What is mortadella made of? See differences in Brazil – 06/08/2023 – Market

Originally from Italy, mortadella is one of the most consumed cold cuts in Brazil and has increased its participation in the homes of people from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. A survey carried out by consultancy Kantar points to an increase of 10.5% in the consumption of the product between 2021 and 2022 in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

According to Mapa (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply), mortadella is made from butchery meat, which is embedded in a casing and subjected to heat treatment suitable for food.

The ministry separates it into five types, according to the ingredients: mortadella, bologna type mortadella, Italian mortadella, bologna mortadella and poultry mortadella.

Mortadella is made using an emulsion, in an industrial process in which different types of meat are mixed and processed until they become a homogeneous mass, so there is no way to identify all the elements used in its production.

Marcelo Arenalis Franco, manager of research, development and innovation at Ceratti, one of the main producers of mortadella in the country, explains that the differentiation made by the ministry came about with the growth in the use of mechanically separated meat —meat extracted from poultry carcasses—, in addition to soy protein and starch as a way to reduce the cost of the product.

“When you taste a mortadella bologna, you feel that there is more elasticity and even more flavor because it does not have starch and mechanically separated meat, unlike a bologna-type mortadella”, he says.

In the manufacturing process, the dough receives spices, fats, additives and preservatives and, at the end, it is placed in a wrapper, an edible “package”.

The experts consulted by Sheet explain that although the Brazilian mortadella manufacturing process is the same as the Italian one, the products differ due to the ingredients used in their production.

Ana Lúcia da Silva Corrêa Lemos, director of the CTC (Meat Technology Center) of Ital (Food Technology Institute), explains that the Italian recipe is made exclusively with pork.

“The Brazilian mortadella uses beef, having a darker color, typical of the presence of beef with pork, while Italy’s is very light”, she says.

WHAT GOES IN EACH TYPE OF MORTADELA

mortadella

• Meat from different species of butchery animals and mechanically separated meat up to a limit of 60%
• Edible giblets from different species of butchery animals (stomach, heart, tongue, liver, kidneys, brains)
• Skin and tendons within 10% limit
• fats

BOLOGNA TYPE MORTADELA

• Beef and/or pork and/or lamb and mechanically separated meat up to a limit of 20%
• Edible bovine and/or pork and/or sheep offal (stomach, heart, tongue, liver, kidneys, brains)
• Skin and tendons within 10% limit
• fats

ITALIAN mortadella

• Muscle portions of meat from different species of butchery animals
• bacon
• The addition of starch is not allowed.

mortadella bologna

• Muscle portions of beef and/or pork
• Bacon, embedded in the round shape
• The addition of starch is not allowed.

POULTRY MEAT MORTADELA

• poultry
• Mechanically separated meat, maximum 40%
• Edible poultry giblets (liver, gizzard and heart), maximum 5%
• Fat