May 2001
Bowled New Meals
By Paula Frank
Technical Editor
Judging by the growth of the meals-in-a-bowl category, many consumers prefer bowls to the rectangular or compartmentalized trays traditionally used for ready-to-cook, shelf-stable or frozen meals. Although a round container may offer some microwavability advantages over the square or rectangular types, the rise in popularity of meal bowls may be due more to novelty, aesthetics and convenience than anything else.
“The recent surge in bowl meals has really re-energized the whole frozen-dinner category,” says Danny Bruns, corporate chef, seasonings, Kerry Ingredients, Beloit, WI. “Consumer acceptance has been high, not only because of the familiarity of ingredients, but also the desire for something new and trendy.”
Dishy fare
Meal bowls generally contain rice or pasta, a sauce, and possibly vegetables and/or meat, depending on the mode of storage. Shelf-stable entrées must deliver vegetable or meat flavors in dehydrated form, although package directions offer stir-in or topping ideas for added creativity. Frozen meals also might use dehydrated vegetable and meat powders for flavor, plus they typically include actual meat and vegetable pieces that undergo some form of preprocessing prior to being frozen.
The latest flavor trends focus on ethnicity and authenticity — the emphasis being regional, which subdivides a country down to a specific geographical area that may even have differences from city to city or village to village, notes Bruns. For instance, what was once classified as Chinese cuisine, may now be regionally subdivided as Cantonese, Mandarin or Szechuan. Italian fare has long been separated by the north or south, but now more specifically by region, whether it’s the French-influenced area of Tuscany with an emphasis on herbs, meats and potatoes, or the southern region of Calabria and its seafood, tomato-based products and pasta.
Although the range of flavor selections focuses mainly on Asian and Italian cuisine, American home-style and Indian influences also exist. Cheese-based flavors are particularly popular in shelf-stable meal bowls and include standard fare such as Alfredo, Parmesan, Cheddar and the American staple, macaroni and cheese. Shelf-stable dinners also contain strong flavors characterized by herbs and spices — other flavors easily conveyed in powdered form.
More flavor options exist in the frozen category, since a wider variety of ingredients can be used, including liquids and pastes, and real meat, vegetables and shredded cheeses. Frozen meal bowls contain cheese, either in sauce-form, as in Alfredo, or as pasta filling, such as tortellini. Other selections include chicken, beef, turkey or shrimp, or beans for the vegetarian category. Asian varieties include Thai, teriyaki, and sweet and sour, among others. Certain flavors, such as honey Dijon and barbecue, have more of a home-style appeal.
The bowl exposed
When broken down into individual components, rice and noodle bowls are nothing more than entrée-style meals transferred from one type of container to another. The consumer may prefer the bowl to a rectangular tray because it is more portable, convenient or upscale. “The shape of the bowl is more conducive to equal heating,” says Bruns. “The depth of the container would equate to having more, which would then equal value. Conceivably, the food stays hotter in a bowl vs. a tray, because the surface area is smaller. Plus, there are no corners for the product to get scorched in.”
Whatever the reason, the consumer views the bowl as added value. The manufacturer, on the other hand, evaluates the container’s value from a different perspective by looking at factors such as cost, machinability, durability, impact on heat distribution during cooking and storage utilization.
Plastic containers destined for microwave use are made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) or polypropylene, but dual-ovenable containers require polyester (PET), notes Burton Lundquist, packaging consultant, member of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association R&D Ranch new product team, Denver.
Whether or not a processor uses a form-and-fill container or the preformed variety depends not only on equipment capability and packaging material, but volume. “Theoretically, packaging cost should be lower with form-and-fill, because you’re not shipping cases of preformed bowls, but a roll of plastic. However, if you need a lot of volume, you should use preformed containers to generate line speeds,” says Lundquist. “In addition, polypropylene forms easier than PET, which can impact line speed efficiencies.”
The container’s shape influences cost as well as efficiency. When forming and filling in-house, a round container costs more than an oval shape, which in turn costs more than a rectangular tray. This is due to the amount of waste generated during die cutting, explains Lundquist. Round containers also impact inventory capacity, which translates to added cost, because they take up 25% more space than a straight-edged shape.
Packaging shape, and possibly its color, impact heating efficiencies. “For a microwave, a donut-shaped container generates ideal heat distribution,” says Lundquist. “Bringing the center of a round container up so that it’s not flat on the bottom produces more-even heating. With respect to color, black heats 20% faster in foodservice-size trays, although measuring color impact on heating efficiency is more difficult in smaller-sized containers.”
