Hydrosol
Hydrosol, part of the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, focuses on stabilising solutions. Carsten Carstens, R&D – meat products, told GlobalMeatNews that the company has launched a clean-label, preventative solution, which is not a preservative, but a fermented spice so only needs labelling as a spice extract on pack. In terms of trends within the meat industry, Carstens said that for more and more companies, alginate casings for sausages (alginate is a gel obtained from algae so it vegetable-based) were becoming increasingly popular, "but you very much need to adapt the sausage recipe". He said that Hydrosol was working on products for the formulation of sausages, which uses these types of casings. The company concentrates mainly on solutions for reducing the production costs of sausages made from poultry meat. Another trend to note was a move away from using soy in products, so the company is now offering a soy replacer, which can be used in emulsified sausages for example. And while not strictly a meat trend, Carstens added that there was a growing trend for meat producers in Germany to offer vegetarian and vegan alternatives to cold cut meat products.