A growing chorus of consumer voices is calling for processors to change their tool sets—to eschew synthetic ingredients with complex chemical names in favor of simpler ingredients that exist in nature. For example, Americans responding to a 2014 survey by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) named preservatives as one of the top five types of ingredients they try to avoid. At the same time, neither shoppers nor food companies want to compromise product safety.
Seeking to solve this dilemma, researchers have identified a number of potent antimicrobial compounds in fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, and even beneficial microorganisms. They’ve developed multiple ways to use those compounds effectively in a variety of food and beverage products to achieve the optimum balance of palate-pleasing flavor and shelflife extension.