Chemical preservative delivery in meat using edible vegetable tubular cellulose

Abstract This investigation examines the possibility for nitrite chemical preservative to be delivered in meat cured products. Potassium nitrite was encapsulated in delignified leaf celery and spinach and placed on the surface of meat. The delignification of leaf celery and spinach produces edible tubular cellulose (ETC) with 10 fold increased pore volume. The encapsulation and delivery of nitrite using vegetable tubular cellulose has been achieved in both ETC and ETC/Starch gel (SG) composite. Specifically, 43.5% of initially encapsulated potassium nitrite remains in the tubes of ETC/SG composite for a period of 5 days and 56.5% of nitrite is diffused in the meat, reaching a depth of 5 cm. The low delivery of potassium nitrite does not reduce the antibacterial activity of the total amount of nitrite. The controlled delivery of nitrite leads to a substantial reduction in meat microbiological load which was observed for a period of 10 days. Further research is needed, in order to develop the final technology for nitrite delivery in meat and meat products.