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Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LABELLING THINGS AS THEY ARE

10 February, 2020/by Nuria Lázaro

Welcome again to Amerex’s Blog!

We have already entered February and it seems like a very busy month, on which we keep receiving many updates from the food industry. Some of them are very inspiring to begin a new season of our wonderful Blog. Let’s check it out!

Year 2020 welcomed us with a new law set up by the USA that forbids vegan and vegetarian companies to label ‘meat’, in the full sense of the word, to products that seem like it. This law, which is called The Real MEAT Act (The Real Marketing Edible Artificials Thruthfully Act of 2019), establishes the definitions for ‘beef’ and ‘beef product’ and require the imitation products to contain the word ‘imitation’ immediately before or after the name. These terms are found to ensure that there is no misunderstanding for the consumer, so they know that the food they eat does not contain meat at all.

The Real MEAT law defines "beef" or "beef product" as any food containing edible meat tissue from domesticated Bos indicus or Bos taurus cattle

The law defines with the term ‘imitation meat food product’ as any product manufactured to appear as a meat food product or any food product, which approximates the aesthetic qualities (primarily texture, flavour and appearance) and/or chemical characteristics, but does not contain any meat, meat food product, or meat by-product ingredients. In addition, it defines the terms ‘imitation meat food product’ and ‘imitation meat by-product’, so that it leaves no room for doubt for the vegetable product companies.

This law has been brought up as a result of the general discontent regarding this matter for a long time. Not only regarding meat products and its by-products, but also with the so-called vegetable ‘milk’.

According to the trends we have been exploring for the last several years for alternatives to the traditional products, vegetable beverages have increased and become highly important. From the beginning, the preferred term was vegetable ‘milks’: soya milk, almond milk, coconut milk…

This matter brought about a very interesting discussion as in the meat industry, that these beverages cannot nutritionally replace original cow’s milk, nor does their components or its nutritional content. Therefore, one cannot substitute the other under any circumstances.

What does the law state? According to the current legislation (Council Regulation (EC) nº 1234/2007), ‘The term ‘milk’ means exclusively the normal mammary secretion obtained from one or more milkings without either addition thereto or extraction therefrom’. However, this shall not apply ‘to the designation of products the exact nature of which is clear from traditional usage and/or when the designations are clearly used to describe a characteristic quality of the product’. The last statement refers to a list of products that appear in the Commission Decision of 20 December 2010, on which almond milk is found to be the only vegetable beverage that can be labelled under this term.

We have already explained the law statements according to the nomenclature of meat products. Nevertheless, what are the consequences of it? These products do not apply to the same food safety and labelling standards as beef. Even though they are named after it, it is true that the ingredient’s legislation is not under control and therefore any additive may be added in their formulations. In other words, companies take advantage of very good marketing, making it look like meat, and what’s more, rules for additives are completely different. Besides, it is important to mention the analytics and inspections carried out in the meat industry, for example with Listeria or other pathogenic microorganisms, which are very strict. These are not so well defined in this type of products.

Then, what should we do? For now, this is the situation and that means for many companies to search for solutions for enhancing shelf-life and safety, such as the ones we provide at Amerex. Our technology is based on microorganisms that fit any nomenclatures and legislations, for every final product. And why are we so certain? Because we know that manufacturers have healthy foods on the market with consumer-oriented labels and Amerex as their provider of natural safety solutions.

Would you like to know more? Contact us and we will help you with everything you need.

See you soon and we will keep you updated!

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Phone number: +34 91 845 42 14

Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

LISTERIA: A NEW CASE STUDY, IN A DIFFERENT BATTLEFIELD

20 November, 2019/by Nuria Lázaro

Hello everyone and welcome again to our Amerex Blog!

As we have mentioned in our previous Blog posts, Listeria monocytogenes, a common bacteria found in the food industry as well as the disease it causes -listeriosis-, are back in the spotlight. As per the information gathered in the last few months, even though it is related to the meat industry, it poses a threat to many other sectors as well.

