CA1328051C - Layered meat emulsion product and method of producing same - Google Patents
Layered meat emulsion product and method of producing sameInfo
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- CA1328051C CA1328051C CA000569478A CA569478A CA1328051C CA 1328051 C CA1328051 C CA 1328051C CA 000569478 A CA000569478 A CA 000569478A CA 569478 A CA569478 A CA 569478A CA 1328051 C CA1328051 C CA 1328051C
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Abstract
A B S T R A C T
A meat emulsion product is suitable for use as a partial or complete replacement for more expensive natural meat chunks in both human foods and animal foods. A process for producing the meat emulsion product takes place under conditions which result in the production of a layered, non-expanded product in the form of chunks or pieces which simulate natural meat chunks in texture, appearance and consistency.
The process includes comminuting a mix of meat material, such as meat and/or meat by-products under conditions which form a meat emulsion.
A meat emulsion product is suitable for use as a partial or complete replacement for more expensive natural meat chunks in both human foods and animal foods. A process for producing the meat emulsion product takes place under conditions which result in the production of a layered, non-expanded product in the form of chunks or pieces which simulate natural meat chunks in texture, appearance and consistency.
The process includes comminuting a mix of meat material, such as meat and/or meat by-products under conditions which form a meat emulsion.
Description
132g~51 '~
LAYERED MEAT EMULSION PRODUCT AND METHOD
OF PRODUCING SAME
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTI~N
This invention relates to the production of a meat ~-emulsion product having a layered, meat-like appearance and texture. ~ore particularly the invention relates to a method of processing a meat emulsion under conditions which result in the production of a layered, non-expanded product in the form of chunks or pieces which simulate natural meat chunks in texture, appearance, and consistency.
Meat emulsions, which are comminuted meat products, are well known in the food industry and are widely used in the production of products such as bologna, frankfurters and other sausage products. Such meat emulsion products are prepared by mixing, chopping, and emulsifying a mixture of raw meat materials, such as lean skeletal beef and pork and meat by-products, with ice, salt, spices and curing salts in such a manner as to produce an emulsion which contains fine fat particles coated with protein dissolved from the meat ingredients. The resulting meat emulsion is then stuffed into suitable casings, which serve as processing molds, and are heated at increasing temperatures of from 55C. to 77C. for extended periods of time which may vary between about 1 to 8 hours or more, depending on the volume of the meat emulsion being processed. Upon such heating, the protein in the meat emulsion coagulates or sets solid and entraps the fat particles in the protein matrix thereby forming a firm ~, ..
. ::
13280~1 1 meat emulsion product. Such meat emulsion products are a 2 uniform homogeneous mass which contain no discrete particles 3 of ~.eat and retain the shape of the casing when set.
LAYERED MEAT EMULSION PRODUCT AND METHOD
OF PRODUCING SAME
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTI~N
This invention relates to the production of a meat ~-emulsion product having a layered, meat-like appearance and texture. ~ore particularly the invention relates to a method of processing a meat emulsion under conditions which result in the production of a layered, non-expanded product in the form of chunks or pieces which simulate natural meat chunks in texture, appearance, and consistency.
Meat emulsions, which are comminuted meat products, are well known in the food industry and are widely used in the production of products such as bologna, frankfurters and other sausage products. Such meat emulsion products are prepared by mixing, chopping, and emulsifying a mixture of raw meat materials, such as lean skeletal beef and pork and meat by-products, with ice, salt, spices and curing salts in such a manner as to produce an emulsion which contains fine fat particles coated with protein dissolved from the meat ingredients. The resulting meat emulsion is then stuffed into suitable casings, which serve as processing molds, and are heated at increasing temperatures of from 55C. to 77C. for extended periods of time which may vary between about 1 to 8 hours or more, depending on the volume of the meat emulsion being processed. Upon such heating, the protein in the meat emulsion coagulates or sets solid and entraps the fat particles in the protein matrix thereby forming a firm ~, ..
