How Convenience Foods are produced?

The new trend arising from consumer requests in the world is “convenience food products”. Convenience foods provide many benefits to consumers:

• Saves time
• Maintains consumption of difficult foods by purchasing easily
• Foods those are used to be consumed only in their seasons can be used for the entire year
• Time is not spent for cooking
• Cost-saving
• They can be kept in refrigerators for emergency situations

In recent years, developments arising from the practical nature of the food sector continue to increase these benefits to consumers. Continuous quality development and improvement in convenience products, product diversification, and work towards meeting the needs of consumers is the best way to ensure the continuity of the benefits of these products.

Meat containing foods are main convenience food products due to providing high quality protein, vitamin, mineral and main amino acids.

Today, besides traditional meat meals, other meat products with diversified nutritional, economic and transportation advantages ensuring optimum shelf life, easy storage and consumption have emerged.

These products are:

1. Ready to cook products: Franchise chain of great restaurants, cafes, local restaurants and buffet type place ready piece of red meat to cook used in, marinated steak and chopped meat, chicken breast, coated, such as thighs and wings, ready meats to cook, ready burger and meatball varieties, block döner kebabs and other kebab varieties, meat rolls.
2. Ready to eat products: Fast-food and snack-type products next to cooked in the traditional delicacies both at home and packaged for consumption in the non-home point, all kinds of burgers, meatballs, chicken parts, nuggets, schnitzel, cordon bleu, meatballs, croquettes, coated products such as kadınbudu dumplings, sliced cooked traditional returns are pasty, ready-made pizzas, home-cooked food, meat dishes made in the traditional methods.
3. Special products with enhanced nutrition and low calories: Special meat products especially designed for diets and diabetics, having low calories, low cholesterol and improved fibre rate.

Advantages of Convenience Products

• • Conservation of Quality, Freshness and Natural Taste: With a special cooking process, the loss of quality and nutritional value is minimized. Thus it is achieving the maximum benefit to be taken from each product.
• • Daily Nutritional Value of Easy Transport: Provides controlled and recommended measures to be taken in their daily nutrients needed by the human body. It also helps raising awareness with the consumer to meet their needs in whatever way. The consumers are also enabled to calculate energy amount thanks to the nutritional values on the packaging.
• • Easy to Use: Packaging materials can be opened easily from the special opening compartment. Quickly be cooked, heated or can be consumed directly.
• • Product Development and Diversification: Diversification over time depending on consumer demand products. In addition, domestic consumption also allows people with food assistance in the development of different products, depending on consumption patterns.
• • Optimal Shelf Life: It prevents the degradation of the product and heat treated in accordance with techniques without the use of additional additives (if stored in appropriate conditions) to be consumed as healthy in a longer process.
• • Consumer Convenience: It enables product diversification as it can be eaten cold and also heated when necessary by various heating tools. Thus, both time loss prevention, as well as different consumption paths of the same product can be ensured.
• • Storage and Transportation Facility: Packaging materials that secure the heat and allow for ease of storage and transport of multilayer flexible films are used.

Rules to be Followed by Consumers

Storage conditions given on the product should be observed. Products required to be stored between 0-4 °C / - 18 °C should not be subjected to higher temperatures.

• 4°C is the limit temperature for refrigerated products and higher temperatures enable easy proliferation of micro-organisms causing diseases and negatively affects quality of the food.
• Required temperature is -18 °C for frozen products. These products are rapidly frozen under -18 °C in special freezers called IQF. Thus, activity of micro-organisms are stopped. Frozen food products should be stored, carried at minimum -18 °C and cold chain should not be broken for keeping them healthy and fresh during their shelf lives.
• Frozen products should be purchased last during market shoppings. They should be placed in refrigerator/freezer as soon as possible.
• They should be carried with ice tub or frozen product bags.
• They should be kept under air conditioner in cars.
• If the product is defrosted until reaching home, it should be consumed without freezing again.

Hands and equipment should be washed frequently.

Knives and cutting board used for uncooked meat and cooked meat should not be used for other food products.

Containers used for uncooked and cooked products should be different and not mixed with each other.

Defrosting / cooking instructions written on the product package should be observed.

Methods for Cooking Healthy and Delicious Meat

The main point required to be considered during cooking meat is to keep the juice of the meat itself and to prevent losing its nutrition fact and increase its brittleness.

The juiciness of the meat must be done to protect medium heat and long cooking to fully cook. Pieces of meat and dumplings group products should be turned to the other side after cooking one side. The middle of the turn will lead to more frequent drying of the meat fully cooked and not to the surface.

The meat should be cooked in boiling sealed, it must maintain its juice and steam.

User’s Manual for Calf Marinated Small Pieces Meat

• Marinated Meat; Sunflower oil, water, salt and the products cured meat with spices.
• Cooking in Pan; Wait until the pan is thoroughly heated on the cooking range. Add the meat without DEFROSTING in the heated pan. Wait for 25-30 min. in a sealed manner. Make sure it is cooked homogenously by stirring regularly. Please remember that cooking time will extend by 10-15 minutes each time you open the cover. As the meat contains salt and fat content, you don’t need to add them again, however you can add in small quantities for your palatal delight.
• Cooking in Boiled Water; Fill the half of the pot with water and wait for thorough boiling. Add the meat without DEFROSTING in the boiling water and let it cook for 35-40 minutes. 

 NOTE: Frozen products should NEVER BE DEFROSTED and defrosted products should never be frozen again.

Calf Block Meatball Cooking Instruction

Keep the block meatballs in microwave or in warm water with the seal (between 5-45⁰C) for half an hour and then dissolve and give the desired shape.

Important Notes about Block Döner Kebab Meats

The block döner kebab meats that are at -18 ° C should be cooked and sliced by applying the following operations: • The metal circular mirror should be placed under the block döner kebab • Never remove the pipe within the block or replace it with another pipe. • Start the cooking process to be done on low heat for 15-20 minutes, then continue cooking should be a normal fire. • There should be at least 5-6 cm distance between block döner kebab and the fire.