USDA certification for meat, poultry flavors from T. Hasegawa helps meet demand for complex, authentic & clean-label options

12-Sep-2024 - Last updated on 12-Sep-2024 at 18:04 GMT

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Consumers are less willing to settle for basic flavor profiles, such as “beef” or “chicken,” and instead want increasingly complex and authentic options – like braised short rib or barbecued wings, according to flavor giant T. Hasegawa, which now can better meet this demand with the recent expansion of USDA-certified meat and poultry flavors.

Earlier this summer, T. Hasegawa USA officially secured USDA certification for meat and poultry flavor manufacturing after significantly enhancing its Cerritos, Calif., production facility to comply with USDA regulations for flavors sourced from meat and poultry ingredients that surpass the threshold for FDA oversight.

“If your facility is not registered with USDA, you can use smaller amounts of meat and poultry derived ingredients, but there are cut offs where a flavor moves from FDA to USDA. And the more [meat and poultry] you are able to use in your flavors, the better you can build that authenticity and richness” consumers want, Mary Maier, director of savory technology at T. Hasegawa USA, explained to FoodNavigator-USA.

She added USDA certification allows T. Hasegawa to handle meat and poultry proteins, stocks and fats to create spray dray emulsions, liquids and pastes in higher concentrations that meet a broader range of production needs. The company can offer those applications in a refrigerated, shelf stable and frozen format.

USDA certification also enables T. Hasegawa to offer more “clean label” meat and poultry flavors, Maier said. She explained the ability to use higher concentrations of meat and poultry allow the company to create products where those are the primary ingredients, rather than artificial options.

The certification also creates a local option for companies on the West Coast of the US, as T. Hasegawa USA currently is the largest flavor manufacturer in the western US registered for USDA-certified meat and poultry flavors.

T. Hasegawa further can pair this new capability with its existing Boostract and Hasearoma flavor aroma enhancement technologies to create distinct culinary flavors that consumers want.

Being able to use higher concentrations of meat and poultry proteins, stocks and fats as the “foundation” for Hasearoma and Boostract allows T. Hasegawa – and by extension the manufacturers that work with it – to segregate specific flavors, such as the differences between chicken breast and thigh or between braised beef and short rib beef, Maier said.

What flavors most interest meat-eaters?

And it is this level of nuance in flavor that consumers increasingly want in their proteins, according to a Flavor Flash report from T. Hasegawa published this spring.

“A little taste is sometimes all you need to prompt purchase,” according to the report, which notes 30% of consumers agree more diverse or exciting flavors would encourage them to eat more flavored meats and 38% who report they buy value added meat or meat alternatives to try a new flavor.

About a quarter of consumers are interested in buying protein with global flavors, including from Korea, Japan and the Mediterranean. This has helped sesame, for example, become an established flavor for meat products, and is bolstering bulgogi and chimichurri as emerging flavors and lemongrass and “Greek” as novel flavors for meat products, according to the report.

Growing international flavors in proteins on US menus include Japanese, Korean and Italian, menu mentions of which increase 12%, 12% and 10% respectively in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same period the prior year, T. Hasegawa reported.

Regionally influenced proteins also have room to grow, according to T. Hasegawa, which reports “southern-style,” “buffalo-style” and Nashville hot are of interest to consumers – especially Gen Z and Millennials.

“Less conventional global and regional flavors have potential” within meat and meat alternative products, “with some promotion and education,” according to the report.

For example, T. Hasegawa found more than 20% of consumers have not tried but are interested in trying chimichurri, Nashville hot, pickle, hone honey, Gyro-style, sweet chili, sweet bourbon and southern-style flavored proteins.

Likewise, 20% or more of consumers have not tried but are interested in trying with meat or meat alternatives balsamic, adobo, truffle, lemongrass and caprese, according to the report.