Therefore, the objective of this Blog post is to ensure that everyone is conscious of another battlefield when it comes to Listeria: dairy industry. Specifically, and as a case study, we would like to explain a very interesting situation that happened at Amerex. Let’s have a look!

Feta cheese is a Greek origin cheese made mainly from goat milk. It is considered a “ready-to-eat meal” by the AESAN as it doesn’t require any cooking or processing to reduce or eliminate the presence of Listeria monocytogenes to bring it within the acceptable range. This is the main reason behind the prevalence of this type of bacteria in this cheese. Furthermore, according to integrated mathematical models in ComBase, an online tool created by a collaboration between Tasmania University and the USDA-ARS for quantitative food microbiology, feta cheese is classified as a food where the growth of Listeria monocytogenes is possible due to its pH, aW and lactic-acid concentration.

Feta cheese, a food where the growth of Listeria monocytogenes is possible

Nevertheless, numerous research papers published in major scientific journals proved that feta cheese, in particular, prevents the development of this family of bacteria and, in addition, leads to a progressive inactivation of microorganisms. These researches fool the industry into believing that feta cheese meets the necessary food safety requirements of food safety for Listeria monocytogenes for its entire shelf-life, however, it is important to bear in mind the significance of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), such as: contamination level of raw materials, specific processing conditions, etc… All of these are included in the barriers we discussed in the previous post from our Blog.

In fact, these HACCP guidelines contradict the information in the aforementioned scientific journals. The moment any raw material, mainly pasteurized milk, is contaminated during fermentation, it provides ideal conditions for the proliferation of the infectious agent within the first two days. Considering this growth, under certain circumstances, some strains of Listeria monocytogenes can survive a standard pasteurization process; this could be a cause of alarm for human health safety.

It should be noted that the low temperature and low pH conditions during storage provide an ideal environment for the stabilization of the bacteria in high concentrations. In addition, even in temperatures starting 1.7 ºC and above, it cannot be guaranteed that the cheese is free of pathogens. In addition, the regulation parameters specify that, in order to prove that Listeria monocytogenes does not grow in a product, it would have to meet one of the following requirements: pH≤4.4, or aW≤0.92, or a combination of both parameters: pH≤5.0 and aW≤0.94.

Since feta cheese has a pH of 4.4-4.6 and aW of 0.94-0.95, it barely fits within these parameters and it is likely to exceed in some batches. Therefore, taking into account the temperature mentioned above, we could be facing potential threats.

Following this explanation and the previous post from our blog, it is key to try to manufacture a 100% safe food item. It is clear that there is no single formula for achieving this level of absolute safety. However, the more barriers between the pathogen and our product, the better.

This is a problem that affects not only meat and dairy industry, but also other sectors of the food industry that are normally considered exempt for this threat.

There is always something to be done for improving safety. We invite you to share your own concerns, whatever industry you belong to, and we will provide personalized assistance to boost your confidence regarding the launch of products.

Here at Amerex we design our preservatives with specialized technology and are constantly developing our know-how, to achieve one of our main objectives: building a set of barriers that are unbreakable for any harmful microorganism.

Once again… Here we are!

DOWNLOAD THIS POST: Listeria: A new case study, in a different battlefield Download

Phone number: +34 91 845 42 14

Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

FOOD SAFETY, WHAT CAN WE DO TO FIGHT BACTERIAL THREAT?

28 October, 2019/by Nuria Lázaro

Welcome again to our blog as we say goodbye to summer! In today’s Blog, we will discuss one of the hottest issues in food industry at present-ensuring food safety against Listeria.

