Functional

Manufactured meat products include a variety of nonmeat ingredients that serve various functions during production or in the finished products. The most common use of ingredients is for the purpose of protecting or modifying flavor. Other ingredient functions include improved tenderness, juiciness, cohesiveness, water-holding, and emulsion stability along with color stabilization and preservation. Many ingredients exhibit multifunctional properties. For example, salt is used for flavor, preservation, and to increase water binding by protein. The relative importance of each function may differ depending on the type of meat product, with preservation more important in shelf-stable products and flavor more important in bacon.