Liquid smoke, also known as smoking flavorings or simply smoke aroma, is created by cooling and collecting the smoke of heated wood, and after cleaning impurities and mixing it into food products, a smoked product is obtained.
One of the ways to use this liquid smoke is to soak the produce in the solution. However, this method raises the most doubts not only among consumers, but also among experts – such a method is not only completely distant from the traditional smoking process, but also, according to the evaluations of the European Food Safety Authority, it can be harmful to human health.
“Frankly speaking, it was a surprise to me that such things are used in Lithuania, and the processors are now asking to postpone the consideration of the ban and allow them to continue producing such products,” says D. Dundulis.
However, according to him, this is a deception of consumers – many lovers of smoked meat do not even suspect that they are buying and eating products soaked in a liquid smoke solution.
“The buyer, one might say, remains deceived. If such products are already on sale, they should be marked accordingly. Just as the mixture of milk and vegetable fats is labeled as “greasing fat mixture” instead of butter, the meat product that was smoked unnaturally, using substitutes, should be labeled in some way,” D. Dundulis is convinced.
The businessman is angry for good reason – in the butchery of Rivona, a company owned by Norfa mažmena, since its opening, all meat and fish products have been smoked only naturally, but without separate labeling, this does not create any added value.
“Perhaps then we should indicate on our labels that the product is smoked naturally, not artificially or something like that,” thinks the head of Norfa.
Natural smoke only
Rivona meat technologist Daiva Vaišvilienė says that smoking liquid smoke was never considered, because the company has always advocated naturalness.
“The thermal processing equipment in our company is adapted to smoke products only with natural wood. We use beech and alder wood for smoking products, which are delivered from selected suppliers with quality certificates that meet the established requirements,” says the specialist.
A few years ago, the meat processing company purchased and installed a completely new generation of modern thermal processing and smoking chambers equipped with a natural wood closed smoke circulation system.
“This system is environmentally friendly, with minimal emissions and lower energy costs.” This means that the smoke that has worked in the chamber is not released into the atmosphere, but is returned to the smoke generator for replenishment. Since less energy is needed to heat the camera, about 30% is saved. heat energy”, explains the meat technologist.
What’s more, these chambers are equipped with a friction smoke generator that allows you to adjust the intensity of the smoke.
“Smoke is produced by friction at a temperature of about 450 degrees. Having the ability to easily regulate the intensity of the smoke, we can produce much healthier products”, says the interviewer.
According to her, traditional cold-smoked and hot-smoked rural products remain among the most popular products “born” at the Rivona meat processing plant among consumers.
“These are products that smell like real rustic and natural smoke with traditional Lithuanian spices – various peppers, garlic, bay leaves. The most popular are cold-smoked hams and loins, bacon, bacon,” says D. Vaišvilienė.
Tags: Dundulis widespread method smoking meat products cheating buyers
