The demand for processed meat is steadily increasing across the world. Driven primarily
by the ever growing global population, higher disposable incomes and the trend
towards high-protein diets, the processed meat market is expected to be valued at
nearly $800bn by 2018.1 While there might be regional market differences when it
comes to the type of meat consumed, shelf life is high on the agenda of every
industrial meat processor.
However, meat preservation is not an issue purely for the modern consumer and
current food industry. People have been facing the problem of preserving meat for
centuries to overcome periods of meat shortages. All that time, finding a solution that
could preserve meat over longer periods of time, without negatively affecting its
sensory attributes, has been a priority.