Snack Meats
January 1999 -- Applications

By: Scott Hegenbart
Contributing Editor

    Meat snacks may well be one of the oldest types of snack food. After all, their fundamental processes - salting and drying - date back at least as far as the Middle Ages, possibly earlier. Those early versions have been described as looking like strips of thick cardboard and being just about as easy to chew. Fortunately for the jaws of today's consumer, meat snacks have evolved into a wide variety of much more palatable forms, thanks to newer formulations and process optimizations.

Renewing interest

  Data from the Snack Food Association (SFA), Alexandria, VA, show that meat-snack sales have been on the rise for the last five years. In fact, the category enjoyed double-digit growth from 1993 to 1996. Although only increasing by 4.4% in 1997, sales still climbed to $896.1 million.

  Meat-snack popularity can be confirmed by taking a look inside a typical convenience store. Some may have one entire side of an aisle devoted to the various products. This should come as no surprise, since convenience stores were responsible for 43.4% of the 62.7 million pounds of meat snacks sold in 1997, according to SFA.

  The association attributes this recent comeback primarily to increased consumer awareness that meat snacks are low in fat. Many meat snacks are now marketed with "fat free" slogans, but in fact, most have been low in fat since their early development.

  Meat snacks fall into two general categories: those made from sliced, whole meat and those formulated from comminuted meat. The beginnings of each type can be traced back to traditional charqui and pemmican.

  Charqui - from which the word "jerky" is derived - most likely evolved in Peru as a way of preserving game from a hunt. Early peoples eventually switched to beef when cattle became domesticated. To make charqui, boned and defatted meat was first sliced to about a quarter-inch thickness. These slices were then dipped in brine or rubbed with salt and rolled up in animal hides for 10 to 12 hours. This ensured that the meat absorbed the salt and released some of its juices. Finally, the strips were hung in the sun to dry and then were tied into bundles.

  Pemmican started out with thinly sliced, dried, lean meat. These strips were shredded by pounding and then mixed one-to-one with melted fat. To this was added marrow from the animal bones and wild cherries or cranberries (depending on the location). The finished mass was packed into a rawhide sack which was then sewn and sealed with tallow.

Meat snacks modernized

  Today, jerky is still often made from whole slices of meat. This process is expensive because of the labor-intensive nature of slicing and laying out the meat. Aficionados do, however, consider the resulting jerky a premium product because of the texture. The slices are dipped, sprayed or tumbled with a marinade, then smoked and/or dried.

  "Slicing is not used too much by the big manufacturers because it's too expensive," says Nora Piento, senior food technologist, Heller Seasonings, Bedford Park, IL. "Most of it is chunked and formed, but not to the point of being emulsified as in hot dog production."

  More often, jerky is formed from comminuted meat. The meat is first put into an emulsifying blender along with the dry ingredients and any required water. The resulting mass may then pass through a sheeter or extruder to be formed into strips, or into a stuffer to be put into casings. Finally, the pieces are smoked and/or dried as in traditional production methods.

  Comminuted jerky and meat-based snack sticks are made through similar processes. About the only real differences are the shape into which each is formed and the final moisture level to which each is dried.

All dried up

  Drying meat snacks requires some tradeoffs. Flavor and a chewy texture are important to good jerky and meat snacks. Higher moisture levels give both higher product yields and a desirable soft, chewy texture. The higher the moisture content, however, the more prone the product will be to color fading and microbial growth.

  For the right combination of preservation and organoleptic enjoyment, meat snacks follow the principles that guide the development of intermediate moisture foods (IMFs).

  IMFs achieve a delicate balance - moist enough to be soft and palatable, yet dry enough to be shelf stable. Formulation and processing minimize the degradative effects of the higher moisture content and maintain long-term shelf stability.

  In meat snacks, the proper moisture level is obtained mainly by traditional drying methods. Although faster than leaving them out in the sun, the commercial drying of meat snacks is a time-consuming process that must be skillfully engineered. Even for a relatively small 12 mm diameter snack stick, it can take a good 24 hours of non-heated air drying to achieve this moisture reduction. Smokehouses often are used, but tunnel dryers also are effective.

