Following the ban on carbon monoxide packaging for meat, Spanish researchers from University of Zaragoza are reported to have found out a better substitute for the former in rosemary-enhanced plastic film. The researchers claim that the rosemary-enhanced plastic film kept the beefsteaks fresh for 14 days under supermarket conditions along with enhancing the display life of the meat products by a period of two days.
Facts provide that traditionally meats were treated using rosemary extracts as the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of rosemary protected meats from oxidative deterioration.
However, traditional art of preserving meats with rosemary extracts and industrial application of the same requires tests on a pilot scale. Nevertheless, it would be a challenge for the meat packaging industry to go back to basics, which if becomes successful for industrial usage, would not only keep the meat fresh, but also increase flavor and nutrition of the meat products.
Unfortunately not all consumers are aware of using their noses to smell fresh and rancid meat. Most of the consumers were taken by the catch that carbon monoxide contributed in keeping-up the redness of rancid meat.
