Traditional or Sustainable? A perspective on Alternative Sausages Slav Heller, MBA, MSc. PEng St. Paul County, AB Sausage is a special food Casing was one of the greatest culinary inventions Anybody can make a sausage Making a good sausage that is appreciated by consumers is another story Making sense of names Why not just organic processed meats? Commercial Conventional Industrial Mass produced Alternative Traditional Authentic Natural Organic Sustainable Organic standards cut-off all traditional processed meats that are cured and smoked Difficulty and cost to comply with organic standards all details It is all about consumer trust. For small farmer business organic certification may not be necessary Why not just traditional processed meats? Most meat products sold as traditional, also by small shops, are in essence industrial products and only the name and possibly flavour character remain of their origins Truly traditional processed meats are also organic, healthy and embedded in culture Why it is almost impossible now to produce truly traditional processed meats? Livestock was raised on pastures and with traditional feeds, seldom grains Minimal pre-slaughter stress for animals Meat was hot boned and processed immediately Formulations didn t have any industrial ingredients 1
Sustainable meats Sustainable processed meats meet all the basic criteria of organic foods but also meet criteria for truly traditional products When we talk about sustainable foods we also mean truly traditional products adopted to our culture and our current circumstances What is your market? We all are fascinated these days by the demand for local foods Demand for local foods is not about local! This demand is for sustainable foods Health & Nutrition What urban consumers want? Perfection may be not achievable Sick People Taste Foodies Sustainable Meats Authenticity Aim at ~90% of what could be ideally expected Food Activists Ecology & Ethics What makes a good sausage? 1. Highest possible quality of meat 2. Avoiding industrial ingredients 3. Using natural, fresh, whole, local ingredients 4. Salt - high quality, low quantity 5. Dealing with the nitrite challenge 6. Quality wood smoke 7. Natural casings What makes the highest meat quality? Pastured healthy livestock, fed natural diets Minimal pre-slaughter stress, optimally animals killed in the field Hot-boning which may not be possible with current regulations Proper selection of meat cuts and fats for different products Industrial ingredients Phosphates Monosodium glutamate MSG Dried and modified milk ingredients Hydrolyzed (soy) proteins Corn syrup, corn syrup solids Modified starches Hydrogenated plant oils Carageenans Sodium and potassium lactates Glucono delta lactone Premixes of seasonings and spices Mechanically separated meats Flavourings, natural and artificial Liquid smoke, smoke flavours 2
Salt Quantity 1.2% - 1.8% Quality: Sea salt - whole Example: Real (Redmond) Salt mined from Utah ancient sea bed It can be honestly said that such salt is healthy as it offers rich mineral supplementation Nitrites & nitrates Wood smoke Class I preservatives Using nitrites is the most controversial ingredient challenge I think nitrites will kill me Arguments against using nitrites and wood smoke There were some studies that tied wood smoke, nitrites and particularly N-nitrosamines that can be formed from nitrites at higher temperatures with cancer More importantly, there has been a wide spread consumer perception that nitrites and smoke present danger to their health Arguments in favour of using nitrites and wood smoke Cure and smoke have been used for many generations in different cultures without obviously negative health effects Evidence against use of nitrites is inconclusive and may be grossly misleading (see handouts) Proven bacteriostatic benefits of wood smoke far outweigh also inconclusive connections between wood smoke and cancer Arguments in favour of using nitrites and wood smoke Most traditional products are cured and smoked there is no ham or bacon without them There is a difference between consuming smoked meats in large quantities three times a day or consuming them on some occasion as special meats Giving consumers a choice. Processed meat offer should have both smoked and cured meats as well as a good selection of products without nitrite or smoke There seem to be four possible ways to deal with the nitrite challenge Completely eliminating nitrite and smoke from meat offer TK Farms, Sunworks Farms Using naturally occurring nitrites (celery juice powder). Eliminating nitrite but use smoke after the meats are cooked - McLean Organic Foods Using both but become knowledgeable, limit and use them properly and then tell consumers what you are doing and why 3
