Focused on functionality

摘要

Fifty years ago, a major meat processing formulation trend was binding fat. This trend has since changed to binding water, says Bob Rust, professor emeritus, Iowa State Univ., Ames, Iowa. "When you tax the ability of the meat proteins, for example, to bind water, and you still want to add more for textural purposes to maintain juiciness, then it becomes necessary to incorporate some type of a binder," Rust says. "And there is a whole variety of them. The reason for wanting more water in some meat products, other than economic reasons,rnis to maintain the juiciness of the products...and in some cases to help retain the flavors and form. Binders play an important role."