|
Preventing Meat Spoilage
Naturally
Demand
for all-natural food products is behind the search for
natural ways to delay spoilage and extend the shelf-life
of meats. Exciting new research
using what's known as
smart packaging out of
Dr. Richard Holley's lab at the
University of Manitoba is generating interest around the
globe.
Dr. Holley and graduate student
Anas Al-Nabulsi
have been in the
United States
and
Jordan
speaking about their research success using lactoferrin to
prevent meat spoilage and improve product safety.
Lactoferrin is a protein that occurs naturally in milk and
is known to inhibit the growth of bacteria in food. The
challenge for the food science community has been finding
a means to deliver the lactoferrin when it can be most
effective -- and that's where smart packaging comes in.
|
Bologna
(pink) with antimicrobial film (caramel colour)
containing microencapsulated lactoferrin in a vacuum
bag. |
Dr.
Holley received a
$38,610 ARDI grant
in 2004 to explore using "microencapsulation" to deliver
lactoferrin onto meat when temperatures rise above 5.5°C.
In the most successful experiment, Dr. Holley's team
created a mixture of corn oil and butter fat designed to
melt and release lactoferrin when temperatures rose out of
the safety zone for proper meat storage. They incorporated
this mixture into an antimicrobial film made from whey
protein. In simplest terms, the researchers created a
natural food wrap that
also acts as a preservative.
"Our
research found that this antimicrobial film
successfully extended the shelf-life
of refrigerator-stored bologna," said Dr. Holley, "Because
the procedure for delivering the lactoferrin is novel,
it's getting a lot of attention in the food safety
industry, where the same technique could be used to
improve the shelf-life and safety of many different kinds
of perishable foods."
A second
area of the ARDI-funded research looked at inhibiting
strains of E. coli. The research showed lactoferrin was
able to significantly reduce the viability of E. coli in
sausages, but was not lethal to all strains. Dr. Holley
intends to conduct further research in this area using a
derivative of lactoferrin.
The
results of this research have recently been published in
the
Journal of Applied
Microbiology. Al-Nabulsi and Dr.
Holley have presented their research at international
conferences in Canada, the United States and around the
world. Dr. Holley will also be speaking about his
lactoferrin research at a
Canadian Meat Council
workshop, held in conjunction with the annual meeting of
the
International
Association for Food Protection
in Calgary this August.
In
addition to ARDI funding, the project also received
support from Glanbia Nutritionals, through cash/in-kind
support, and the Jordon University of Science and
Technology, through scholarship funding.
Studying health benefits of
Manitoba berries
New
research is getting underway to catalogue the
nutritional and
phytochemical make-up of
Manitoba fruits.
Increasingly, consumers want to know details about what
they're eating -- and fruits and vegetables aren't exempt
from this new level of scrutiny. Brokers from
international markets are demanding details on the
presence of
flavonoids,
anthocyanins
and
 antioxidants
in fruits they purchase.
Dr. Arnie Hydamaka
at the University of Manitoba is studying the content of
Manitoba-grown strawberries, raspberries, chokecherries,
saskatoon berries, wild blueberries and sea buckthorn.
Strawberry research kicked into
high gear this week with the ripening of the strawberry
crop.
Strawberries are picked in the
morning
and brought to the
University of Manitoba's Food Science Department
laboratory for immediate
analysis.
This
project is one of
18 recently announced ARDI projects. Research areas
covered include cereal crops, oilseeds, forages, food
processing and development, functional foods and
nutraceuticals, soil sustainability, manure management and
livestock, totalling more than
$900,000 in ARDI grants.
|