  "We just put it in the smokehouse initially heated to about 140° to 180°F," says Romeo Toledo, Ph.D., professor of food science, University of Georgia, Athens. "We stop the heat when the product's internal temperature is 168°F - which usually takes about two and a half hours - then we just let it go until the product dries."

  The thinner the piece, the more surface area, and the faster it will dry. "When we make regular jerky from muscle strips, we cut it about one-eighth of an inch thick. When we dry it, the process lasts for about four hours," says Toledo. "A very thin profile would definitely cut down the process time."

  In addition to reaching the desired moisture level through drying, the product also must be designed with a specific pH and water activity to counteract the higher moisture levels that increase palatability. Most contemporary meat snacks have a moisture content close to about 5%, but some of the newer "chewy steak" products may have more. Water activities generally range from about 0.6 to 0.8. For all meat snacks, the pH is around 3.5 and usually no higher than 4.0.

Ingredient index

  The ultimate pH and water activity of a meat snack result from the drying process, combined with creative formulation. In general, ingredients other than the meat will be added via the marinade to whole-muscle products or blended with the meat for comminuted products.

   Meat. For whole-muscle products, lean skeletal meat such as beef round is usually the ingredient of choice. "You have to have lean meat that has no tendons," says Toledo. "Because the fat will leave stripes on the jerky, trimming must be more involved."

  One of the most important properties of the meat used in comminuted products is its binding characteristics. Without adequate protein-to-protein interaction, the pieces won't hold together to produce the desired texture, nor will they stabilize the fat and bind moisture. Consequently, most of the meat used also should be lean skeletal muscle, since this has a higher quantity of the necessary proteins.

  However, to reduce costs, comminuted products can, and often do, contain trimmings and fat. In the higher-moisture meat snacks, fat contributes to a softer, moister texture. In addition, fat helps the meat to bind. In some meat snacks, in fact, reducing fat requires adding binders such as soy or dairy proteins.

   Salt has three functions in meat snacks. First, it contributes flavor. Next, in comminuted products, salt solubilizes salt-soluble proteins to achieve proper binding. Third, salt extends shelf life by contributing solids that lower water activity and inhibit microbial growth.

  Typically, the optimum salt level still boils down to taste. Usually about 6% in the dried product is optimum. This means that the salt level initially may only need to be about 2% prior to drying due to the concentration effects of moisture loss. In most other products, such high salt levels would be unpalatable, but over the years, this has simply become the standard that consumers expect.

   Sweeteners often are used because their taste helps mellow the strong bite of the high salt levels. They also can increase solids, helping control water activity at higher moisture levels. This gives the product a softer chew compared with the hard jerkys of the past.

  Many sweeteners also have humectant properties that help the product retain a soft texture over its shelf life. Monosaccharides have the greatest potential for lowering water activity. Using higher dextrose equivalent (DE) corn sweeteners, therefore, will have a greater water-activity-lowering effect.

  For fermented products, added sugars are necessary as food for the bacteria in the starter culture. Since these must be fermentable sugars, monosaccharides, such as those found in corn sweeteners, should be used. Again in this case, the advantage goes to the higher DE corn sweeteners, which contain more monosaccharides.

   Acidulants lower pH, helping to preserve the product. Most often the acidulant of choice is either acetic or citric acid. Because the acid might interfere with salt's function in protein binding, product formulators may want to choose an encapsulated acidulant.

   Starter Culture. Instead of adding acidulants to the formula, some products are allowed to ferment with lactic acid bacteria to obtain the proper pH. This ensures shelf life and contributes flavor.

  Lactic acid bacteria are used in snack-stick production in much the same way as in summer-sausage production. In fact, most meat sticks are made much like summer sausage, except they're dried to a lower moisture level.

   Seasonings give meat snacks a unique flavor profile identifying them as the creation of their manufacturer. The seasonings, therefore, depend on the goals of the project and on the formulator's creativity. Consumers do, however, expect to experience certain flavors.