. ::
13280~1 1 meat emulsion product. Such meat emulsion products are a 2 uniform homogeneous mass which contain no discrete particles 3 of ~.eat and retain the shape of the casing when set.
4 In recent years in order to reduce the cost of certain food products to-consumers, there has been an increasing .
demand for chunky food products which resemble chunks or 7 pieces of natural meat in appearance, texture and physical .
8 structure, and which may be used as a partial or complete 9 replacement for ~he more expensive natural meat chunks in food produ~ts ~uch as stews, pot pies, casseroles,-canned 1 food~ and pet-food products. Chunky meat products are 12 highly desirable in both human foods and pet foods both from 13 aes~hetic quality and consumer appeal. Because of this 14 desirabiiity and the-high ingredient.cost of.natural meat 13 chunks, there is a need for replacement of such expensive 1 natural meat.chunks in.food~ with more.economical chunky 17 products which simulate natural meat chunk~ ln shape, 1 appearance and texture, and which retain their shape, 1 appearance.and.texture when subjected to commercial canning 2 and retorting procedures. . -2 . Heretofore, efforts directed to providing such 2 simulated natural meat chunks have been directed to .
2 producing such products from vegetable protein sources using 2 extrusion-expansion techniques. Although the product~ of 2 such extrusion-expansion procedures have met with some 2 acceptance in the food industry, their use has.been limited 2 psimarily to use as.meat extenders. Since such products Z lack the appearance and texture of natural meat they.a~e not 2 generally suitable for use as full ~ubstitutes for meat.
3 Similarly, meat emulsion products produced by conventional 3 procedure~ which are in the form of a uniform, homogeneous 3 mass, lack the structure, texture and appearance of natural 132~0~1 ~
1 meat chunks and are not suitable for use in applications in 2 ¦ which the use of simulated natural meat chunks is desired.
3 . -:
4 ¦ SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The presen~ invention provides for the production of a meat emulsion product in-the form of distinct chunks or :
7 ¦ pieces having a plurality of juxtaposed, manually separable :8 ¦ ~eat-like layers resembling a chunk of.natural meat in ¦ a.ppearance, texture, and consistency. The meat emulsion ~0 chunks of this invention-are suitable for use as a partial ~1 ~r complete replacement.. for more expensive natural meat .
~2 chunks ~n.both.human foods.:and animal foods, and retain . :
their integrity and shape when subjected to commercial ..
.14 cann~ng and sterilization procedures such a5 those required 1~ ~n the production of canned high moisture food products. :.:
1~ ....:~he meat emulsion chunks of.the.present invention.are 17 produced by a process which includes comm~nuting a mix of . .
18 meat material, such a~ meat ~including fish and poultry) lS ~nd/or meat by-products, under conditions which.form:a:meat æ emul~ion. .One:.or more dry proteinaceous materials may, i~
:2 desired, be included in the meat emulsion..to increase the .2 l protein content of the emulsion, particularly.if the meat .23 mix conta~ns a relatively.large proportion of low binding 24 or filler.meats. .The meat.emulsion i8 deaerated to remove :2 air pocket~ from the emulsion, and is then comminuted under 2~ conditions which concurrently ~ncreases emul~ion~fineness 2 and rapidly.heats.the-emul~ion to.a temperature above.the :.:
28 boiling point of water, and preferably.between 104C.-~ :
29 118C., at which temperature coagulat$on and denaturing of ..
demand for chunky food products which resemble chunks or 7 pieces of natural meat in appearance, texture and physical .
