Cassidy's Corner

BindMax PS

February 11, 2010

BindMax Fuctional Solutions

October 1, 2008

The following is an interview with Rick Cassidy, vice president of product development for BindMax Proteins, on his company's products and services that appeared in Meat and Poultry Magazine.

M&P: How do functional ingredients benefit meat and poultry processors?

Cassidy: The term "functional ingredients" refers to ingredients that perform a specific function, such as bind water, emulsify fat, modify color, improve texture, increase cook yield, improve juiciness, etc.

M&P: What products does BindMax offer for the "natural" meat and poultry segment?

Cassidy: BindMax has developed ingredient blends that can replace sodium phosphate, sodium nitrite and sodium erythorbate. Bindmax makes more than 20 USDA natural cure blends for manufacturing natural hams, bacons, hot dogs, Canadian Bacon, sausage and more. Each blend is made from at least three ingredients: sea salt, cane sugar and natural flavoring. Natural flavoring is also made from one or more of natural extracts of celery, green tea, lemon and rosemary. Each cane sugar and natural flavoring blend is fermented together to break down the nitrate in the flavorings to nitrite making it easier to cure the meat it comes in contact with. The fermentation does not use any lactic acid starter culture or any other starter culture.

M&P: What are your company's service capabilities for meat and poultry customers?

Cassidy: Since 1989, our technical service has gone well beyond the typical generic technical bulletins and specification sheets. I will actually take a customer's existing meat or poultry formula and create a new formulation and process that is specifically designed to use their current raw materials available, existing processing equipment and still match their current ingredient declaration so we can not only save them money on cook yield - but also allow them to use their current labels.

M&P: Is there a particular challenge your meat and poultry customers share in utilizing natural functional ingredients?

Cassidy: Most meat and poultry processors that make a "natural" ham, bacon, wiener or sausage currently use a combination of a nitrate-containing ingredient, like celery, and a "starter culture", like lactobacillus, to break the nitrate (NO3) down to nitrite (NO2) to cure the meat (i.e. give it the typical pink cured color and flavor). Variations in naturally-occurring nitrate levels in celery and the viability of the starter culture means dramatic swings in cured meat color, and it comes at a high price - usually more than $23 per pound. At BindMax, we ferment the celery on a cane-sugar substrate, along with natural green tea and lemon extracts. The fermented sugar produces a naturally-occurring gum that binds water similar to phosphate. The nitrate in the celery breaks down to nitrite, which means the meat processor does not have to depend on a starter culture to cure the meat. The lemon extract has naturally-occurring ascorbic and citric acid that makes the blend perform as though it had a cure accelerator like sodium erythorbate, and the green tea extract contains natural antioxidant that helps lock in the cured meat pink color and resist fading during the shelf life of the meat product.

M&P: How will your company's natural product line evolve or possibly diversify to meet anticipated natural meat and poultry category growth?

Cassidy: With regard to diversification of natural products, I am currently developing a natural cure blend that will be permitted in "organic" cured meat and poultry products. It will be similar to the fore-mentioned blend named in the answer to your fourth question - except we will be fermenting "organic evaporated cane juice" instead of "cane sugar."

BindMax Natural Solutions

November 13, 2007

BindMax has developed a range of natural ingredient products that meet the latest USDA standards for “natural” labeling and are used to replace sodium phosphate, sodium nitrite, sodium erythorbate, modified food starches, and allergen based binders derived from allergens like milk and soy. All of these products are minimally processed. They are made using only traditional manufacturing steps such as drying, grinding, fermenting, and blending.

For people that question fermentation, please understand that fermentation has been used for centuries as the only natural way to make wine, vinegar, yoghurt, and sour kraut. Bindmax Naturals contain no preservatives including sodium lactate, potassium lactate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, or the like. BindMax Naturals contain no artificial sweeteners, no artificial colors and no artificial flavors.

Furthermore, BindMax Naturals contain no chemical solvents, no artificial emulsifiers or stabilizers like polysorbate 60 or 80. BindMax Naturals contain no trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils, and do not use genetically modified ingredients (GMO free). BindMax Naturals contain no other traditional meat processing ingredients like sodium erythorbate, sodium phosphate, corn syrup solids, or any other ingredient that USDA no longer considers natural.

BindMax Naturals do contain fermented blends of natural ingredients like spices (mustard, pepper, rosemary, celery, etc.), meat stocks (beef, pork, chicken, turkey), sea salt, cane sugar,raw sugar (turbinado), and the like. Please feel free to contact me directly at 866-686-3668 or rcassidy@bindmax.com to discuss or sample our new BindMax Natural solutions.