Cleaner meat: Dawn Foods partners with Besmoke to infuse clean wood smoke flavors in bacon

02 Sep 2021 --- TMI Foods – a Dawn Farms company and UK supplier of fully-cooked bacon and Pigs In Blankets – has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with smoke and grill flavor supplier Besmoke to infuse its products with a natural, clean smoked flavor solution.

The new Puresmoke technology is designed to deliver authentic and clean wood smoke flavors and will be built into the curing and cooking process at TMI Foods’ facility in Northampton, UK.

“PureTech is a revolutionary new micro filtration technology, designed specifically to remove the most harmful elements of smoke, namely Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH’s) such as Benzo(a)Pyrene,” Conor Cahill, head of science and innovation at Dawn Farm Foods, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“This is the first time such a technology has been created which reduces the risk attached  to consuming naturally smoked foods. It is proprietary because the technology is patented globally and owned by Besmoke and exclusive to TMI for smoked bacon applications.”

Born from the desire to future-proof
PureSmoke is able to efficiently remove up to 95 percent of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and tar that are naturally present within smoke. 

“The filtration material is made up of a complex zeolite matrix that has been engineered to act as a filter, trapping only select PAH’s whilst ensuring the smoke flavour volatiles flow through the bacon smokers in TMI,” Cahill explains.

PureSmoke is able to effectively remove up to 95 percent of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and tar that are naturally present in smoke.“PureTech was born through the desire to future-proof a set of products that continue to gain popularity, namely smoke, grill, rotisserie and barbecue flavors,” he continues.

Understanding the growing awareness of the risk associated with consuming such foods, embarked on a InnovateUK funded R&D project with Professor David Baines and University of Reading Flavour Centre to investigate the feasibility of cleaner products in the smoke industry. 

Extensive R&D over a number of years led to a discovery that enabled PureTech to be refined and commercialized by Besmoke.

Craving cleaner meats
COVID-19 has notably accelerated the demand for food safety and “cleaner” meat products. 

In 2019, the Belgium-based CleanSmoke Coalition launched an internationally recognized quality seal CleanSmoke label which guarantees that smoked foods are clean and free of toxic substances such as ash, tar or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). 

“Natural, cleaner food smoking is very much on trend in the UK, with discerning consumers appreciating the variety of deep, rich flavors that can be achieved via the art of wood smoking for cooking,” says Cahill.

“This clean label trend extends into our 100 percent plant-based range of meat alternatives such as our new Plant Deli Bacun.”

Under its own Pure Culinary Science  innovation program, Dawn Farms hints at more to come from this partnership – including the possibility of other collaborations – to bring a range of new fully cooked protein innovations to market.

By Benjamin Ferrer