As a meat processor, it’s not only important to know what you are doing, but also why you are doing it and how it works. Every ingredient added to a food product is done so for a specific purpose. Some ingredients act as a preservative and extend shelf-life, others are added as an antimicrobial to help prevent foodborne illness, and some ingredients are simply added to develop or increase a particular flavor profile. Non-meat ingredients can be as important, if not more important, than the meat source itself for both sensory and quality attributes along with shelf-life of the finished products.