Meat Flavour
Meat flavour is the general trade name for compound savoury flavourings that reproduce the aroma of cooked beef, pork, lamb or poultry. The bulk of the category consists of thermal process flavours, made by heating a protein hydrolysate with reducing sugars and sulphur bearing amino acids so that the Maillard reaction generates the same compounds that form when meat is cooked, rather than by blending isolated aroma chemicals alone.
The chemistry is dominated by sulphur. Cysteine and thiamine supply sulphur that ends up in furanthiols, thiophenes and thiazoles, and it is these that read as meat rather than as generic roast. 2-Methyl-3-furanthiol and its disulphide are the recognised character impact compounds of cooked beef, while pyrazines and pyridines contribute the roasted and grilled top notes. Species identity comes largely from the fat that is blended in afterwards, since the lipid degradation products of beef tallow, pork fat and chicken fat differ sharply from one another even when the underlying reaction base is the same.
Commercial forms are reaction paste, water soluble and oil soluble liquids, and spray dried powders on maltodextrin, salt or starch carriers. Powder is the volume form, though the lightest top notes are lost in drying unless the flavour is encapsulated.
We source bulk Meat Flavour from top China manufacturers for our partners, working with several of them. The manufacturers are in Beijing, Shandong and Fujian. 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
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Free flowing light brown to brown powder |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic cooked meat of the declared species, no scorched note |
| Moisture | Not more than 5.0% |
| Total Nitrogen | Not less than 3.0% |
| Sodium Chloride | Not more than 45.0% |
| pH, 1% Solution | 5.0 to 6.8 |
| Particle Size | Not less than 95% through 40 mesh |
| Lead | Not more than 1.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | Not more than 0.5 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 are set by species profile, by physical form and by strength. Beef, pork, lamb and chicken profiles are separate articles, and within each there are roast, boiled and grilled directions that differ in how far the reaction was driven. Strength is quoted as a recommended dosage rate rather than as an assay, since the material has no single active constituent.
The second distinction is compositional and matters for labelling. Grades built on meat hydrolysate carry real animal protein and can be declared as natural flavour with a meat origin. Grades built on hydrolysed vegetable protein and yeast extract are vegetarian in composition even where the profile is meaty, and are the basis of the flavours used in plant based products. Halal and kosher certified grades avoid porcine material and non compliant enzymes throughout, and low sodium grades replace the salt carrier with maltodextrin. Encapsulated powders are specified separately where the flavour has to pass through extrusion or baking.
Applications
- Bouillon cubes, stock powders and granulated soup bases, the largest single outlet for the powder grades
- Instant noodle seasoning sachets and seasoning oils in beef and pork variants
- Plant based burgers, mince and sausages, which have no meat aroma of their own and depend entirely on reaction flavours
- Retort and canned soups and stews, where a paste grade is dosed before sterilisation so that the flavour develops through the heat step
- Meat products with extended formulations, where a low meat content is supported by added flavour
- Savoury snack seasonings applied in the tumble drum with salt, spice and acid
- Marinades, injection brines and coatings, adding roast character to meat cooked without browning
- Sauces, gravies and ready meal components, using oil grades that carry into the fat phase
- Pet food palatants, where beef and poultry reaction flavours drive first bite acceptance
China Manufacturers of Meat Flavour
Top Meat Flavour manufacturers in China.
Beijing Deland Biotechnology Co., Ltd.1 ingredient in the directory- Liaocheng Xinhengji Biotechnology Co., Ltd.2 ingredients in the directory
- Quanzhou Benz Food Flavour Co., Ltd.4 ingredients in the directory
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
Thermal process flavourings form a defined category in European Union flavouring law, which prescribes the conditions under which the reaction may be run, including limits on reaction temperature and time and a requirement that the starting materials be food grade. Any flavouring substance added after the reaction must appear on the Union list of authorised flavouring substances. Flavourings sit outside the food additive framework, so no E number applies.
In the United States the reaction products and the added aroma chemicals are handled as generally recognised as safe flavouring materials, mostly through the FEMA GRAS programme, and flavours containing meat derived material fall under Department of Agriculture jurisdiction as well as that of the Food and Drug Administration. Codex assesses flavouring substances individually through JECFA rather than evaluating finished reaction flavours. Grades built on wheat or soya hydrolysate carry the corresponding allergen declaration, and where acid hydrolysed vegetable protein is used the chloropropanol controls that apply to that ingredient carry through.
Manufacturing Process
The starting point is a protein hydrolysate rich in free amino acids, made either by enzymatic digestion of meat and bone or by acid or enzymatic hydrolysis of vegetable protein, often with yeast extract added for nucleotide and peptide content. The hydrolysate is blended with reducing sugars such as xylose, glucose or ribose, with cysteine and thiamine as sulphur donors, and with the salts that set the reaction pH, since acid conditions favour the sulphur heterocycles and alkaline conditions favour pyrazines.
The blend is reacted in a jacketed pressure vessel, typically at one hundred to one hundred and twenty degrees for thirty to ninety minutes, with the temperature and time profile determining how far browning proceeds and whether the result reads as boiled or roasted. The mass is cooled quickly to stop the reaction, adjusted for pH and salt, then blended with rendered animal fat and top note aroma chemicals to establish species identity. Liquid grades are homogenised and filtered at this stage; powder grades are emulsified with a carrier, spray dried, and where required fluid bed agglomerated or matrix encapsulated for heat stability.
