showed that the use of trisodium trichlorophosphate solution had the best disinfection effect and the cost was reasonable and moderate. In addition, trisodium trichlorophosphate has a good dissolving property and a high content of available chlorine, and can be used for a long time after being disposed once.

High-efficiency surface protection technology

Chinese low-temperature meat products (such as roast chicken, salted duck, and spiced beef) are generally monolithic products, and often require heat treatment before repackaging. In the packaging process, secondary pollution is inevitable. In order to prolong the shelf life of Chinese-style low-temperature meat products, production companies generally treat them using secondary sterilization methods. In doing so, they can receive certain freshness preservation effects, but they can only have cold-storage chains (0°C-4°C). In the case of transportation and sales, and the shelf life is only half a month. To extend the shelf life of such foods, new preservation technologies must be developed.

Such as: microwave and preservatives combined effect technology. According to Dr. Sun Jingxin, when the initial concentration of Nisin is 600 IU/g and the initial concentration of sodium lactate (Nal) is 3.5%, the vacuum packaged microwave is applied to 915 MHz and 400 W microwaves. Intermittent irradiation for 4 times can make the shelf life of Nannong chickens reach 15-30 days at 30°C, which makes it possible to store non-high temperature meat products at room temperature for a longer period of time.

Another example: film preservation technology. The antiseptic or anti-oxidant with the surface bacteriostatic and bactericidal activity will form a solution with a certain concentration of the film-forming substance, soaking and spraying the meat product that needs preservation, so as to form a uniform film on the surface of the meat product. This layer of film has the effect of sequestering microorganisms and oxygen, and inhibiting or killing surface contamination of microorganisms, thereby prolonging the shelf life of meat products. If the film-forming substance itself has both anti-corrosion and anti-oxidation functions, the effect is more ideal, such as chitosan solution (concentration of 1% - 2%), phytic acid solution (concentration of 0.3%) Features. Other commonly used film-forming agents include calcium alginate solution (with a concentration of 1%-2%), beeswax, and gelatin solution (concentration of 3%-4%). The use of beta-cyclodextrin embedding preservatives, antioxidants, or acidifying agents, etc., to form microcapsules, add or smear in meat products, can also extend the shelf life.

Control product water activity

In meat microbiology, water activity actually refers to the amount of water in a meat product that can be used to grow microorganisms. The higher the water activity value, the greater the amount of water available for the growth of microorganisms in the meat product, and the more likely the product is to be corrupted. Conversely, the lower the water activity value, the more stable the meat product quality and the longer the shelf life. Therefore, controlling the water activity is one of the key factors to ensure that meat products have a stable shelf life.

There are many ways to reduce water activity, such as dry dehydration, freeze-drying, adding some additives to meat products to absorb water in meat products, thereby reducing the water activity of meat products. Many excipients added to meat products, such as salt, phosphate, sugar, starch, soybean protein, etc., have the effect of reducing the water activity of meat products. In actual production, joint measures of adding food additives and hot air drying are commonly used to reduce the water activity of meat products and thus extend the shelf life of products.

Use reasonable packaging methods

For many Western-style low-temperature meat products, if not sliced, you can use such methods for packaging: vacuum filling; heat treatment, after the second vacuum packaging; oxygen package, in the packaging bag placed oxygen scavenger; Inflatable packaging.

For the slicing of Western-style low-temperature meat products and most Chinese-style meat products (such as barbecues, sauces and halogens), because they need to be heated before cooking and then packaged, so the current process is to use non-sterile packaging, and then use the second sterilization Methods. However, as market demand changes, it is best to use aseptic packaging for such products. At the same time, these products also set higher requirements for packaging equipment and packaging materials.

Different composition of the packaging film, with different functional characteristics. PVDC (polyvinylidene chloride) has a high barrier to oxygen and water vapor. PA (Nylon) has strong barrier to gas, but poor barrier to water vapor, but it has good mechanical strength and elasticity, and pressure resistance. PP (polypropylene) has strong barrier to water vapor, good stiffness and texture, but poor gas barrier properties. PET (polyethylene terephthalate) has strong gas barrier properties but poor barrier properties against water vapor. PE (polyethylene) has poor barrier properties to water vapor, but its mechanical properties are good. On the market, there are composite packaging films made of PE and other materials. Such composite films have good barrier properties, such as PA/PE composite films. .

In addition, in the packaging of low-temperature meat products, it is particularly worth mentioning that the oxygen-free packaging preservation technology. Oxygen scavenger and oxygen-scavenging fresh-keeping technology is a new type of inexpensive, non-toxic, and easy-to-use food fresh-keeping technology developed in the 1960s. With the advancement of reform and opening up in China, improvement of people’s living standards, and enhanced consumer health awareness, especially the rise of supermarkets and small packaged foods, the oxygen removal and preservation technologies are increasingly valued by food companies and have become China’s current food industry. One of the common technical means of keeping fresh at room temperature.

Oxygen scavenger is an integral part of oxygen-free packaging and preservation technology. The oxygen-removal and preservation technology also includes food packaging bags, preserved food quality and related testing technologies. Only by fully understanding these conditions can we purchase and use the oxygen scavenger. In accordance with the classification of foreign countries, oxygen scavenger can be divided into iron-based oxygen scavenger and non-iron-based oxygen scavenger. For example, glucose oxidase belongs to non-iron-based oxygen scavenger. The iron-based oxygen scavenger has high oxygen scavenging efficiency and low cost, and most of the oxygen scavenging agents currently on the market are iron-based oxygen scavenger. Because of its low efficiency and high cost, non-ferrous oxygen scavengers are now largely eliminated except for use in certain products. The oxygen-removing principle of iron-based oxygen scavenger is very simple. It is through the oxidative rust reaction of iron powder, consumes oxygen in the packaging container, thereby inhibiting the growth and reproduction of aerobic microorganisms, and inhibiting the need for oxidation reaction that is detrimental to food quality. Occur in order to achieve the purpose of ensuring food quality. Iron-based oxygen scavengers are further divided into three types: high-humidity, fast-type, and general-purpose. High-moisture oxygen scavenger is used in the preservation process of food with high moisture content, the food's water activity is about 0.75-1.00; fast oxygen scavenger is used for water activity of 0.65-1. Fresh-keeping of perishable foods between 00; Universal oxygen scavenger is used for keeping fresh foods with a water activity of 0-0.75; Oil-repellent oxygen scavenger is used for foods with high oil content Keep fresh.