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About J. Peter Clark
Expertise
How various processed foods are made; ways to improve manufacturing; how to make a new food product.

Experience
Employment history: Research Engineer, U.S.Agricultural Research Service, Associate Professor Chemical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Director of Research, Continental Baking Company, President, Epstein Process Engineering, Inc., Vice Presdent Technology, Fluor Daniel, Inc., Consultant to the Process Industries

Organizations: American Institute of Chemical Engineers (Fellow) Institute of Food Technologists, American Association of Cereal Chemists, American Association of Candy Technologists, American Society of Agricultural Engineers,

Publications: Several Encyclopedias (Kirk and Othmer, Chemical Technology; Food Science, Food Technology and Nutrition; Wiley Encyclopedia of Food Science and Technology; Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems); five books, two book chapters; numerous journals.

Education: BSChE Notre Dame PhD University of California, Berkeley

Awards: AIChE Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Division Award 1998

Clients: Major food processing and pharamaceutical companies.

You are here: Experts > Industry > Food Engineering > Food Engineering/Manufacturing > Preserving a sauce

Food Engineering/Manufacturing - Preserving a sauce

Expert: J. Peter Clark - 7/3/2009

Question
hi i own a gyro business and i make a mayonnaise based sauce which my customers enjoy i want to bottle and sell it commercially. the mayonnaise i currently use is from a big company and its shelf life is pretty long. the problem with my sauce is im worried it wont last very long on the shelf. the other major ingredient is vegetable broth.

what can i do to help preserve the sauce for over 6 months?

should i make my own mayonnaise because of price?

Answer
Mayonnaise keeps because it is acidic and probably is hot filled. It needs refrigeration after it is opened. True mayonnaise usees egg yolk as aan emulsifier. A less expensive alternative is salad dressing, which is also an emulsion, but uses starch instead of egg. When you add broth, you probably make the sauce less acidic and higher in moisture. Both trends reduce its keeping ability. Foods with pH greater than 4.6 must be retorted - cooked under pressure - in order to be sterilized. You may have to do that for your sauce.

Another approach is to mildly heat the sauce, called pasteurization, and then distribute it under refrigeration.Some salad dressings and other foods are made and sold that way. You could even try freezing your sauce. Normally, that would break the emulsion, but in your case, maybe not. Worth a try.

I thought gyros sauce was based on yogurt. You could try making your sauce from scratch, using vegetable oil, lemon juice or vinegar, egg or starch, your broth and anything else in the recipe, instead of purchasing mayonnaise.

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