Beef Extract Paste
Beef extract paste is the undried form of beef extract, a dark brown, highly viscous semi solid produced by cooking lean beef in water, separating the fat and insoluble protein, and evaporating the broth to roughly seventy five to eighty percent solids. It is the original presentation of meat extract and remains the reference form against which powdered grades are compared.
The paste is a mixture rather than a defined compound. Its savoury effect comes from free glutamic acid and other amino acids, from nucleotides including inosine monophosphate, and from the Maillard products generated as the broth is concentrated, while creatine, creatinine and the meat's mineral fraction contribute the characteristic background. Concentration also builds the deep brown colour that the paste carries into finished products.
At ambient temperature the material barely flows and is handled warm, typically by heating the drum to loosen it before dosing. It disperses in hot water to a clear to slightly hazy brown solution, is hygroscopic and will pick up water at an exposed surface, and its high solids and low water activity make it self preserving in a sealed container. Prolonged storage at elevated temperature darkens it further and dulls the fresh brothy notes.
We source bulk Beef Extract Paste from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shanghai. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
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- Function
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Dark brown viscous paste, uniform, free of foreign matter |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic concentrated beef broth, savoury |
| Solubility | Disperses completely in hot water |
| Total Solids | 75.0% to 80.0% |
| Total Nitrogen | ≥ 8.0% (dry basis) |
| Amino Nitrogen | ≥ 2.5% (dry basis) |
| Sodium Chloride | ≤ 4.0% (unsalted grade) |
| Fat | ≤ 1.5% |
| Total Ash | ≤ 22.0% (dry basis) |
| pH (2% solution) | 5.5 to 6.5 |
| Lead | ≤ 1.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | ≤ 0.5 mg/kg |
| Total Plate Count | ≤ 5,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | ≤ 100 cfu/g |
| Escherichia coli | Negative in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Negative in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The paste is specified principally on total solids and total nitrogen. Standard trade grades sit at 75 to 80 percent total solids with total nitrogen around 8 to 10 percent on a dry basis, and buyers quote both figures together because a paste can be brought to solids with a carrier without carrying the matching nitrogen. Amino nitrogen is stated alongside as an indicator of how far the protein has been broken down.
The trade separates paste made from meat only, from meat and bone, and enzymatically assisted grades in which a protease step raises free amino acid content and yield. Salted and unsalted versions are distinct items, as are low sodium grades produced for reduced salt formulation work. Halal and Kosher certified pastes are made on segregated lines. A more concentrated grade above 80 percent solids is available where freight and storage volume matter, and a diluted grade around 60 percent solids is used where the customer needs a pumpable material at ambient temperature.
Applications
- Bouillon cubes and pressed stock tablets, where the paste binds the dry ingredients as well as supplying meat character
- Wet soup bases and liquid stock concentrates, in which the paste dissolves directly into the batch
- Gravy and demi glace preparations, contributing both colour and body to the finished sauce
- Savoury sauce systems such as brown sauce, barbecue and marinade bases
- Filled pastry and pie fillings, where meat notes need reinforcing after baking
- Processed meat formulations including sausage, meatball and burger mixes
- Retort and canned meals, dosed to replace the meat character lost during sterilisation
- Pet food coatings and wet pet food gravies, applied as a palatant
- Microbiological culture media, where beef extract paste is a traditional nitrogen and growth factor source
China Manufacturers of Beef Extract Paste
Top Beef Extract Paste manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States, beef extract paste is a meat food product regulated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture, produced in an inspected establishment and labelled under the meat and poultry labelling rules rather than as a food additive. Meat extracts are recognised as flavouring materials by the Flavour and Extract Manufacturers Association where they are used at flavour level.
In the European Union the paste is a food ingredient rather than a food additive, so no E number applies and it is declared by name on the ingredient list. It is produced under the hygiene rules for food of animal origin in an approved establishment and carries an identification mark, and imports require a veterinary health certificate from an approved country and establishment. The bovine origin brings it within the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy controls governing specified risk material and raw material sourcing. Codex has no commodity standard for meat extract paste and JECFA has issued no additive specification for it.
Manufacturing Process
Lean beef trimmings are ground and cooked in water in jacketed extraction vessels at a controlled temperature that denatures the muscle protein and drives the soluble fraction into the liquid. Fat is separated by skimming and centrifugation while the batch is hot, and the coagulated insoluble protein is removed by decanting, screening and a second centrifugal stage. Where yield and amino acid content are to be raised, a food grade protease is dosed before or during cooking and inactivated by heat before separation.
The clarified broth is polished by filtration and concentrated under vacuum in a falling film or multiple effect evaporator. Low temperature evaporation limits further darkening and the loss of the volatile brothy notes. Concentration is taken to the target solids and monitored by refractometry. The finished concentrate is standardised for nitrogen and salt, held hot, and filled into lined steel drums or plastic pails, then cooled. Because the drying step is omitted, the process ends at this point, and the same concentrate diverted to a spray drier would give the powdered grade instead.
