The situation
A processor was limited by smokehouse capacity. Smoking was the slowest step in the plant, it ran as a batch while everything around it ran continuously, and expanding it meant capital spend and floor space that were not available.
Why it is hard
Traditional smoking does several things at once, which is why removing it is not simply a flavour question. It deposits flavour compounds. It develops surface colour. It contributes a mild preservative effect. And it dries the surface, forming the skin that holds a product together for slicing.
It also deposits polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are regulated and which several destination markets limit tightly.
Replacing the smokehouse means addressing four functions and checking the proposed smoke flavouring against the destination market's current rules. The function most often forgotten is the fourth.
A product that was relying on the smokehouse for its surface will not get that from a flavour added to the mix.
What was done
The application approach uses a purified smoke condensate, with contaminant specifications and market authorisation checked for the intended use. Colour and flavour were specified separately, because different fractions of the condensate deliver them. The surface drying function was addressed as a process question rather than a formulation one, since nothing added to the meat replaces a dry surface.
What it shows
That the project was never really about flavour. It was about taking a batch bottleneck out of a continuous line, and the flavour was what made that possible.
