microbiological and structural features over time.
This is a natural process that the food and catering industries have tried to slow down or stop using new technologies to have food keep its shelf-life.
This term indicates the length of time when food keeps its organoleptic and nutritional properties at acceptable levels.
It is a very important parameter, regulated by set norms, which those who work in the sector must understand clearly in order to preserve the safety of the food product for the consumer.
The shelf life of food starts when it is manufactured and depends on many factors such as the manufacturing process, the type of packaging, down to the catering/food service industry where it is key to use and stock it properly to make sure it is healthy to the customers and prevent food waste from turning into a cost for the company and the environment.
As can be easily understood, extending the shelf life of food is paramount to the food and food service/catering industries, as it can lead to higher revenues and helps protect people’s health.
In the last few years Gourmet Services has invested in searching for new technologies and was successful in patenting a new method used by the waveco® device called induced maturation© where the beneficial action of ultrasound extends the shelf life of all foods.
The effectiveness of this ground-breaking technique was certified by the studies conducted by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Teramo which proved the huge potential of induced maturation© on the increase of food safety and shelf life.
THE TEST
The test was intended for evaluating the shelf life through a microbiological analysis, the colour of the food and the Total Mesophilic Count (TMC) of core samples at 30° C.
The Doctors at the University ran three tests on induced maturation© on three retail beef meat cuts (Charolais breed) 48 hours after slaughtering. The cuts were a Silverside, a Rib steak made of two muscles (intercostal and latissimus dorsi) and a boneless Loin.
To make the test more meaningful, the raw materials were use as short as 48 hours after slaughtering, so the muscle was still very hard.
Each cut was split into six pieces, one was not treated and the other five received induced maturation© treatments for 40 minutes, then they were grinded, stored wrapped up in film, vacuum sealed, put under controlled atmosphere, and kept at +4° C for 15 days.
All these operations were intentionally not carried out in a lab, but in a standard professional kitchen using manual tools. The goal was to create critical conditions for the quality of meat, in which the number of bacteria has surely increased after a long manual handling process.
THE RESULT
The Total Bacterial Count (TBC) shows that the samples treated with induced maturation© keep good organoleptic and nutritional properties for 15 days, if vacuum sealed or under a Protected Atmosphere. Instead, the samples stored wrapped up in film show good microbiological values for 5 days maximum.
Induced maturation© proved effective even when it comes to colour analysis on meat cuts: at time zero, all the samples – according to the report by the University – show the typical vivid red colour of fresh meat, which remains unchanged until the 2nd day after packaging. After 5 days, only the sample stored in food wrap film shows a reduction in vividness and meat blackening. After 15 days of storage, all the samples have different parameters.
Simply speaking: after the induced maturation© treatment the brightness value remained high without damaging colour.
CONCLUSIONS
Thanks to the use of waveco® and its ground-breaking technology, your food will be certified to have kept all its organoleptic and nutritional properties for longer.
Induced maturation© removes a high degree of contamination in food, which is a huge result if you consider all the handling that has been done on the meat cuts during the test at hand.
As reported in the Report by the Doctors from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Teramo who ran the test, “induced maturation© can significantly reduce the bacterial load, which is useful not only to store food for longer but most importantly for food safety”.
waveco®, safer food for longer
