A&B Ingredients Offers Natural Preventative Against Foodborne Illnesses

A&B Ingredients, a leading developer, marketer and distributor of food ingredients, has developed CytoGuard LA, a powerful antimicrobial to combat pathogens.

22 Nov 2010 --- The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) estimate that more than 76 million incidents of foodborne illness occur in the United States each year.   As a result, the FDA's Safety Alerts and Recalls website has seen an ever-growing following of concerned consumers.  One area of deep concern to consumers is the spread of pathogens such as listeria, salmonella and E. Coli in prepared foods.

"For the most part, foodborne illnesses are the direct result of eating foods or drinking beverages that are contaminated with bacteria, parasites, or viruses. However, harmful chemicals can also cause foodborne illnesses.  In most instances, contamination occurs in food processing," says Gil Bakal, A&B Ingredients' Managing Director.

Bakal notes that A&B Ingredients, a leading developer, marketer and distributor of food ingredients, has developed CytoGuard LA, a powerful antimicrobial to combat pathogens.  Based on Lauric Arginate, a derivate of Lauric Acid, L-Arginine and Ethanol -- all naturally occurring substances -- CytoGuard LA is specifically designed for use in ready to eat (RTE) processed meat and poultry products.

"CytoGuard LA is effective at significantly reducing bacterial levels in a wide range of food products by altering the cell membranes of the microbes, thus preventing their growth," says Bakal.

He notes that the efficacy of CytoGuard LA is not affected by pH and has a wide spectrum of activity and functions on nearly all bacteria.  "It is particularly effective against listeria, salmonella, E. Coli, campylobacter, yeast, molds and lactobacillus, just to name a few," states Bakal.

CytoGuard LA is also effective for improving food safety and reducing bacteria levels of refrigerated food products, all types of prepared salads, as well as ready-to-eat fresh cuts of meat and poultry.  Because it is used at low levels, it typically does not impact flavor, color, texture or pH of the product.

Among the benefits of CytoGuard LA are:

* Stable up to one year
* Stable in pH ranges 3-9
* Stable to heating and freezing
* Concentrates in the water phase of products
* At typical usage levels it does not impart any off flavors to most food products
* It is a clear liquid and will not affect the appearance of food products

The preferred method of application of CytoGuard LA is through A&B Ingredients' SLICT (Spayed Lethality in Container) technology.  SLIC is a patent-pending process designed to improve the safety of ready to eat (RTE) processed meat products against foodborne contaminants.  But unlike its conventional rivals, SLIC is based on introducing an antimicrobial into the vacuum packaging of the RTE meat products before, or as the product is inseRTEd, using the force of the vacuum to spread the antimicrobial purge.

Bakal added that the active components in CytoGuard LA have been proven a safe and effective alternative to conventional processing treatments.  He said, "Full toxicology studies and research have been conducted on the active component in CytoGuard LA and were found to be a non-toxic compound.  The active compound in CytoGuard LA is metabolized by the body very rapidly and broken down into its natural building block components."