  "In general, onion, garlic, black pepper and red pepper are pretty standard," says Piento. "Then each manufacturer will add other seasonings to make their product unique."

  As is the case with sausage processing, many meat-snack manufacturers rely on suppliers to provide an all-in-one blend of their own custom seasoning combination. "It's easier for them to add one bag of seasoning to a batch that contains everything," notes Piento.

  Liquid flavors also can be used. They might be added to the marinade, to the meat emulsion, or plated onto dry ingredients and blended with the seasonings.

Preservatives. Between the drying and salt content, most meat snacks already are well preserved. Some snack sticks may contain nitrites, but it's often for the cured color and flavor they generate and not as a shelf-life requirement. Some products, like the newer "beef steak" jerkys, have a softer texture created by increasing the moisture and/or water-activity levels. These often may contain a preservative such as sodium benzoate to assure microbial stability.

Processing matters

  A meat snack's processing directly affects the finished product's quality. If, for example, a comminuted product is too finely ground, the emulsion may break, causing the product to be gritty. Another possibility is for the mass to become so tightly bound that the finished jerky or snack is chewy and tough. On the other hand, the meat can be ground too coarsely, preventing it from binding.

  Temperature during mixing also must be monitored to assure proper binding. The optimum is to keep the product at 30°F during mixing and forming. "If it gets too warm, you won't get the bind that you need or the emulsion will break," says Piento. "On the other hand, I've actually seen somebody freeze up their mixer with product that is too cool."

  Controlling the temperature typically doesn't require investing in jacketed equipment. Since most products contain a small amount of water, some of this may be replaced with ice to keep the temperature down.

  Cutting whole-muscle jerky must be done carefully, with as little mechanical action as possible. Otherwise the meat can become tattered and break apart. Even the way the marinade is added can affect product quality. "If you tumble the meat, you have to be very gentle," says Toledo. "Most companies choose to soak it; that way you don't run the risk of breaking the pieces up."

  While drying, temperature control again becomes critical. If temperature is too high, it can affect the appearance and eating quality of both whole-muscle and comminuted products. "If it's too high, you cook the pieces too fast," says Toledo. "When protein is dried after it's cooked, it looks terrible. It looks gray and doesn't get that nice mahogany color. It won't have a nice gloss."

  For comminuted products in particular, the initial cooking stages take place while the product is rather soft. If the temperature gets too high, the fat tends to separate out, yielding a messy product with an oily coating on the outside.

  Slow drying also is required to obtain the proper eating texture. Crumbliness can be avoided by drying the product while the protein is still raw. This must be balanced with other concerns, however. "Ideally, you dry it slow," says Toledo. "But the faster you dry it without raising the temperature too much, the better off you'll be."

  Typical drying temperatures will be around 130°F. "In our smoke house we start at 140°F and take it up every 30 minutes or so - primarily for microbial control - then we drop the temperature just to dry it out," says Toledo.

  Once dried, the product is packaged for distribution. With modern jerkys and meat snacks, the package plays an important role in maintaining product quality throughout the shelf life. One of the main problems is moisture pick-up from the atmosphere. This can change both the color and the texture of meat snacks. First and foremost, the packaging materials and the seal must provide an effective moisture barrier. For larger foodservice packages that will be opened and closed frequently, a humectant packet might be added or incorporated into the lid to help fight moisture pick-up.

  Finally, a degree of oxygen protection is helpful to guard fats from oxidative rancidity. This does, however, depend on just how long the shelf life needs to be. Since many of these products are smoked and/or contain antioxidants of some sort, oxidation already is being retarded to a certain degree.

  Meat snacks certainly have come a long way, from being a staple of the saddle bag to becoming a value-added snack food. Thanks to new formulas and optimized processing techniques, hard-to-eat protein chips have now become soft and chewy morsels that are enjoyable to eat. Since the modern versions don't require pounding and boiling by the consumer prior to eating, our ancestors would no doubt find them much more convenient.

Scott Hegenbart is managing editor of Food Ingredients Online, located at http://www.foodingredientsonline.com.

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