Meat injection is a technique that has progressed rapidly of late. The bad reputation surrounding this technique is undeserved.
Various trade names are used to describe injected meat: injected, enhanced, marinated. The meat is treated with a watery solution in which salt, milk and soya proteins, stabilisers and antioxidants, etc. are dissolved. There are various techniques for introducing this solution into the meat: through hollow injection needles (the “brine method”) or through immersing the meat in the solution (the “tumbling method”).
The coagulating effect of the proteins entraps the watery solution in the meat and thus helps prevent loss of moisture during baking. In other words: the meat does not shrink.
In principle, this technique can be applied to any type of meat. In addition to the standard poultry and meat products B&S currently has also various types of enhanced pork and chicken in its product range. If there is a demand, we can extend our current product range to include beef.
The main advantage of this technique is that it makes the meat more tender and juicier, and not in the least bit tough. From cooking tests that we carried out on pork chops at a manufacturer, we learned that very little flavour is lost.
The most common injection values are 20% and 30%. Of the meat exported to Russia 15-20% is injected and of the meat exported to Africa and Asia 30%.
An added advantage is that this product is cheaper, which is an important asset for a number of very competitive markets.