8 structure, and which may be used as a partial or complete 9 replacement for ~he more expensive natural meat chunks in food produ~ts ~uch as stews, pot pies, casseroles,-canned 1 food~ and pet-food products. Chunky meat products are 12 highly desirable in both human foods and pet foods both from 13 aes~hetic quality and consumer appeal. Because of this 14 desirabiiity and the-high ingredient.cost of.natural meat 13 chunks, there is a need for replacement of such expensive 1 natural meat.chunks in.food~ with more.economical chunky 17 products which simulate natural meat chunk~ ln shape, 1 appearance and texture, and which retain their shape, 1 appearance.and.texture when subjected to commercial canning 2 and retorting procedures. . -2 . Heretofore, efforts directed to providing such 2 simulated natural meat chunks have been directed to .
2 producing such products from vegetable protein sources using 2 extrusion-expansion techniques. Although the product~ of 2 such extrusion-expansion procedures have met with some 2 acceptance in the food industry, their use has.been limited 2 psimarily to use as.meat extenders. Since such products Z lack the appearance and texture of natural meat they.a~e not 2 generally suitable for use as full ~ubstitutes for meat.
3 Similarly, meat emulsion products produced by conventional 3 procedure~ which are in the form of a uniform, homogeneous 3 mass, lack the structure, texture and appearance of natural 132~0~1 ~
1 meat chunks and are not suitable for use in applications in 2 ¦ which the use of simulated natural meat chunks is desired.
3 . -:
4 ¦ SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The presen~ invention provides for the production of a meat emulsion product in-the form of distinct chunks or :
7 ¦ pieces having a plurality of juxtaposed, manually separable :8 ¦ ~eat-like layers resembling a chunk of.natural meat in ¦ a.ppearance, texture, and consistency. The meat emulsion ~0 chunks of this invention-are suitable for use as a partial ~1 ~r complete replacement.. for more expensive natural meat .
~2 chunks ~n.both.human foods.:and animal foods, and retain . :
their integrity and shape when subjected to commercial ..
.14 cann~ng and sterilization procedures such a5 those required 1~ ~n the production of canned high moisture food products. :.:
1~ ....:~he meat emulsion chunks of.the.present invention.are 17 produced by a process which includes comm~nuting a mix of . .
18 meat material, such a~ meat ~including fish and poultry) lS ~nd/or meat by-products, under conditions which.form:a:meat æ emul~ion. .One:.or more dry proteinaceous materials may, i~
:2 desired, be included in the meat emulsion..to increase the .2 l protein content of the emulsion, particularly.if the meat .23 mix conta~ns a relatively.large proportion of low binding 24 or filler.meats. .The meat.emulsion i8 deaerated to remove :2 air pocket~ from the emulsion, and is then comminuted under 2~ conditions which concurrently ~ncreases emul~ion~fineness 2 and rapidly.heats.the-emul~ion to.a temperature above.the :.:
28 boiling point of water, and preferably.between 104C.-~ :
29 118C., at which temperature coagulat$on and denaturing of ..
5 protein in the emulsion proceeds at a very rapid rate. The S bot emul~ion i8 immediately pumped by centrifugal force from the comminuting equipment directly into a confined _ 3 - I ' l ~ processing zone, such as an elongated tube, while 2 ¦ maintaining the emulsion mix at a pressure above the vapor 3 ¦ pressure of the mix. The emulsion is retained in the 4 ¦ elongated tube under such pressure until the protein has 5 ¦ coagulated to an~extent to set the emulsion and form a firm a ¦ emulsion product, that is, within 5 minutes and generally 1 ¦ for between a few seconds to about 3 minutes.
8 ¦ Flow control means, such as a pinch valve, may be 9 ¦ mounted in the elongated tube at or near the inlet of the 10 ¦: ~ube.to regulate the flow of emulsion through the tube so l'l ¦ that the emulsion mix is maintained at the desired pressure 12 ¦ until the emulsion has sufficiently set. Additional flow 13 ¦ control means responsive to the pressure of the emulsion mix 14 ¦ in the tube may.be provided-.in.the elongated tube at one or 15 ¦ more points along the length of the tube to further assist . .