Another factor influencing the packaging decision is time allocated for the product launch. The competitive nature of the food industry often dictates rapid new-product rollouts. “Commonly, people are looking for stock molds, because they want to go to market quickly, whereas a custom mold takes 26 weeks for tooling,” says Lundquist.
Starchy constitution
Rice or pasta generally comprises the starchy element of meal bowls. Whether or not the application is dry or frozen influences certain product parameters. For instance, the rice or pasta must stand up to the processing rigors and potential freeze/thaw cycling for frozen meals.
Pasta made for a frozen application is standard, though sturdier shapes hold up better, notes Mark Vermylen, vice president, A. Zerega’s Sons Inc., Fair Lawn, NJ. If necessary, egg white added to the pasta formulation helps with firmness, although this seems to be the exception rather than the rule because of the added cost. In frozen applications, pasta is cooked, chilled slightly, drained and then deposited into the bowl.
Special shapes lend authenticity to a dish, although long goods, which run 10 in. dry and 15 in. cooked, are not practical for filling bowls on high-speed assembly lines. “Traditional long-goods shapes are available in lengths that fit into the bowl (i.e., 2 in.),” says Vermylen. “We also have short-cut linguine and square-cut macaroni, which give more of an oriental-style appearance.”
Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 139.110 to 139.180 gives standards of identity for macaroni and noodles. Macaroni can have added egg white, but noodles must contain 5.5% egg yolk or whole egg, measured as egg solids on a dry basis. For authenticity, a processor may consider using the term “oriental-style noodle” in its product title, requiring adherence to the standard of identity for noodles. However, the FDA has ruled that pasta labeled as “oriental-style noodles,” “ramen noodles” and “Chinese noodles,” etc. need not contain 5.5% egg solids as long as the descriptor or qualifying word (e.g. “ramen”) immediately precedes the word noodles.
Pasta for frozen applications generally is made from durum semolina, a coarsely ground, granular, high-quality product milled from durum wheat. Durum flour has a finer granulation, which makes it flow better for processing thin-walled pasta. “Pasta used in shelf-stable dry mixes has to be thin-walled, otherwise you couldn’t cook it in the microwave,” says Vermylen. “Thin-walled pasta is 0.025- to 0.030-in. thick compared to that of standard pasta, which is 0.035- to 0.045-in. thick. Smaller pasta shapes typically work better in single-serving-size entrées.”
Standard pasta has a moisture of 11% to 12%, which usually can be reduced to 6% to 7% when packaged with a seasoning mix without a barrier film in between. Rice manufacturers must also preprocess their rice, lowering moisture levels to avoid moisture migration into the sauce seasoning. “The water activity (Aw) target for powdered blends ranges from 0.2 to 0.4. You’d want the relationship between the pasta and powder or the rice and powder to be of similar Aw,” says Lori Hicks, applications and development manager, seasonings division, Kerry Ingredients.
“The type of rice used in dry products is selected to best match the intended preparation method and the ethnic character of the dish,” says Don McCaskill, vice president, research, Riceland Foods Inc., Stuttgart, AR. Long-grain rice kernels stay separate after cooking, while medium- and short-grain rice becomes sticky and creamy. Parboiling — a process that involves steaming the rice under pressure — gives more-dense, firm-textured kernels that can withstand rigorous handling.
As with pasta, rice is precooked before being filled into the bowls prior to freezing. “The best control is normally achieved by use of a continuous-flow cooking system wherein the rice is cooked in excess water,” notes McCaskill. “Upon completion of the cook step, the rice should be quickly chilled, followed by thorough draining to remove free water. At this point, the cooked rice can be easily combined with sauces and other ingredients. Parboiled long-grain rice grown in the southern United States usually is preferred for use in frozen prepared products, because it is typically less sticky than other types commonly available.
“Assurance of optimal quality is best achieved by rapid freezing and thawing or reheating, and by maintaining a deep freeze during storage to prevent freeze/thaw cycling,” adds McCaskill. “Most moisture migration in frozen rice products is either due to retrogradation of starch components or differences in Aw between ingredients. Both effects can be minimized by rapid freezing and thawing.”
Saucy stabilizers
Meal bowls include some form of sauce, either in its finished form or as a dry mix that requires water for reconstitution prior to heating. Sauces complement the starch and vegetable component, add flavor and mouthfeel, and bring the individual elements together to form a one-dish meal.
