Changes in consumer demand of meat products as well as increased global competition are causing an
unprecedented spur in processing and ingredient system developments within the meat manufacturing sector.
Consumers demand healthier meat products that are lowin salt, fat, cholesterol, nitrites and calories in general and
contain in addition health-promoting bioactive components such as for example carotenoids, unsaturated fatty
acids, sterols, and fibers. On the other hand, consumers expect these novelmeat productswith altered formulations
to taste, look and smell the sameway as their traditionally formulated and processed counterparts. At the same time,
competition is forcing the meat processing industry to use the increasingly expensive raw material “meat” more
efficiently and produce products at lower costs.With these changes in mind, this article presents a review of novel
ingredient systems andprocessing approaches that are emerging to create high quality, affordablemeat products not
only in batchmode but also in large-scale continuous processes. Fat replacers, fat profilemodification and cholesterol
reduction techniques, new texture modifiers and alternative antioxidant and antimicrobial systems are being
discussed. Modern processing equipment to establish continuously operating productmanufacturing lines and that
allow new meat product structures to be created and novel ingredients to be effectively utilized including vacuum
fillers, grinders and fine dispersers, and slicers is reviewed in the context of structure creation in meat products.
Finally, trends in future developments of ingredient and processing systems for meat products are highlighted.