NL2012892B1

NL2012892B1 - Meat label.

Info

Publication number: NL2012892B1
Application number: NL2012892A
Authority: NL
Inventors: Hans Tromp Robert; Van De Velde Freddie
Original assignee: Het Kaasmerk B V
Priority date: 2014-05-27
Filing date: 2014-05-27
Publication date: 2016-06-08
Also published as: EP3149724A1; WO2015183086A1

Abstract

The invention is directed to a label comprising a bio-based adhesive and a sheet of a biobased polymer. The invention is also directed to a process for obtaining a labelled meat product by applying such a label to the surface of a fresh meat product and subjecting the thus obtained labelled fresh meat product to any process to obtain a finished meat product. Also to a process for obtaining a labelled meat product by applying such label, which comprises fibrinogen, to the surface of a fresh meat product wherein before applying the label to the surface of the fresh meat thrombin is provided to said surface.

Description

MEAT LABEL

The invention is directed to a label comprising a sheet of a bio-based polymer and in particular for a label comprising a sheet of a bio-based polymer for use on a meat product. The invention is also directed to a process to prepare an edible meat product provided with a label comprising a sheet of a bio-based polymer.

In the field of premium and/or specialty meat products, for example edible dried meat products, numerous local manufactures are active. The finished products are often marketed by making use of their origin. In Europe and other countries different laws are in force allowing only products originating from a specific region to be allowed to be identified as such in commerce. Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialties guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs. The purpose of these law is to protect the reputation of the regional foods, promote rural and agricultural activity, help producers obtain a premium price for their authentic products, and eliminate the unfair competition and misleading of consumers by non-genuine products, which may be of inferior quality or of different flavor.

Although laws are in place to protect local manufacturers of meat products it is not always possible to identify a meat product as the authentic product from its packaging. Tampering of labels is seen as a major problem. The present inventions aims at providing a solution for this problem.

The invention is directed to a label comprising a bio-based adhesive and a sheet of a biobased polymer.

Applicants found that such a label can be applied during the manufacture of the meat product, for example on the fresh meat at the start of the manufacturing process. This makes the label an integral part of the meat product and therefore less susceptible to tampering. Furthermore the label is safe when in contact with meat and it can be applied to the meat product without major changes in the meat product manufacture. Applicants found that the label can survive meat product manufacturing steps such as for example salting, spicing and/or and tumbling with or without a net. The label is found to withstand some amount of shrinking and drying of the meat product. Applicants further found that the label is printable. Further advantages will be described below.

The bio-based adhesive suitably comprises an enzyme and optionally a mediator which components or component promotes the adhesion of the label to the surface of the meat. The enzyme may create crosslinks between the label and the meat optionally in combination with the mediator. Examples of enzymatic cross-linking agents include transglutaminase, oxidoreductases, tyrosinase, thrombin and combinations thereof. According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the cross-linking agent is selected from the group of transglutaminase, oxidoreductases, thrombin and combinations thereof. Examples of oxidoreductases that may be employed as a cross-linking agent include lysyl oxidase, peroxidases (e.g. lactoperoxidase, horse radish peroxidase, myeloperoxidase), laccase, mono amine oxidases and combinations thereof. Most preferably, the cross-linking agent used is thrombin. Thrombin may catalyze the conversion of soluble fibrinogen into insoluble strands of fibrin. Instead of thrombin it is also possible to provide a source of thrombin which in use reacts to form thrombin. Examples of possible mediators are chlorogenic acid, fibrinogen, casein, whey and plasma proteins and their derivatives.

The bio-based adhesive may be present as a separate layer on the sheet of bio-polymer or be present as, suitably homogeneous, part of the sheet of bio-polymer. In the latter situation relatively higher contents of bio-based adhesive may have to be present in the composition to result in enough adhesive power when the label is applied to the surface of the meat product.

The bio-based polymer is suitably a protein or a polysaccharide or their derivatives or any combination thereof. Examples of proteins are vegetable proteins, for example gluten, cereal proteins, seed and storage proteins, and animal proteins, for example gelatin, collagen, casein and whey proteins, or proteins derived from blood plasma, for example fibrinogen and albumin, and proteins derived from eggs. Examples of polysaccharides are starch, glycogen, cellulose, hemi-cellulose, chitin, fructan, inulin and gums. Preferably animal proteins are used and more preferably fibrinogen, collagen, casein and gelatin are used. Gelatin comprising labels have been found to have good adhesive properties to the meat product.

Gelatin is a product obtained by hydrolysis of collagen. The collagen may be extracted from the skin, bones and connective tissue of animals such as cattle, chicken, pigs and fish. The gelatin may be prepared from collagen obtained from any source, for example from the same animal type as the meat product on which the label is to be used.