At Amerex, we are always on the lookout for important issues that concern major sectors of the food industry. Particularly, in recent months, various health problems caused by Listeria monocytogenes have surged, so let’s look into this in detail to find out more. For example, heat is not a deterrent to the growth of this bacteria, many products that are manufactured using various heat treatments, like fermented sausage (“chorizo”), cooked blood sausage (“morcilla”), roasted meat (“carne mechada”), or any other product strongly treated by heat, might still be affected by the growth of Listeria. There is a common tendency to rely these heat treatments followed by the refrigeration processes to eliminate the presence of these bacteria entirely but, ultimately, these act only as barriers. We believe that each barrier, though beneficial, works as an additional wall to prevent contamination. Therefore, the more barriers, the better the safety.

List of protective barriers: moisture and pH, packaging, chemical additives, atmosphere control. storage, HACCP systems and heat treatment

The need to protect meat products like the ones mentioned before against the harmful effects of Listeria is a serious issue that the food industry deals with currently. In case of the meat, there are two barriers: the heat treatment, which is the former barrier, followed by the refrigerated storage, which acts as the latter. Specifically related to the storage, we would like to cite this article from El Mundo: Listeria: Crece la amenaza de la bacteria que sobrevive en tu nevera (“Listeria: The threat of the bacteria that survives in your fridge grows”). This article describes the occurrence, development and consequences of the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in food and the measures to be taken for preventing its appearance and growth. However, heat treatment and refrigeration, combined with control of the product’s initial microbial load and hygiene, are sometimes taken into consideration while at other times, overlooked.

As companies in the meat sector, you may think that by controlling the above-mentioned barriers, you have already controlled the presence of Listeria, but sometimes, things are not that simple. In addition to all possible barriers, out of which heat treatment, refrigeration and hygiene are the most significant to consider when it comes to safety control, there exist further barriers like the preservative solutions provided by Amerex. One of our top sales, Fermitrat® Export, would act as an additional barrier by itself.

Image showing the effect of Fermitrat-Export, one of our preservatives, against Listeria sp. inoculated in foie. You can see how both dosages of Fermitrat control growth better, practically eliminating this bacteria at a dosage of 1.5 g/Kg of the preservative

Image showing the effect of Fermitrat-Export, one of our preservatives, against three strains of Listeria sp. inoculated into sliced turkey. At a dosage of 1.5 g/Kg of Fermitrat, a bacteriostatic effect is produced, preventing the growth of the bacteria which is three logarithmic units lower than the sample without the preservative

Among the barriers, we can find references in the legislation about microbiological criteria, which includes pH and aW criteria. Therefore, once these two parameters are met, there is no further requirement to ensure safety.

Extract from the legislation about microbiological criteria, which establishes that products with less or equal to 4.4 pH levels and less or equal to 0.92 water activity, or products with with less or equal to 5 pH levels and less or equal to 0.94 water activity, cannot support the growth of Listeria monocytogenes

You may think that by abiding to the legislative parameters and maintaining adequate supervision pf certain other parameters, you are free from danger against Listeria. However, if you aim to create higher quality, more desirable products, you could even lower the pH and aW requirements by adding a protector in your manufacturing process.

The choice is in your hands, we are available round the clock to clarify your doubts and uncertainties and to provide you the necessary assistance to meet your requirements.

DOWNLOAD THIS POST: FOOD SAFETY – What can we do to fight bacterial threat?Download

Phone number: +34 91 845 42 14

Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

2019 MEETING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LLEIDA – Use of starters in the food industry

5 September, 2019/by Nuria Lázaro

Hello again and welcome to a new Blog post. For one more year, we have participated in a meeting to share our knowledge with the students of the Master in Innovation and Management in the Food Industry, taught at the University of Lleida. Here is the whole experience!

The conference was impeccable thanks to this centre where we always feel like home whenever they invite us to share our experience and our thoughts about today’s industry.

For many years Luciano and Alejandro, Amerex’s technical experts, dealt with some topics such as the application of starters in the meat industry, but this year the rest of the food industries were presented with a special emphasis.

