Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Measuring – testing – or controlling by inanimate means – Preparing solid product in final form by heating
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-28
2004-05-04
Becker, Drew (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Measuring, testing, or controlling by inanimate means
Preparing solid product in final form by heating
C426S302000, C426S506000, C426S519000, C426S520000, C426S524000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06730341
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
My present invention relates to a method of and to an apparatus for processing meat wherein the bodies or pieces of meat are contacted with a treating liquid and the bodies of meat are agitated to distribute the treating liquid in the meat. More particularly, the invention relates to the treatment of meat utilizing a massaging of the meat following an injection or just an addition of a liquid, usually in the form of an aqueous solution, into the meat.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,332, there is described a paddle massager in which pieces of meat can be subjected to a massaging action to distribute an aqueous solution, which has been injected into the meat, uniformly throughout the tissue thereof. A prior patent dealing with such massaging action is U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,630. A plant utilizing such a paddle massager and a maceration of the meat product before it enters the massager is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,398.
In prior massaging techniques, it has generally been thought that the massaging action should be carried out cold, i.e. at a relatively low temperature which is maintained by circulating a coolant through the jacket of the machine. A typical temperature of this cooling liquid, which is generally a glycol/water solution, can be about 23° F.
The massaging action is intended to uniformly distribute the treating solution into the muscle tissue of the meat. The solution can be a brine and normally includes phosphates, nitrate, nitrite, salt, flavor enhancers, proteins, binders fats or other meat treating agents such as preservatives.
The tradition has been to inject the meat with the solution, usually with needles under an elevated pressure under conditions in which the meat is normally cold at the time it is injected and the injectable solution itself is relatively cold. It is desirable to conduct the massaging action so that the product emerges from the massager in a relatively dry state, i.e. the marinade or treating solution is fully taken up within the body of the meat, leaving the surface free from or practically free from a liquid film.
These techniques have been used for all sorts of meats, including beef, pork, lamb and veal, and for practically any cut of meat in which a substantial body of meat must be tenderized or treated, for example, roasts, hams, shanks, loins and the like.
However, earlier systems have been found to involve a number of problems. For example, it has been found that, with conventional systems, a phenomenon may develop which can impede effective massaging. For example proteins released from the meat tend to bind with water of the treatment solution at a given temperature (depending on the composition of the treatment solution) and form a compound. This compound may be exuded from the body of the meat and act as an external coating or internal barrier. In either case, this compound impairs penetration, absorption and/or dispersion of the treatment solution throughout the cross section of the body and the result is an unaesthetic surface. It has been noted, further, that meat products which are treated cold following the injection may not develop the uniform internal coloration which is desired for many cuts of meat. Furthermore, the protein/water coating on the body of meat tends to reduce friction and thus the massaging effectiveness so that longer massaging operations may be required.
Still another drawback of earlier systems appears to be the limited breakdown of treating solutions like polyphosphates and nitrites by enzymes present in the meat so that such additives to the inject are not utilized completely or efficiently.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved method of treating or processing meat involving contact of a treating liquid with the meat, whereby drawbacks of earlier systems are obviated.
More specifically, it is an object of this invention to effect the agitation of meat (e.g. the massaging and/or tumbling) so that the agitation takes place more efficiently, with a better yield, from the point of view of the solution used and with higher quality results.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus for the treatment of the meat.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These objects are attained, in accordance with the invention by a method which comprises contacting bodies of meat with a treating solution; agitating the bodies of meat in contact with the treatment solution at an elevated temperature until the bodies of meat are substantially dry; and recovering the bodies of meat in a substantially dry state. I have found that the elevated temperature should be in the range of 45° F. to 60° F.
More particularly the method can comprise the steps of:
(a) contacting bodies of meat with a treating solution;
(b) heating the bodies of meat in contact with the treating solution in an agitator to a predetermined elevated temperature and maintaining the temperature substantially constant while agitating the meat for a period of time sufficient to distribute the treating solution in the meat;
(c) thereafter cooling the bodies of meat in the agitator while continuing to agitate the meat; and
(d) recovering the bodies of meat in a substantially dry state from the agitator.
While within the broad concepts of my invention, any type of agitator can be used, the preferred agitator is a massager or tumbler. Similarly, my invention contemplates contacting the meat with the liquid in any suitable fashion, but injection at a lower temperature than the elevated temperature mentioned is preferred.
Thus, according to the invention, the bodies of meat can be contacted with the treating solution by injecting the bodies of meat with an inject at a temperature less than the elevated temperature and the agitator is preferably a rotary paddle massager or a tumbler. The elevated temperature is preferably between substantially 45° F. and 60° F., the temperature less than the elevated temperature is substantially 15° to 40° F. below the elevated temperature and the meat is cooled by 15° to 40° F. below the elevated temperature in step (c).
An important aspect of the invention is the control of the temperature at which the agitation takes place. I have found that, in the past, because of different temperatures of the bodies of meat from earlier stages, different temperatures of the liquids used and, in general, the high variability at which processing occurred, the results were highly unpredictable, not reproducible and often unsatisfactory. When the elevated temperature of the present invention is used and that temperature is controlled to, say, ±2° F., problems are eliminated and excellent meat qualities with high and reproducible water holding capacity are obtained.
The elevated temperature is controlled in step (b) by measuring directly a temperature of the bodies of meat in the agitator and regulating a temperature of the agitator in response to the measured temperature.
The temperature of the bodies of meat in the agitator can be measured for example by causing the bodies of meat to contact directly a temperature sensor mounted in a wall of the agitator. Alternatively the temperature of the bodies of meat in the agitator can be measured by inserting a temperature measuring sensor into bodies of meat in the agitator.
The bodies of meat can be selectively heated and cooled in the agitator by selectively passing a heated or cooled fluid through a jacket thereof.
According to another feature of the invention an apparatus for processing meat can comprise a vessel for receiving bodies of meat in contact with a treating liquid and for agitating the bodies of meat to distribute the treating liquid in the bodies of meat, and means for selectively heating and cooling the vessel during the agitation of the bodies of meat therein. Preferably the vessel has a jacket and the means for selectively heating and cooling the vessel comprises a refrigeration unit for circulating a cooling liquid through the jacket and a heater for p
Becker Drew
Dubno Herbert
Wolf-Tec Inc.
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