Preferably the label comprises next to gelatin also a plasticizer. Suitably the plasticizer is a C1-C3 alkanol or a compound containing multiple hydroxyl groups also referred to as a polyol or mixtures of these lower alcohols and polyols. Suitable lower alcohols are ethanol and iso propanol. Examples of polyol plasticizers are glycerol, polyethylene glycol (PEG), sorbitol, propylene glycol (PG) and ethylene glycol (EG). A suitably polyol plasticizer is glycerol optionally combined with ethanol as the lower alcohol. The weight ratio of plasticizer and bio-polymer may range from 1:2 to 0:1.

In a gelatin - glycerol comprising sheet the content of glycerol is suitably below 20 wt%. The water content in such a gelatin - glycerol comprising sheet is suitably low to even zero.

The sheet of bio-based polymer may also comprise pigments, dye, antibacterial agents, antifungal agents and ink. Ink may be present as a print on the label for identification.

The label may have any design and color. The design and/or color may for example be unique to differentiate the meat product from other meat products. The label may also be provided with a print, such as for example some sort of identification for example identifying the origin of the meat or the type of meat. Such identifications may be a data matrix such as a 2D or QR code or a letter and/or number combination. The label may also be provided with any kind of fingerprinting technique such as RFID or NFC. A suitable design for the label will comprise one or more perforations. These perforations or openings in the label are advantageous when the label is used on a meat support which will shrink in a further processing step, such as a drying or curing step. The openings can absorb some of the shrinkage. Furthermore the labels will be less easy to remove as a whole because the openings will tend to enhance that the labels will tear apart when removed.

The bio-based polymer and the bio-based adhesive may be the same. In such an embodiment the bio-based polymer also functions as the adhesive or as part of the adhesive.

An example of a polymer which also functions as a part of the adhesive is fibrinogen. It is possible to prepare a sheet of fibrinogen or comprising for its major part fibrinogen and use this as a label for meat. The adhesion may be achieved by adding thrombin or a source of thrombin to the interface between label and meat surface when applying this label to meat or adhesion is achieved by the thrombin which is already present in the meat on which the label is applied.

The invention is also directed to a label wherein the bio-based adhesive or one or more components of the bio-based adhesive may be comprised in the sheet of the bio-based polymer. Suitably fibrinogen may be comprised in a sheet of bio-based polymer, for example as part of a sheet of gelatin optionally also comprising plasticizer. The sheet of bio-based polymer may also comprise thrombin or a source of thrombin.

Another option is wherein the sheet comprises a layer of bio-based adhesive. Suitably such a layer may be a mixture of fibrinogen and thrombin which is applied to the sheet as a solid at temperatures in which the mixture is present as a solid. Preferably below -15 °C and more preferably below -18 °C and even more preferably between -18 and -20 °C. The sheet comprising such a layer is suitably kept at these lower temperatures until its final use when applying the label to meat. At these higher temperatures the fibrinogen and thrombin will react and act as the adhesive. An example of a suitable frozen solid is the aforementioned Fibrimex, which is a trademark of Sonac BV and comprises solid fibrinogen and thrombin.

The sheet of bio-based polymer and bio-based adhesive as described above may also be provided separately and only combined when the label is attached to the surface of the meat. For this reason the invention is also directed to a kit of parts comprising (i) a sheet comprising the bio-based polymer and (ii) a bio-based adhesive or a component of the bio-based adhesive. A suitable kit of parts is one comprising (i) a sheet of gelatin comprising fibrinogen and (ii) thrombin or a source of thrombin. Another example is wherein the bio-based polymer in (i) is gelatin and the adhesive in (ii) comprises fibrinogen and optionally thrombin or a source of thrombin. The bio-based adhesive in the above kit of parts may be fibrinogen and optionally thrombin, present as a liquid or as a frozen solid. The kit of parts may comprise a container of liquid fibrinogen and a container of liquid thrombin which contents are combined when applying the adhesive to the sheet. Fibrinogen and thrombin may also be present as a mixture of solids in the kit of parts. This mixture is suitably kept at low temperatures to avoid that the two solid components react as described above. An example of such a mixture is Fibrimex. When applying such a mixture at more elevated temperatures, e.g. ambient temperatures, the components will react to form an active adhesive between the sheet and the meat. The invention is also directed to the use of these kit of parts to apply a label to meat. Suitably the label is a label according to the present invention.