16 I in regulating the flow of emulsion.through the.tube.
17 When the meat emulsion has set to a degree sufficient 18 to form a firm emulsion product, pressure at the downstream ~19 end of the set emulsion in.the tube is reduced to a value below the vapor pressure of the emulsion thereby generating 21 steam in situ in the emulsion. The presence of steam 2 generated i~ the confined emulsion mass by the vaporization 2 of water while the protein is undergoing rapid coagulation 2 facilitates the formation of a distinct layered structure in 2 the emulsion and serves to.disrupt the emulsion mass into .
2 discrete chunks or pieces which are discharged from the 2 tubular processing zone... Additional steam at a pressure of 2 0.3 to 3 Kg/cm2 may be injected into the emulsion at 2 periodic intervals at one or more points along the length of 3 the tube to further assist in the cyclic discharge of the 3 emulsion fro~ the elongated tube.
:~
1 The meat emulsion chunks discharged from the elongated 2 tube have a layered, non-expanded structure containing a 3 pluralit~ of distinct layers of meat emulsion bonded 4 together, with the layers being manually separable. ~hese meat e~ulsion c~unks have an appearance, texture and 6 structure closely approximating those of natural meat 7 chunks. The layered meat emulsion pieces thus produced may be used as a partial or complete replacement for natural meat chunks in a variety of foods for human consumption or 1 in animal foods, and may be used in foods prepared by 1 canning and retorting operations.
1 . . . ,., 1 In preparing the layered meat emulsion chunks in 1 accordance with the method of the present invention, a 1 mixture of natural meat materials, including both meat from 1 mammals, fish or fowl and/or meat by-products, having the 1 requisite quality, ingredient cost and palatability, is 1 formulated, ~round and emulsified. The meat and/or meat 20 ¦ by-products used may be selected from a wide range of Zl ¦ components, with the type and amount of meat material used 22 ¦ in the formulation depending on a number of consideration 23 ¦ such as the intended use of the product, the desired flavor 24 ¦ of the product, palatability, cost, availability of 251 ingredients, and the like. Both meat (i.e. skeletal tissue 2~ ¦ and non-skeletal muscle) from a variety of mammals, fowl and ar ~ fish, and/or meat by-products (i.e. the non-rendered clean 28 I parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals, 29 ¦ fowl or fish) may be used as the meat material. Thus, the 30 ¦ term meat material as used herein is understood to refer to 51¦ non-dehydrated meat and/or me~t ~y-products, including 321 frozen materials. If the product is intended for human i 1~28051 1 consumption, any of the meats and meat by-products used in 2 the production of conventional meat emulsion products may be 3 used in the present invention, including me~ts such as 4 whole-carcass beef and mutton, lean pork trim, beef shanks, veal, beef and ~ork cheek meat, and meat by-products such as 6 lips, tripe, hearts and tongues. If the product is intended 7 for use as a pet food product, the meat mix may contain, in addition to the meat materials described above, any of the meat by-pro~ucts which are approved for use in animal foods, 1 such as mechanically deboned beef, chicken or fish, beef and pork liver, lungs, kidney, and the like. Typically the meat 1 material is formulated to contain a maximum of about 25~, 1 and preferably below about 15~, by weight of fat.
14 ¦ Additives which are used in-conventional meat emulsion 15 ¦ products may be mixed with the meat material and included in 16 ¦ the meat emulsion of the present invention, such as salt, 17 ¦ spices, seasoning, sugar, and the like in amounts sufficient 18 ¦ to provide the product with desired taste characteristics.