Other industries in the food sector: dairy, fish, ready meals, sauces, vegans and vegetables and bakery

As we have already mentioned in other occasions, starter or ripening cultures are commonly used for a traditional purpose, which is to actively intervening in the creation of organoleptic properties of the final product during the manufacturing of fermented foods. This is performed through the production of acid and enzymes, as well as ensuring sanitary quality.

Particularly, preservative cultures increase shelf-life and safety of the final product, so they can last longer. Let’s see some examples!

Comparison of fresh loin with a chemical additive vs. Fermitrat Export, an Amerex's natural solution. The loin with the chemical additive has a considerably worse appearance due to gas formation, exudate, weak texture and yeast colonies

In the meat sector, we can see a comparison between two cooked loins, one of them injected with a common chemical additive while the other has been injected with one of our preservatives. The results of adding a preservative are remarkable and profitable, thanks to their capacity to control factors that negatively affect the final product, both microbiological and organoleptic.

Comparison between spanish omelettes with and without Fermitrat Export, an Amerex's natural solution. The omelette with the preservative has a better appearance

In the case of these two spanish omelettes subjected to high temperature conditions up to 33ºC, we can also see the difference between adding a preservative or not. Both organoleptic (gas generation, texture) and microbiological (analysis of total mesophilic and enterobacteria) results were worse in the spanish omelette without the preservative.

Comparison between fresh salmon with and without Fermitrat Export, an Amerex's natural solution. Salmon without the preservative has a completely discarded texture, and a greater liquid formation

Alternatively, in these salmon pieces, with and without preservative. Above all we can observe the liquid formation and texture. It can be stated then that the addition of a preservative clearly provides an advantage at least in an organoleptic level in this matrix.

What will be next? Our Pilot Plant is already preparing to carry out further trials in other applications. This year, the two top products in terms of preservatives that had not been tested so far are salmon and sauces for vegetable matrixes. Stay tuned, because we will continue reporting!

Image showing new applications of preservatives in different industries of the food sector, such as fish or ready meals

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Phone number: +34 91 845 42 14

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Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

AMEREX PARTICIPATION IN THE II LA RIOJA HEALTHY FOOD FORUM

10 April, 2019/by Nuria Lázaro

Last month, Amerex’s technical division had the honour of participating in the II Foro Healthy de Alimentación de La Rioja (II La Rioja Healthy Food Forum), invited by Centro Tecnológico CTIC-CITA, the perfect hosts who once again counted on us to disseminate and to share our knowledge.

This Forum exhibited the different challenges of the industry when facing a change in consumer trends towards healthier eating forecasts, based on innovation and product reformulation. Our technical experts Luciano Vivas and Alejandro Rodríguez made a presentation focused on clean label strategies adopted by the industry as technical solutions for these consumer demands. Do you want to know which thoughts they shared? Keep reading!

The presentation was based on several questions to be answered about possible solutions to carry out the clean label strategy, its influence on quality and its profitability.

Are there solutions? Yes. However, before facing them, a well-defined and balanced objective must be determined. It is difficult to define a tasty, healthy, unprocessed, appealing and free of E-numbers final product, even more with considerably enhanced shelf-life and safety. It is difficult and we have to be realistic.

Nevertheless, as we have said before, many solutions can be reached by establishing defined and balanced objectives. For example, if our objective is to eliminate sulphite, a slightly effective microbiologically preservative but a very good reducer speaking in terms of colour, we can use a clean label microbiological solution. This solution will certainly increase the shelf-life, however the colour will not be the one provided by sulphites. Besides, as we have stated before, Amerex is already working on solutions regarding colour. The following is a concrete example amongst many others:

Descriptive image about the different Amerex clean label blends as solutions to various industry challenges. These challenges are the following: color, gas and/or liquid formation, and growth of spoilage bacteria such as Lactobacilli/Gram +, Listeria, Enterobacteria, Anaerobes, and Moulds and yeasts.