In the above embodiments fibrinogen and thrombin may be combined and suitably in a weight ratio of between 25:1 and 2:1. The fibrinogen and thrombin may be sourced separately and combined or may be sourced as a mixture. An example of a commercially available mixtures is the above mentioned Fibrimex. The optimum amount of fibrinogen and thrombin relative to the sheet of bio-based polymer will depend on the type of polymer and the type of meat to which the label will be applied. This optimum can be found by application tests using different ratios.

The sheet comprising the bio-based polymer may be obtained by for example cutting, die cut, stamping or printing a film of the bio-based polymer. The thickness of the sheet may be between 0.1 and 2 mm. The film of bio-based polymer may be obtained by extrusion or by cutting a film from a mass of bio-based polymer. Extrusion is well known and for example described for gelatin in Z.A. Nur Hanani, E. Beatty, Y.H. Roos, J.P. Kerry, Manufacture of gelatin-based films using extrusion: Assessment of Extrusion parameters on Film Properties, paper AFT578,11th ICEF 2011, May 22-26, 2011, Athens, Greece. The film may also be obtained by cutting a film from a mass of the bio-based polymer. Preferably the mass of polymer is in the form of a cylinder. By rotating the cylinder and placing a knife parallel to the axis of rotation at the outer surface of the rotating cylinder one may slice off a film of the bio-based polymer.

The label described above may find use in combination with any meat product. Preferably the label is applied to fresh meat. In one use the label is used in combination with fresh meat. In such a use the label can be applied on fresh meat in slaughterhouses to distinguish different pieces or the origin of meat. This enables one to track and trace the meat or identify the origin of the animal and thus the origin of the meat.

In another use the label is applied to a meat product which has went through some sort of preparation process, for example roasting and smoking and especially a drying process sometimes also referred to as curing,. In such a process the label is suitably applied to the fresh meat before performing the drying process. More especially the invention is directed to a process for obtaining a labelled meat product by applying a label as described above or according to the use of the kit of parts described above to the surface of a fresh meat product and subjecting the thus obtained labelled fresh meat product to a salting and drying step.

Applicants found that the label may become an integral part of the meat. It is further found that the label can survive a meat processing such as in a slaughterhouse or during a drying step and maintain to be readable. This enables one to effectively track and trace the meat and/or guarantee the protection of origin and/or name of the meat producer.

In the second use which includes a salting and drying step the meat may also be treated with all kinds of spices, flavorings and/or seasonings. The dried meat may be subjected to a step where microorganism grow on the surface during a ripening step under controlled conditions. Examples of meat products which can be combined with the label according to the invention is bacon, sometimes referred to as Lard, beef, sometimes referred to as Boeuff and ham, sometimes referred to as Jambon. The drying process may be very simple, as in case of bacon, to more complicated as may be the case for the beef and ham products. The simplified drying process may comprise a simple salting and spicing step followed by drying. The more complex drying process may comprise sequences of spicing, drying, pressing into a mould, drying, pressing into a mould and drying. The meat product may be placed in a textile bag or net during the process. The label is suitably applied to the meat product at the start of the above described drying process. This will ensure that the label becomes an integral part of the dried meat product. Drying may be performed by means of contacting the meat product with hot air or even smoked air.

The invention is also directed to a meat product, suitably a fresh meat product or a dried meat product, comprising a label as described above. The fibrinogen and thrombin as part of label as described above will after being subjected to the above illustrated drying process be converted to fibrin, being the cross-linked product of fibrinogen. The fibrin will provide the adhesive strength which ensures that the label is firmly attached to the meat product. The invention is thus directed to a meat product comprising a label as described above or to a meat product obtained by the use of the earlier referred to kit of parts. More especially the invention is directed to a meat product provided with a, preferably gelatin comprising, label and wherein fibrin provides the attachment between the label and the surface of the meat product. Fibrin is the product which is formed from fibrinogen as catalyzed by thrombin.

The invention will be illustrated by the following non-limiting examples.

Example 1 5 labels were prepared used having the properties as in Table 1.

Tabe 1

The labels 1-5 were placed on lean beef meat. The labelled meat products were subjected to an adhesion step at 4 °C for 30 minutes. After the adhesion step the condition of the labels was investigated. In Table 1 the observations are presented. These results show that the combination of gelatin and Fibrimex result in a good adhesion between label and meat.

Example 2

In this example a strip of a label consisting of 100 wt% gelatin on dry matter and having a thickness of 0.2mm, a width of 2 cm and a length of 6.5 cm was used. To one side of this label drops of a mixture of thrombin and fibrinogen (weight ratio 1:10) over a length of 5 cm was added. Subsequently the treated surface was placed on a piece of beef and left for a drying time as indicated in Table 2. After the drying time the label was subjected to a tear off experiment (TA.XT.PIus Texture Analyser, Stable Micro Systems) wherein the loose end of the label was lifted in a right angle with respect to the surface of the meat. The results for beef are listed in Table 2. The results wherein the label tears in two parts and a part remains fixed to the beef support are considered to be the best results. In terms of adhesion between beef and label.

