The minced meat purchased from the store looks fresh. But has it still been through the freezer?
Finns eat more than 40 million kilograms of minced meat a year. More than half of the red meat is sold minced meat. Adobe Stock / AOP
There is an ad on the television stating that one -character minced meat is not frozen. What on earth have the minced meat of other manufacturers go to the freezer?
We found out and asked about Hkfoods, Atria and Snellmann.
– During the manufacture, the temperature of the minced meat may rise to two degrees Celsius. In order to ensure the temperature target, we use a small amount of frozen meat with short freezing time in our manufacturing process, says HKFoods’ Musical Business Director Mikko Järvinen.
According to him, this ensures the best product quality for minced meat.
The same is said by Atria’s Communications Manager Marja Latvala.
– Minced meat is a sensitive contaminated product, and it is always necessary to ensure and always have a high hygienic quality in making and packing it, says Latvala.
He goes on to say that fresh meat is always used in minced meat.
– A small amount of meat can be used for mass production frozen to help keep the temperature of the minced meat low enough throughout the process. This is a prerequisite for achieving high product hygienic quality, Latvala says.
In this way, minced meat was packed with the HK line in 2014. HKScan
Latvala clarifies that in an industrial process, freezing meat is done very quickly and under optimal conditions, which has a very small effect on the microbiological and sensory quality of the product.
Snellman’s Marketing and Communications Director Tommi Fors says that all minced meat sold under your own Kunnon brand is made of non-frozen meat.
– This means that the minced meat journey to shops takes only a few days since the animals come to the house. The process is very fast because all the action from slaughter to packaging takes place in Pietarsaari under one roof, Fors says.
Freezing forms ice crystals in the meat that break the cellular structure of the meat. Depending on the speed of freezing, the crystals may be larger or smaller. In slow freezing, the crystals are larger and break the structure more.
However, Fors notes that industrial freezing is generally very effective, which breaks less than the cellular structure of the meat.
The amount of liquid from minced meat depends on the effectiveness of freezing and how much frozen meat is used for the product.
– When melting meat, a broken structure causes more fluid to remove the meat. This is the case because meat proteins are unable to bind fluid to the meat, Fors explains.