Historically, we have applied our solutions almost exclusively to the meat industry. Nowadays, many other industries in the food sector demand this kind of strategy and we can assure that the formulas we provide are perfectly adaptable to them. These industries include dairy products, fish, beverages, ready meals, sandwiches, egg products, vegan products…

The second question to be answered is the following one, what impact does it have on quality? We can guarantee according to our expertise that microbiologically the quality is assured. As you have seen in the previous image, all the solutions are tested and verified in our pilot plant, evaluated through different tests such as the aforementioned Challenge Test.

To guarantee your quality, you must be surrounded by experts in other areas for synergetic relationships that promote the quality. This is the reason why we are delighted to collaborate with the host, CTIC-CITA, who helps us to develop thanks to its excellent facilities, its qualified staff and the ease of communication between us. Last but not least… Are they profitable? As we have mentioned before, with a well-defined objectives and a tested, well-designed product, a higher rate of validated products is achieved. This is the first criteria of profitability: good communication, trust and the establishment of objectives agreed by both parties. Higher profitability, with up to 20% more validations and better market performance is reached. We can state that only with 1% of final products not returned, you have already amortized the invested cost. Our solutions pay for themselves.

In this image you can see a comparison between a standard industry validation of a product, and a validation using the Amerex Method

Soon we will upload the full video of the day. Do not miss it!

Once again many thanks to our friends and we hope to see you all in future editions.

imasde@amerexingredientes.es

Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

SEEN FOR OURSELVES – Ripening starters for nitrites replacement in food industry

14 March, 2019/by Nuria Lázaro

Welcome again to our latest blog post! This post will be the first of many in our brand new section called ‘Seen for Ourselves’, as this section is all about empirical results of trials carried out in the pilot plant of Amerex facilities. You will get to know first-hand the experiences at our plant, how things work there and how each day we get a step closer to our goal of creating fully clean label products. Let’s dive in:

Last month we carried out a number of such trials with a common element: one of our starters specially designed to generate colour on the final product without the presence of nitrites. In food industry, particularly in the meat sector, nitrates and nitrites are considered necessary to start the nitrification process that imparts a characteristic colour to the final product. Here is a simple explanation of what happens during this process:

Metabolic reaction from nitrate to nitrosomyoglobin, generating colour in meat products — Nitrate is reduced to nitrite, which is further reduced to produce nitric oxide. This nitric oxide combines with myoglobin in muscles to form nitrosomyoglobin, which is responsible for the typical colour of cured meat. In case of cooked meat, temperature causes this nitrosomyoglobin to be transformed into nitrosylhemochrome, responsible for its characteristic pink colour.

Nitrates and nitrites have been considered a requisite in the food industry not only for their ability to generate colour, but also because they guarantee certain safety in the products by preventing the development of pathogenic bacteria, especially Clostridium botulinum, which causes botulism disease. In addition, the corresponding authority regulates the maximum dosage that can be incorporated into each food under specific legislation. It is apparent that we need to be cautious when it comes to nitrates because even though they are found naturally, for example in various vegetables such as lettuce, celery or even in water, a part of them is transformed into nitrites during the digestion process. These nitrites, in turn react with the stomach amino acids forming nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic substances. Finding nitrites directly in food is even more dangerous. For this reason, it is necessary to find substitutes to evade the presence of these harmful additives in products that we usually consume.

This has led us to conducting numerous trails throughout February using one of our main starters, capable of performing this nitrification reaction sans a natural or artificial source of nitrates or nitrites. Let’s look at one of our trials to see the difference between using nitrites and one of our cultures selected from a wide array of starters. We selected a specific starter for this trial involving a cooked pork loin as the final product.

