While economic and environmental conditions have caused record-high protein prices over the past few years, bold-flavored proteins are driving overall category growth, despite the fact that unseasoned proteins are flat to down year-over-year.
According to market research firm IRI’s FreshLook database, consumers are willingly spending 10 to 15 percent more for bold-flavored proteins versus unseasoned products.
This trend aligns with consumers’ increased reliance on convenient and pre-prepared food options.
While seasoning gives processors a way to add value to their products and keep up with changing consumer desires, the spice application process presents its own set of challenges.
Here are three seasoning application challenges that cause production inefficiencies.
- Inconsistent Spice Application – When workers apply spices either by hand or using a shaker, the protein is coated with an imprecise amount of seasoning. This can lead to inconsistent quality of seasoned products, threatening processor credibility and profitability.
- Product Waste – Manual-seasoning application also produces a considerable amount of product waste. Spices that do not adhere to the protein’s surface fall onto the plant floor and cannot be salvaged – wasting both product and money.
- Messy Production Lines – Changeovers on production lines running seasoned products can be costly and time-consuming. Seasoning that ends up on the production line or the floor takes extra time and effort to remove, which drastically slows down production speed and increases labor costs.
One proven method of increasing production efficiency and profits is the use of seasoning transfer technology. This innovative processing solution is available in seasoning sheets, casings, bags and netting, that seamlessly transfers seasoning to meats.
In an upcoming blog post, we’ll explore in detail how seasoning transfer application works and which seasoning solution is best for different proteins.
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