The Denmark-based food ingredients company has developed nine "novel meat flavors" designed to secure the meat flavor in chicken, pork, and beef products where emulsion, water binding, or other processing activities tend to lower the meat flavor profile.
The products are heat stable and, according to Chr Hansen, can be used in combination with functional blends and other flavors, as building blocks, or as a single ingredient in applications where real meat flavors are needed.
"We designed these flavors to provide not only true meat flavor, but to be convenient and cost-effective for the food manufacturer as well," said Otis Curtis, director of marketing for meat and prepared foods for Chr. Hansen in North America.
He added that they are available in the most common taste directions, and can be used in several different meat products, meaning reduced flavor stock for the customer.
Chr Hansen seems to have been been actively rasing its profile in the media recently. Indeed, David Burrington, director of marketing for cultures and enzymes in North America, told FoodNavigatorUSA.com earlier this month that it is especially important for Chr Hansen to increase its visibility at present because the company is up for sale and wants to show it is "business as usual".
A report in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten suggested at the beginning of this month that the sale of Chr Hansen's ingredients arm could fetch nearly a €1 billion ($1.34 billion).
Citing an un-attributable source, the Danish daily said that following initial interest from about 20 to 25 investment funds and firms in the Danish firm's ingredients business, now there are seven to eight bidders left in the running.
The Financial Times quoted the Danish paper as suggesting the unit is likely to end up in foreign hands after fellow ingredients and enzymes firms Danisco and Novozymes opted out of the purchase.
Number one cultures supplier Chr. Hansen came up for sale in November last year after its major stakeholder decided to pull away from the ingredients slice of the company to focus on the pharmaceutical unit.