Sauces require stabilizers, such as starches and gums, for thickening, emulsification, water-binding and added mouthfeel. Xanthan gum commonly is used as a stabilizer in sauces, because it is stable under heat, shear, low pH conditions (i.e., pH > 4), and freeze/ thaw cycling. For added stability, xanthan can be combined with guar gum, which not only gives a synergistic effect, but also is more cost effective.
Both xanthan and guar gum are pseudoplastic, which means they lose viscosity under shear, but regain their thickness once the shear is removed — a trait beneficial during pumping and filling. For oil- or emulsion-based sauces, propylene glycol alginate and gum acacia add emulsion stability. Starting usage levels for gums begin around 1% in finished product unless other thickeners, such as modified food starch, are present, in which case the level should be reduced by half.
Starches used in frozen applications must be modified for freeze/thaw stability, “otherwise, water separation or syneresis will occur as a result of the retrogradation or setback (i.e., gelling of the starch), says Sally Brain, director of marketing, food and new business, AVEBE America Inc., Princeton, NJ. At times, other functional properties, such as acid or shear stability, become important depending on both the formulation and processing parameters.
“Both potato and tapioca have very low lipid and protein contents (0.1% for both), giving them very bland flavor profiles and excellent clarity,” says Brain. “In meals where clarity is not desired, a small amount of flour can be added to give opacity. Potato starch has the largest granule size of any commercially available starch at 5 to 100 mm in comparison to waxy maize at 5 to 30 mm. Potentially, this translates to an approximate 25% to 35% reduction in starch-usage costs. A modified potato starch also can provide pulpiness as well as viscosity to tomato-based products, giving the impression of a higher level of tomato solids.”
A starch intended for use in a dry-mix application must thicken readily at temperatures that may not reach boiling or may require additional processing due to microwave preparation. Although package directions may indicate adding boiling water followed by a required steep time, or adding hot water prior to microwaving, the consumer does not always follow directions; thus the starch must account for this possibility. The lower gelatinization temperature of tapioca and potato starches will help in a variety of dry-mix applications.
Hydration rate also becomes an important factor in dry-mix reconstitution. “The smaller the particle size, the faster the hydration rate, notes Brain. “The opposite is true with the larger particle size. Agglomerated instant starches aid in hydration in most meal-in-a-bowl-type applications. There are two forms of instant starches — traditional pregelatinized starches and cold-water-swelling (CWS) starches. CWS starches are beneficial because they provide the same properties as their ‘cook-up’ counterparts in usage level and texture. They have a whole, granular structure that enables them to do this vs. traditional pregelatinized starches that have mainly broken starch granules, resulting in a loss of functionality and higher usage levels.”
Saucy particulars
Certain criteria impact the quality of seasonings in low-moisture shelf-stable bowl mixes. “The density of granulation is important so that you don’t have layers of stratification within your blend, causing an unbalanced flavor profile,” notes Bruns.
“Inclusion of oil helps a bit,” adds Hicks. “Seasoning blends with a lot of dried vegetables might require separate fillers to account for the difference in density.”
Ingredient processing also impacts the seasoning’s hydration rate. “It is important that a spray-dried product has not been over-dried to the point where you have protein skinning; this would form a moisture barrier causing it to fisheye, remain on the surface or take a lot longer to hydrate when added to liquid,” says Bruns. “The dispersability of the blend is another factor. Coating particulates with a surfactant controls the moisture impact during hydration. What you’re actually doing is slowing down the hydration rate by allowing particulates to disperse before the moisture penetrates. Another control you have is agglomeration of the powders, where it takes longer for the moisture to penetrate around the individual clusters during hydration.”
An additional parameter affecting a seasoning’s quality is its ability to remain free-flowing throughout shelf life. For spray-dried particles, controlling the moisture during the drying stage, balancing the overall moisture of ingredients and adding an anticaking agent such as silicon dioxide helps minimize clumping, explains Bruns.
Different criteria affect the quality and shelf life of frozen meals-in-a-bowl. Rapidly freezing ingredients and minimizing freeze/thaw cycling helps protect the integrity of the meal. Adequate preprocessing of ingredients also ensures finished-product quality. Properly blanching vegetables and herbs helps minimize color bleeding and moisture migration, notes Bruns.
“Sometimes, ingredients still have some enzyme activity that might cause rancidity, such as tropical oils or many spices,” adds Hicks. “Anything with color that might migrate during periods of freeze/thaw cycling should be minimized. You might have to limit your natural-cheese content, because too high of a level may cause the product to become mealy. Also, ingredients with too high of a protein level could potentially burn during processing.”
