The texture of my current ham or bacon meat product is not good enough. What can I do to improve it?

For meat processors, a desirable texture is essential. Both sliceability and bite have important roles in texture, and can make or break the success (and profitability) of a ham or bacon product. What you might not know, though, is that adding hydrolyzed pork collagen to your pork product doesn’t just increase the protein content, but also improves texture

To improve texture, add hydrolyzed collagen

Using Sonac’s QBoost Pork Hydro-P Premium in your tumbled, cooked, or injected ham or bacon meat product will improve overall texture, sliceability, and bite. Hydro-P Premium is hydrolyzed pork collagen protein. Collagen is extracted from porcine bones and broken down into shorter peptides. Then it’s dried into a powder. It’s “hydrolyzed” collagen because the proteins are broken down into shorter peptides. The main advantage to this extra step is that the final product is easy to use and completely soluble in injection brines.

How QBoost Pork Hydro-P Premium improves sliceability

In tests performed at SPARC*, Sonac’s research center, we found that adding Hydro-P Premium to ham allowed us to produce thinner ham slices (and overall higher total yield) compared to a ham made without any added protein, or a ham with carrageenan added.

When collagen peptides are present, the meat proteins will form a stronger protein network. When a ham or bacon product has an ideal texture that leads to easier slicing, and there’s less yield lost. First, when the ham is cooked, there’s less cooking loss. Then when the ham or bacon is sliced, there are fewer broken meat pieces coming off the pork product, or sliced pieces breaking because the binding between the meat is optimized. And greater yield also means cost savings. For instance, in multiple tests performed by Sonac on average, a 2% yield improvement is seen in cooked hams when Hydro-P Premium is added (injection level: 50%). But also, there is a trend toward thinner slices of ham, bacon, and other meat products—and it’s being driven by consumer interest.

Hydro-P Premium ensures a meaty bite

Using hydrolyzed pork collagen protein in your ham or bacon product also improves the bite, and getting the appropriate bite texture is key for a satisfactory consumer eating experience. Adding Hydro-P Premium (compared to no protein or added carrageenan) can result in a meatier bite (and flavor).

A cost-effective way to improve texture

Overall, adding Hydro-P Premium is an easy way to improve texture in a ham or bacon meat product. Using it can also result in a cost savings for your company for a few reasons. One is product yield is increased (so you earn more per kilogram) and product loss is decreased (you lose less per kilogram made). And second, how we produce Hydro-P Premium allows us to price it very competitively. We source our collagen from porcine bones, not porcine skin—and pork skin tends to fluctuate in price more. We are also committed to supplying the meat industry, whereas other hydrolyzed pork collagen producers are branching out to high value markets, such as the beauty and nutraceuticals market.

Learn more about Hydro-P Premium and download our whitepaper "The benefits of hydrolyzed collagen for pork meat" here.

Or, if you’d like to try a sample of Hydro-P Premium in your pork product, connect with one of our product specialists here.