For these trials, we used fresh pork loins of about 250 – 300 g, which we injected with different brines. Here is a description of each sample:

Sample 1: Control sample
Brine 2: Starter at 0.2 g/Kg
Brine 3: Substrate at 4 g/Kg
Brine 4: Starter at 0.2 g/Kg + Substrate at 4 g/Kg
Brine 5: 15 ppm of nitrites
Brine 6: Starter at 0.2 g/Kg + 2 ppm of nitrites

The amount of brine corresponding to the weight of each loin was injected. The results of storing them for 48 hours at a temperature of 0-4ºC and afterthe subsequent cooking were the following ones:

Comparison between sample 1 cooked loin and brine 3 cooked loin (substrate). Both look pale due to not using nitrites or starters — Image 1. Comparison between Control sample and Brine 3

Comparison between brine 2 cooked loin (starter) and brine 4 cooked loin (starter + substrate). Both look pink since the starter causes the nitrification and this is enhanced thanks to using an additional substrate — Image 2. Comparison between Brines 2 and 4

Comparison between brine 5 cooked loin (nitrites) and brine 6 cooked loin (starter + nitrites). Both look pink thanks to the starter and nitrites which trigger the nitrification reaction. — Image 3. Comparison between Brines 5 and 6

To start describing the results of the trial, in the first picture we can see that the Control sample and Brine 3 look practically the same. The substrate of Brine 3 is made up of components that enhance the growth of the starters. It can be observed that just by itself, i.e. without the addition of a starter, it does not produce any change in the loin’s colour.

Brine 2 and 4 have undergone a noticeable transition to the characteristic pink colour of cooked products. Even within Brine 2 and 4, the latter seems to display a brighter tone of pink as it is made up of the starter plus the substrate. Therefore, we can definitely conclude that the starter culture is key in this type of application and in the final product for the much-needed generation of the colour as required by the food industry.

The final comparison between Brines 5 and 6 shows that the presence of nitrites at a certain dosage also generates the typical pink colour, perhaps brighter than in the other loins. The result of Brine 6 loins is remarkable as they possess an extremely striking colour appealing to consumers even though they contain only a minute dosage of nitrite (the maximum dosage allowed under regulations is 100ppm).

To sum up, we have demonstrated that the use of starters is a very good alternative to nitrites in cooked products, since it causes the appearance of a characteristic colour that is of real interest for the food industry. When complemented with substrate or nitrites, somehow the intensity of that colour is further augmented.

Subsequently we will show you the results of using the same starter on other final products… Do you want to find out more? Stay tuned!

If you are interested in knowing more about this star culture, please contact us on the following email or phone number for a personalized advice:

Phone number: +34 91 845 42 14

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Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

THE GASTRO REVOLUTION

25 January, 2019/by Nuria Lázaro

Hello and welcome again to one more post from our Blog! Last week, we talked about the trends going strong in 2019, among which the world of plants was present. In this post we would like to provide a summary about the different consumers that exist nowadays.

In the past decade, new trends regarding food have appeared. These are based on a change in the consumers’ diet and sometimes they are linked to a change in their mentality too. How are these changes affecting the development of new trends and the industry-product-customer relationship? Let’s have a look at it!

In the first place, there are four types of consumers according to different diets and the food that is consumed in each of them:

Omnivorous: the traditional ones. They consume all kinds of meat, fish, dairy, eggs, vegetables, fruits, legumes…

Vegetarians: they consume vegetables and fruits. Some of them consume animal products such as eggs and dairy products (ovo-lacto vegetarian), but never meat or fish.

Vegans (or strict vegetarians): it is the fastest growing trend in the market with more and more followers each day, especially young people. They base their diet on vegetables, fruits, seeds and cereals, rejecting the consumption of animal origin products. In addition, they fight animal testing, (from food to perfumes, makeup, hygiene products, or textiles). They aim to respect and care for all animals, thus they condemn their exploitation and mistreatment.

Flexitarians: they stand on a vegetarian diet but occasionally allow themselves to consume meat and/or fish. Hence, more ‘flexible’ as their name suggests, flexitarians are fierce competitors for the kind of consumers above mentioned.