How to address the nitrite dilemma? Give consumer a choice of cured/smoked and fresh/uncured sausages Learn about the nitrite use and help consumers understand the potential risks and what they potentially miss Encourage to taste some cured products in small quantities If one wants to be authentic and strives for taste - cure and smoke are necessary Use only amount of nitrites that is necessary to do the intended jobs CFIA: Max 200 ppm and 120 ppm for bacon How much is needed? The literature indicates: For colour 50 ppm For cured flavour 50 ppm For botulism control 50 100 ppm If one wants to be authentic and strives for taste - cure and smoke are necessary Smoke should be natural from hardwood Temperature of smoke generation is crucial for smoke and meats quality. Tars are formed at higher temperatures Following proper smoking procedures and not over smoking meats Fats Animal fats have bad reputation Most of processed meats require fats as these are main contributors to product s taste and texture To create acceptable options for those who believe that fats hurt them, use smallest possible amounts of fats in ground products But are animal fats really bad for us? There are some niche markets that disagree Other traditional sausage ingredients Spices, herbs and seasonings fresh or dried, freshly ground Sweeteners sugar (organic), honey Binders and moisture retainers quick oats or oat flour, potato starch. Bread crumbs better to be avoided as one seldom knows what is there. Eggs possible but a challenge Dried fruits, veggies and mushrooms Acidifiers cider vinegar, wine, wine vinegars Liquids water, ice, bone or trim stock Casings Casing type, either natural or man-made don t affect taste of products but it makes great difference to product image Natural hog, beef or lamb casings when possible particularly for more expensive products Collagen casings acceptable for breakfast sausages Cotton stockinettes for whole muscle meats Cloth casings for large diameter sausages 4
Product selection Infinite options for differentiation Common fare Dried meat snacks Patient meats Ready meals Culturally cursed products Common fare meats Fresh sausages & sausage patties Smoked & cooked sausages Whole muscle smoked meats Dried meat snacks Think beyond heavily salted jerky Patient meats Cold smoked and air dried Fermented sausages Ready meals Cooked products which main ingredient is meat. They usually require different equipment and separate production area Roasts Meat loafs Meat balls Stews Pies Etc. Culturally cursed meats This is the most interesting, promising and from the market perspective the most challenging group of products Organ meats Fats Bones Gelatinous parts Blood Variety of livestock species When it comes to processed meats PIG IS THE KING It makes sense to use and possibly raise own pastured pigs to mix pork with other meats for better products 5
Fresh Sausages The challenge is to have a good water/fat binding capacity Sausages should not be overcooked but they almost always are Formulate sausages with good natural binders and pre-cook them. Cooking vat with controlled water temperature is important If precooked, consumers need only to reheat them Curing meats Cure smaller cuts Dry cure Wet cure Wet cure with injections They all have a merit for different types of processed meats Smoking meats Parameters that affect meat quality Wood type Wood structure Wood humidity Smoke generation temperature Smoke density Temperature inside smokehouse Temperature fluctuation Humidity inside the smokehouse Air flow/circulation Timing of different smoking stages Key to economy of small scale meat processing Anybody can sell prime cuts Profitable utilization of less marketable meat cuts (trim) - that is where the planning any meat offer should start But there is even bigger economic opportunity Parts of animals that have very low or even no consumer market value Culturally cursed meats Government regulations don t allow to make truly traditional sausages Traditionally, pigs were hot boned and processed immediately after killing. Now, the carcass must be cooled to 4 deg. C Post mortem chilling dramatically changes meat ph and its water (and fat) binding capabilities making for improved flavour and texture (rapid drop after 3 hrs) Hot boned meat just makes better sausages, if you have a chance try it There are three niche markets for products made from culturally cursed parts of animals Ethnic traditional markets low premium Gourmet market high premiums but a small niche. It better be sustainably raised Market driven by principles of Weston A. Price Foundation Growing interest in products from these parts of animals but these animals must be sustainably raised 6
Weston A. Price Foundation Growing interest and number of followers Learning about nutrition from indigenous cultures from around the world Sustainably raised livestock Nutritionally dense foods organ meats Rehabilitation of animal fats Importance of bone stocks and gelatinous meats A book worthy to buy Not just instructions how to make sausages Polish government recipes that were used by Polish meat plant between 1950-1990 Alternative versions with nitrate (saltpetre) rather than nitrite A website worthy to check http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/ Plenty of information and formulations. They may not be exactly sustainable sausages but worthy to check. http://wedlinydomowe.pl/ The original site started by S. Marianski and others, now a big forum of sausage enthusiasts. Unfortunately, in Polish. Basics in processing meats are always very important Processing skills Food safety Quality assurance No dogs as helpers or consumers allowed Thank you for your time and attention I hope that you will make many great traditional and sustainable sausages Slav Heller, MBA, M Sc., P Eng. St. Paul County, AB Phone: 780-645-6740 Email: slav@heller.ca 7