Duck Paste
Duck paste is a concentrated savoury paste made from duck meat, frame and fat that has been enzymatically digested and then reacted to develop cooked poultry aroma. It is a meat derived flavouring rather than a purely compounded one, sold by the pail or drum and dosed into a finished food at between a few tenths and a few percent.
Two processes give it its character. Proteolytic enzymes break down muscle and connective tissue protein into peptides and free amino acids, which supply savoury taste, body and the precursors for the next step. The digest is then heated with reducing sugars and sulphur bearing precursors such as cysteine and thiamine, and the Maillard reaction generates the furanthiols, pyrazines and sulphur heterocycles that taste of cooked meat. Rendered duck fat is present through both stages, because the aldehydes and other carbonyls formed when duck fat is heated carry the gamey richness that distinguishes duck from chicken, and a paste made without it tastes like generic poultry.
The finished product is a thick dark brown semi solid that softens on warming and disperses into hot water. Its salt content and low water activity give a long ambient shelf life in a sealed container, and it separates slightly on standing, so it is stirred before use.
We source bulk Duck 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.
or call +86-21-6858 0751
- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Thick dark brown semi solid paste, softens on warming |
| Odour and Flavour | Characteristic cooked duck, matching retained reference |
| Total Solids | Not less than 60.0 percent |
| Total Nitrogen | Not less than 3.0 percent |
| Amino Acid Nitrogen | Not less than 1.2 percent |
| Fat | 8.0 to 25.0 percent depending on grade |
| Sodium Chloride | 20.0 to 40.0 percent depending on grade |
| Moisture | Not more than 40.0 percent |
| pH, 10 percent solution | 5.0 to 6.5 |
| Peroxide Value of Fat Phase | Not more than 5 meq/kg |
| Lead | Not more than 1 mg/kg |
| Total Plate Count | Not more than 10,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | Not more than 100 cfu/g |
| E. coli | Absent in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades differ first by how much genuine duck material they contain. High meat grades are built largely on duck extract, hydrolysed duck protein and duck fat and carry the fullest character, while economy grades substitute hydrolysed vegetable protein and yeast extract for part of the meat and lean more heavily on the reaction and on added flavour. Total nitrogen and amino acid nitrogen are the practical measures buyers compare, alongside fat content.
They differ second by profile, since roast, braised, salted and broth style pastes are made under different reaction conditions and are not interchangeable. Form is a third axis, with paste the standard presentation and spray dried powder and oil dispersed liquid used for dry blends and seasoning oils respectively, at the cost of some of the heavy notes that drying strips out. Halal certification is commercially significant in this class because the raw material is animal, and species declaration and traceability documentation accompany every lot. Salt level, fat level and colour depth are specified attributes, and low salt versions require chilled or frozen distribution.
Applications
- Instant noodle duck soup bases, in both the paste sachet and the powder blend
- Braised duck, marinated duck and deli poultry products
- Roast duck sauces, pancake sauces and dipping condiments
- Hotpot and casserole bases with a poultry positioning
- Dumpling, bun and pastry fillings, where flavour is lost during steaming
- Bouillon, stock powders and foodservice gravy bases
- Snack seasoning, dispersed in an oil slurry before tumbling
- Retorted and frozen ready meals, where the reaction body survives thermal processing
- Reformed and injected poultry, restoring character lost through tumbling and cooking
- Pet food, as an in-mix flavour or coating palatant
China Manufacturers of Duck Paste
Top Duck 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 a paste of this kind is a food ingredient, and where it contains poultry above the applicable threshold it falls under United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service jurisdiction rather than that of the Food and Drug Administration. The Food Safety and Inspection Service controls establishment inspection, label approval and product naming. Hydrolysed protein must be named by its source in the ingredient list, monosodium glutamate where present is declared by name, and the FEMA GRAS programme covers compounded flavour components, whose labelling follows 21 CFR 101.22.
In the European Union thermal process flavourings form a defined category under Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, which sets the reaction temperature and time conditions and the permitted starting materials and fixes maximum levels for certain substances that can form during heating, so product made within those conditions requires no individual authorisation and carries no E number. Because the raw material is of animal origin the establishment must be approved under Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 and the material must be fit for human consumption and fully traceable. Where acid hydrolysed vegetable protein forms part of the formula, 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol and its esters are the routine release test. Codex is relevant through its general guidelines for the use of flavourings and its code of hygienic practice for meat.
Manufacturing Process
Duck meat, frames and fat trim are received chilled or frozen, inspected, ground and charged to a jacketed reactor with water. The slurry is heated to inactivate native enzymes and to begin collagen conversion, then cooled to the working temperature of the added proteases and held until the target degree of hydrolysis is reached. An exopeptidase is generally included alongside the endopeptidase, because unchecked endopeptidase action generates bitter hydrophobic peptides that cannot be removed later. The enzymes are then inactivated by a short high temperature hold, and the digest is separated in a decanter or centrifuge so that bone and insoluble solids are removed and the fat is recovered, part of which is returned to the batch.
The clarified hydrolysate is concentrated under vacuum, then charged back to the reactor with reducing sugars, cysteine hydrochloride, thiamine, salt and duck fat, adjusted to a mildly acid pH and heated with agitation between ninety five and one hundred and twenty degrees Celsius until the aroma reaches the point set by the formula. Because lipid oxidation runs alongside the Maillard chemistry here and is the source of the species character, fat quality and reaction time are held tightly to keep the batch short of rancidity. The batch is cooled rapidly, blended with topping flavours, thickener and remaining seasoning, homogenised and hot filled into pails or drums, or spray dried for powder grades. Release covers total nitrogen, amino acid nitrogen, salt, fat, peroxide value, moisture and microbiology, with a sensory panel against a retained reference.