1 In addition, minor amounts of other dry ingredients such as, for example, vitamins, minerals, flavors, and the like, may 21 also be added to the meat emulsion. One or more dry 22 proteinaceous materials, such as, for example, wheat gluten, Z3 soy flour, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, egg 24 albumin and nonfat dry milk, may also be included in the meat emulsion to improve emulsion stability and binding, 26 impart flavor, and reduce formulation costs. The inclusion Z7 of the dry proteinaceous materials in the meat emulsion is 28 particularly advantageous in the production of product 29 intended for use as a pet food, for it enables the processor to use meat materials havin~ a protein to fat ratio and 51 myosin to tatal protein ratio which would otherwise be of 52 marginal acceptability for use in preparing meat emulsion l products. If a dry prcteinaceous material is included in 2 ¦ the m~at emulsion, the amount used may vary from about 5~ to 3 ¦ about 35~ by weight of the emulsion, depending on such 4 ¦ factors as the intended use of the product, the quality of 5 ¦ meat material used in the emulsion, ingredient cost ¦ considerations, and the like. Generally, as the fat content 7 ¦ and moisture content of the meat material used are 8 I increased, the level of dry proteinaceous material in the 9 I emulsion is increased according~y.
While-the formulation of the meat-emulsion may vary ll widely, the emulsion, including the dry proteinaceous 1 material, should have a protein to fat ratio sufficient to 13 form a firm meat emulsion product upon coagulation of the 14 protein with no sign of emulsion instability, and the protein content of the emulsion must be such as will enable l~ the emulsion, upon being heated to a temperature above the 17 boiling point of water, to coagulate and form a firm 18 emulsion product within a short period of time, that is, l9 within about 5 minutes, and, preferably within 3 minutes, after being heated to such a temperature. Thus, the meat 21 materials and the additives, including the dry proteinaceous .
22 material (if used) are mixed together in proportions such 23 that the meat material is present in an amount of between 24 about 65~ to 95~ by weight, and preferably from about 75% to 85~ by weight of the meat emulsion, with the meat emulsion 2 having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1, with 2 a protein to fat ratio of between about 2:1 to 7:1 being 2 preferred. While a higher protein to fat ratio may be used 29 in the meat emulsion, it is generally not preferred since it 3 would increase ingredient costs without providing any 3 significant benefits. It i5 generally preferred to use a 3 blend of meat and meat by products as the meat material in _7_ !
1 ¦ the meat emulsion. However, the meat emulsion may be 2 ¦ formulated using only meat by-products as the meat material, 3 ¦ provided that the resulting meat emulsion, including the dry 4 ¦ proteinaceous material (if used), has a protein to fat ratio 5 ¦ of at least abou~t 1.5:1.
6 ¦ In addition, the meat emulsion should be formulated to 7 ¦ contain between about 45% to ~0% by weight moisture, with 8 ¦ the moisture content preferably being controlled between 9 I about 50% to 75% by weight of the meat emulsion, i.e. the 10 ¦ meat materials and additives. The exact concentration of 1~ ¦ water in the emulsion will, of course, depend on the amount 12 ¦ of protein and fat in the emulsion.
13 ¦ The meat mix selected for use is passed through a 14 ¦ grinder to reduce the meat material into pieces of 1~ substantially uniform size. Generally it is preferred to 16 pass the meat through a grinder equipped with a 1 cm or 17 smaller grinding plate. While satisfactory results may be 18 obtained by grinding the meat to a particle size larger than 1 1 cm, the use of such larger meat particles is generally not - preferred. If the meat materials to be used are in a frozen 21 condition, they must first be prebroken or cut into pieces 22 in order to reduce the size of the pieces going into the 23 grinder. While the size of the pieces will depend on the 24 size of the meat grinder intake, normally the frozen meat material is cut into pieces about 10 cm square.
26 After grinding, the mix of meat particles is conveyed 27 to a holding tank in which the meat mix preferably is heated 28 to a temperature of between about -1C. to 7C., such as by 29 hot water jacketing, steam injection, and the like to facilitate pumping of the meat mix.
