¡Hello again to everyone and welcome to our Blog! Today, we are proud to introduce to you our 2020 catalogue, which encapsulates all the research findings and developments achieved by our team till date: the 2020 AMEREX CATALOGUE.
Amerex has over 40 years of experience in the food industry, and we believe in helping producers and consumers alike, which is why we are sharing our knowledge to enable you in making better choices. Our philosophy has always revolved around the prioritization of R&D sector. For us, innovation goes hand in hand with our trials and analysis, and our conclusions have been brought about by many years of extensive research based on this philosophy.
So, here is the result of all this work! A document where you can find solutions to many problems that affect companies in the food industry, strictly adhering to our slogan: “A solution for every challenge”. We want to give you a little “sneak peak” of the content…
Here’s an introduction to all our main trials conducted using our preservatives and starters, on the meat industry.
Image 1. Trials on fresh sausage with our range of preservatives – Safemix
Image 2. Trials on burgers with our range of preservatives – Safemix
Imagen 3. Differences between dried sausages with/without a starter
Image 4. Pork loin injected with a Fermitrat starter
In addition to this, we have laid eyes on other prominent sectors of the food industry in the past few years. We believe that our range of preservatives will be of great use owing to their effectiveness. In the coming years, we aspire to develop and boost our potential to a greater extent, but for now, here is a brief glimpse into some of our trials.
Image 5. Trials in spanish omelettes with our range of preservatives – Biamex
Image 6. Trials in a filling sauce with our range of preservatives – Biamex
And there is so much more! Following are over 30 pages of visual documents to backup and display our research, would you like to take a look?
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.
https://amerexingredientes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Amerex-X.png600600Nuria Lázarohttps://amerexingredientes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Logo-web-amerex-madrid-2.pngNuria Lázaro2020-07-27 13:50:532022-08-09 12:30:35LET US SHOW YOU OUR NEW 2020 CATALOGUE
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 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.
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.
https://amerexingredientes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Protectores1.jpg6661000Nuria Lázarohttps://amerexingredientes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Logo-web-amerex-madrid-2.pngNuria Lázaro2020-02-10 11:14:002022-09-27 10:40:49THE IMPORTANCE OF LABELLING THINGS AS THEY ARE
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.
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.
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.
https://amerexingredientes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Amerex-Cabecero-lácteos.jpg495880Nuria Lázarohttps://amerexingredientes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Logo-web-amerex-madrid-2.pngNuria Lázaro2019-11-20 12:15:442022-09-27 10:41:15LISTERIA: A NEW CASE STUDY, IN A DIFFERENT BATTLEFIELD
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
https://amerexingredientes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Amerex-Listeria-monocytogenes-2.jpg400690Nuria Lázarohttps://amerexingredientes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Logo-web-amerex-madrid-2.pngNuria Lázaro2019-10-28 09:06:502022-09-27 10:41:23FOOD SAFETY, WHAT CAN WE DO TO FIGHT BACTERIAL THREAT?
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