Natural antioxidants, such as rosemary extract or synthetic antioxidants, such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) or butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), help prevent fat oxidation. Limiting the use of ingredients that contain polyunsaturated short-chain fatty acids, which are susceptible to cleavage by the enzyme lipase, can help prevent off-flavor development.
Dishing out flavor
“Flavors can add that home-cooked and familiar taste to a meal in a bowl,” says Julie Snarski, manager of applications and product development, David Michael & Co. Inc., Philadelphia. “Flavors make a beef-flavored product taste more roasted or juicy or fatty, and allow flavorists to recreate authentic meal flavors for easy home use.” Flavorists have the ability to create nuances ranging from the most common to the most obscure, thereby eliminating the need for sourcing seasonal, perishable or other unique ingedients.
Many options exist when it comes to flavoring sauces for meal-bowl concepts, although these choices are a bit more limited for shelf-stable seasonings requiring predominantly dry powders. Dry seasonings can tolerate small percentages of liquids, such as oleoresins, liquid compound flavors or vegetable oil (which does not require labeling when used at a level below 2% as a processing aid). These liquids may be plated on a granular carrier such as salt or sugar. Maltodextrin and corn syrup solids, although less granular than salt and sugar, also may function as carriers for liquid ingredients.
Many liquid or paste ingredients come in dehydrated form, or can be spray-dried for use in systems intolerant of high-moisture products. For instance, soy-sauce powder replaces liquid soy sauce and tomato powder substitutes for tomato paste. Some of these powders, particularly those that are hygroscopic, come in granular form, which helps minimize clumping.
Compound flavors come in liquid, paste or dry form. “A flavor system used in a frozen application needs to be formulated with ingredients with the lowest possible micro specifications because of the high-moisture environment and the potential for freeze/thaw abuse during distribution,” notes John Schranz, manager of seasoning products, central region, McCormick & Company, Inc. Hunt Valley, MD. “In a dry-meal application, micro isn’t as big of a concern as is exposure to air in the package, which can cause oxidative deterioration of some flavors and oils.”
Flavor systems must be designed to withstand processing, storage and reheating. “Meal-in-a-bowl concepts are normally microwaved, so the flavors need to be encapsulated, which helps extend shelf life,” says Schranz. “At the same time, the encapsulating system should release the flavor completely when reconstituted with water. For shelf-stable items, flavors encapsulated in starches or gums will extend the shelf life. Fat-encapsulated or thermally releasing encapsulating systems are better suited for frozen products, because water-soluble encapsulants will dissolve in the high-moisture environment.”
A flavor chemist faces many challenges when designing a product that will be subjected to various conditions throughout its lifecycle. Achieving flavor balance is difficult, and a process potentially requiring many formulation iterations for success. “Flavor volatiles must be adjusted to accommodate the drying process, so that the flavor before and after drying is similar in intensity,” says Snarski. “Thus, when this flavor is used in a dry mix, there is less chance of the flavor flashing off. In a frozen meal, the flavor can flash off during the production of the sauce and again during reheating, which requires a different type of formulation adjustment.”
Ground spices and spice extractives add flavor to sauces, although using straight spices for visual impact more so than flavor contribution might be beneficial. “Whole and ground spices don’t work as well as encapsulated flavors in this sort of application, because they require longer cook times for flavor release,” notes Schranz.
Flavor enhancers, such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, 5'-nucleotides and autolyzed yeast extract (AYE), highlight and round flavor nuances and contribute to an umami effect. Many types of HVP and AYE are designed to not only enhance overall seasoning flavor, but particular meaty or vegetable-type notes. For many applications, nucleotides and MSG have a synergistic effect when used in combination at levels of between 95% to 5% and 92% to 8% MSG-to-nucleotides.
Certain flavoring ingredients also provide functionality as well. Dairy ingredients, such as whey protein concentrate (WPC), have water-binding, emulsifying and gelation properties, as well as added nutritional qualities. Various dairy ingredients, such as dried whole milk powder and WPC, add richness and impart a creamy mouthfeel to sauces. In dry mixes, dried sweet whey acts as an inexpensive bulking agent. Nonfat dry milk has water-binding properties, adds opacity to a sauce, and when reconstituting a dry mix, aids dispersibility.
Luckily for product designers, the successful meal-in-a-bowl concept isn’t revolutionary nor is it rocket science, but more likely an idea generated by some savvy marketing guru who perhaps ran a few consumer panels on packaging-style preference. However, because the technical challenges have been addressed for similar products, it gives a bit more leeway to adapt the format to more creative combinations that please the consumer’s taste buds.
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