According to 2018 data, 92.2% of the Spanish population is omnivorous, while the remaining 7.8% (about 3.6 million people!) base their diet exclusively or almost exclusively on vegetable products. In addition, according to a study provided by The Green Revolution, in 2020, a vegetable products world market worth 5,000 million dollars will be reached. There is no doubt that this figure needs to be taken into consideration by the food industry.

Now back to the types of consumers we were analysing, other minority groups also include raw vegans (they only consume raw fruits and vegetables), pescetarians (they eat fruits, vegetables and seafood), or the so-called “fruitarians”, an extremely restrictive and almost ruled out vegan diet in which only fruits are consumed.

So, here we are dealing with a very interesting debate that does nothing but become more of a hot topic as the number of plant-based eaters increases.

On one hand, those who oppose these diets take the preservation of health as their main argument. They allege that the vitamin deficiency that some people experience because of these diets causes health issues. For instance, a vitamin B12 deficiency may lead to anaemia, as an iron deficiency can do.

In addition, when it comes to ingredients and additives, most of the new vegan products are highly industrially processed with a high proportion of ingredients whose quality may be questionable.

On the other hand, supporters of plant-based diets argue that many products containing sufficient amounts of proteins to compensate for the non-consumption of animal products can be found. However, the focus of their arguments on environmental sustainability is even more important.

Livestock activities on this planet are linked to negative environmental impacts such as deforestation, water and air pollution, global warming and loss of biodiversity, among other things. Besides, more than 70% of the land is used for growing food for cattle. This shows the need to change the way we feed in order to prevent the serious environmental impact that endangers our planet

In conclusion, it is clear that there are different opinions on the matter and that we must respect all of them. We must as well be very aware of all trends and possibilities to be able to adapt to changes. In Amerex, we are already searching for innovative food solutions and applications to cover all kinds of needs

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Phone number: +34 91 845 42 14

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Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

WHAT IS IN STORE FOR US THIS 2019?

15 January, 2019/by Nuria Lázaro

Happy New Year to all of you and welcome back to another Blog post with so much news ahead! We have left behind 2018 that, no doubt, has brought us many advances in the food sector. However, the New Year promises to bring us very innovative trends and for every taste: let’s go discuss it!

This Blog post is based on the review of the Top Ten Trends of 2019 of the FoodIngredientsFirst website, which we attended virtually and the reason why we can make this small summary.

The key idea and first trend on which all the industry plans will be developed is Discovery: the Adventurous Consumer. Since food has become more and more entertaining, colourful and emotional and it influence on how we feel (not only physically but also mentally) the consumer has become more curious about it. Two out of three consumers in the US, UK and China love to discover new items, from flavours, ingredients or textures to new packaging or restaurants that offer an innovative dining experience. We are looking for something new and different that makes us experience emotions. Some examples could be the watermelon ham (totally surprising!) from the Ducks Eatery restaurant in New York, or something more “understandable”, chocolate with chili.

As a second trend we have The Plant Kingdom, which has already been settling for years but which will continue in a very big way next year. It is based on an increase in the natural clean labelling trend, which redefines each year and is becoming more frequent. It represents the idea of the plant-based diet, increasing the fruit & vegetable consumption in terms of health, but with very interesting products to develop and evolve to get better and reach the most traditional consumers. The industry wants to find a way to participate in a new and different manner to get in touch with all kinds of consumers. For example, a balance between real meat hamburgers and vegan-vegetable hamburgers: the Boeuf vegetable Burger by Carrefour (France), with 50% minced meat and 50% coral lentils and pumpkin seeds.