Table 2

Example 3

Example 2 is repeated except that instead of beef ham is used as the support for the label. Similar results are obtained as in Example 2.

Example 4 75 kg gelatin, 10 kg glycerol and 17 kg ethanol was mixed at 31 °C during 43 minutes. This mixture was poured during 20 minutes into a tubular press. In the tubular press the mixture was held for 225 minutes at 85 °C and at 1.2 MPa. Subsequently the mixture was cooled down to ambient conditions during 9 hours. From the press a solid mass having the form of a cylinder was obtained.

The cylinder was taken out of the press and kept for 6 days to ripen and homogenize. The thus obtained cylinder was positioned on a cutting equipment which enabled the cylinder to rotate along its symmetrical axis. Then the cutting knife was placed against the side and the block was rotated against the knife in such a way that the knife cut a film of 0,8 mm thickness from the block. This film was collected and put around another ax forming a rol of film. From this film it was possible to obtain sheets of bio-polymer by e.g. stamping.

After keeping the cylinder for 10 days before cutting it was possible to cut a film having a thickness of 0.4 mm.

Example 5

From a film having a thickness of 0.4 mm as obtained in Example 4 a sheet having a size of 5 X 2 cm was cut. Along a length of 3,5 cm and a width of 2 cm 2 drops of a mixture of 10 weight parts fibrinogen and 1 weight parts thrombin was added to the surface of a piece of beef. The on the treated surface the resulting label was placed leaving an excess label strip of 1,5 x 2 cm. The beef was turned upside down such to sandwich the label between the beef and a support for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes the beef was turned again. The loose end of the label was lifted in a right angle with respect to the surface of the meat as described in Example 2. At a high force the label tore indicating a good adhesion between the beef and the label. Similar results were obtained for ham.

Example 6

From a film having a thickness of 0.4 mm as obtained in Example 4 a sheet having a size of 5 X 2 cm was cut. The sheet was coated with a layer of liquid fibrinogen and subsequently dried at ambient conditions. Example 5 was repeated except that two drops of thrombin were added to the interface between label and meat. A good adhesion was obtained between the beef and the label.

Claims

A label comprising a bio-based adhesive and a sheet of a bio-based polymer.

The label of claim 1, wherein the bio-based polymer is a protein or a polysaccharide, or derivatives thereof, or any combination thereof.

The label of claim 2, wherein the bio-based polymer is an animal protein or a derivative thereof.

The label of claim 3, wherein the bio-based polymer is collagen, casein, or gelatin.

The label of claim 4, wherein the bio-based polymer is gelatin.

The label of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the sheet of a bio-based polymer comprises a plasticizer.

The label of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the bio-based adhesive comprises an enzyme.

The label of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the bio-based polymer and the bio-based adhesive are identical.

The label of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the bio-based adhesive comprises fibrinogen.

The label of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the bio-based polymer sheet comprises a portion of or all of the components of the bio-based adhesive.

The label of claim 10, wherein the bio-based polymer comprises gelatin, and the bio-based adhesive comprises fibrinogen.

The label of claim 11, wherein the bio-based adhesive further comprises thrombin or a source of thrombin.

A kit of parts, comprising (i) a sheet comprising a bio-based polymer, and (ii) a bio-based adhesive or a component of a bio-based adhesive.

The kit of parts according to claim 13, wherein the bio-based polymer is gelatin, and the bio-based adhesive comprises fibrinogen as well as optionally thrombin or a source of thrombin.

Use of a kit of parts according to claim 13 or claim 14, to apply a label to meat.

Use according to claim 15, wherein the label is a label according to any one of claims 1-12.

A meat product, comprising a label according to any one of claims 1-12, or a meat product obtained on the basis of the use according to claim 15 or claim 16.

A meat product provided with a label comprising gelatin, wherein fibrin ensures adhesion between the label and the surface of the meat product.

A method for obtaining a labeled meat product, by applying a label according to any one of claims 1-12, or according to the use according to claim 15 or claim 16, on the surface of a fresh meat product, and subjecting the fresh meat product thus labeled according to a preparation method.

The method of claim 19, wherein the preparation method is a drying process.

A method for obtaining a labeled meat product, by applying a label according to any of claims 1-12, comprising fibrinogen on the surface of a fresh meat product, wherein, prior to applying the label to the surface of the fresh meat, thrombin is applied to the surface in question.