The third trend is based on Alternatives to All: alternatives to bread, meat (meat substitutes have grown by 11%), dairy products (growth of 17%)… in order to improve health or to establish a diet variety, novelty or sustainable. There has been a very fast increase in product launches with a vegan claim, up to 45% of growing between 2013 and 2017, with products like Vegan Ice Cream bar by Magnum. Also other categories like Green Giant’s pizza or pasta alternatives, drink alternatives like Tesco’s low-alcohol Gin Tonic, or protein alternatives like pea or even insect protein.

A fourth trend that is a little further away from food itself, but with great importance is sustainability, the Green Appeal. Sustainability is a goal for all of us and companies must invest and make commitments to sustainability in the short and long term. There are very creative ideas in this matter, such as fighting food waste by taking advantage of manufacturing processes. Even for us in our own houses with the Aquafaba, which make the most of the cooking liquid of beans and other legumes like chickpeas to use it as an alternative to egg whites. As well, creating alternatives to single-use plastics to make biodegradable packaging, such as edible straws or edible seaweed packaging.

The fifth and last trend that we are fully reviewing is Snacking: the Definitive Occasion. Oh, how much we love to snack between meals… We can divide consumers into three target groups:

Millennials that replace their meals for snacks because they are too busy
GenX that are cutting out their sweet snack consumption
Boomers that are making changes to become healthier

For all of them, the companies must focus on how they innovate on snacking occasions. For example, some of the most innovative products are the following: the classic Babybells but this time with crackers, or Pringles into pizza-flavoured sticks. Taking into consideration the participation of vegans, companies have also invested in snacks for them based on fruit, rice, mushrooms, or even roots.

Here we finish the review of the trends for the upcoming months. We hope it provides a general idea of what is to come and we will see if the predictions are fulfilled during this year.

More information about new products in this link.

Nuria Lázaro is the R&D and Quality Manager for Amerex’s technical team. She holds a degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. She brings her experience in food preservation and safety, specializing in legislation and the development of new preservatives and antioxidants.

LOGBOOK I – AMEREX JOURNEY THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN

6 July, 2018/by Nuria Lázaro

One of the most satisfying things about our job is having the chance of visiting different places and leave the “city chains” behind; we consider it a breath of fresh air in the middle of our routines. For this reason, we would like to inaugurate this new section to speak about the life-lessons of Amerex’s trips.

We have finally returned to Levante! One of our favourite regions to explore. In this evolving world, internationalization and expansion processes within the different sectors make it highly difficult for us to prolong our stay in such enriching places. Unfortunately, we are running out of time…

Even though the days are few, it is always a pleasure to meet old friends. We say friends because so many years of relationships create small but strong bonds with the clients, which grow every day more than it may seem.

Being less sentimental (as the Queen song says, “didn’t mean to make you cry”), in this 2-day trip traveling more than 1,200 km we had the opportunity to visit many people, and some visits were very special. Beyond reporting about Amerex news, we were able to have a little chat with one particular client about industry topics that concern us all.

We both clearly agree to bet on quality, however it is an interesting debate that prevails in society that if you look for a quality sausage at the supermarket, you should be prepared to pay what its worth. As we have mentioned in previous blog posts, the consumer trend is to demand extreme quality of products but in a cheap way, which turns to be unfeasible.

Nevertheless, not only did we take part in this interesting thought. In addition, we were able to discuss about daily, personal issues outside the workplace. In this case, considering the physical injuries that could affect any of us, this valued client, despite the pain inflicted upon him, continues to work every day from the time of 5 am. He does not consider a treatment for the risk of losing working days worth it.

Such an example of perseverance, although we advised him to evaluate all the options since our true wish is for him to recover very soon. We stated this firmly, thanks to our close relationship, and just because of his gratitude and the feeling of being trusted, we are satisfied.

Within our humble capabilities, our purpose is always to offer our clients more than just products: trust and advice.

These trips are very rewarding, especially because we can see that the work done bears fruits and we can notice the satisfaction of the clients. Not to mention the opportunity to enjoy free time and forget the routine a bit.

See you in the next chapter…

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