31 The mix of ground meat particles is then comminuted 32 under conditions which emulsify the meat material and form a -1328051 ~ ~
1 meat emulsion in which the protein and water of the meat 2 mixture form a matrix that encapsulates fat globules. The 3 meat material may be emulsified by any conventional proced-4 ure and equipment commonly used in meat emulsification such as by using a mi~er, blender, qrinder, silent cutter 6 chopper, emulsion mi~l, and the like which is capable of 1 breaking up and dispersing the fat as globules in the protein slurry to form an emulsion. Typically the 9 temperature of the meat emulsion increases during the 10 ¦ emulsification process. This heating of the meat emulsion 11 ¦ is not objectionable as long as the temperature does not 12 ¦ increase to t~e point that protein denaturation begins to 13 ¦ occur at an undesirable rate at this stage of the process.
8 ¦ Flow control means, such as a pinch valve, may be 9 ¦ mounted in the elongated tube at or near the inlet of the 10 ¦: ~ube.to regulate the flow of emulsion through the tube so l'l ¦ that the emulsion mix is maintained at the desired pressure 12 ¦ until the emulsion has sufficiently set. Additional flow 13 ¦ control means responsive to the pressure of the emulsion mix 14 ¦ in the tube may.be provided-.in.the elongated tube at one or 15 ¦ more points along the length of the tube to further assist . .
16 I in regulating the flow of emulsion.through the.tube.
17 When the meat emulsion has set to a degree sufficient 18 to form a firm emulsion product, pressure at the downstream ~19 end of the set emulsion in.the tube is reduced to a value below the vapor pressure of the emulsion thereby generating 21 steam in situ in the emulsion. The presence of steam 2 generated i~ the confined emulsion mass by the vaporization 2 of water while the protein is undergoing rapid coagulation 2 facilitates the formation of a distinct layered structure in 2 the emulsion and serves to.disrupt the emulsion mass into .
2 discrete chunks or pieces which are discharged from the 2 tubular processing zone... Additional steam at a pressure of 2 0.3 to 3 Kg/cm2 may be injected into the emulsion at 2 periodic intervals at one or more points along the length of 3 the tube to further assist in the cyclic discharge of the 3 emulsion fro~ the elongated tube.
:~
1 The meat emulsion chunks discharged from the elongated 2 tube have a layered, non-expanded structure containing a 3 pluralit~ of distinct layers of meat emulsion bonded 4 together, with the layers being manually separable. ~hese meat e~ulsion c~unks have an appearance, texture and 6 structure closely approximating those of natural meat 7 chunks. The layered meat emulsion pieces thus produced may be used as a partial or complete replacement for natural meat chunks in a variety of foods for human consumption or 1 in animal foods, and may be used in foods prepared by 1 canning and retorting operations.
1 . . . ,., 1 In preparing the layered meat emulsion chunks in 1 accordance with the method of the present invention, a 1 mixture of natural meat materials, including both meat from 1 mammals, fish or fowl and/or meat by-products, having the 1 requisite quality, ingredient cost and palatability, is 1 formulated, ~round and emulsified. The meat and/or meat 20 ¦ by-products used may be selected from a wide range of Zl ¦ components, with the type and amount of meat material used 22 ¦ in the formulation depending on a number of consideration 23 ¦ such as the intended use of the product, the desired flavor 24 ¦ of the product, palatability, cost, availability of 251 ingredients, and the like. Both meat (i.e. skeletal tissue 2~ ¦ and non-skeletal muscle) from a variety of mammals, fowl and ar ~ fish, and/or meat by-products (i.e. the non-rendered clean 28 I parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals, 29 ¦ fowl or fish) may be used as the meat material. Thus, the 30 ¦ term meat material as used herein is understood to refer to 51¦ non-dehydrated meat and/or me~t ~y-products, including 321 frozen materials. If the product is intended for human i 1~28051 1 consumption, any of the meats and meat by-products used in 2 the production of conventional meat emulsion products may be 3 used in the present invention, including me~ts such as 4 whole-carcass beef and mutton, lean pork trim, beef shanks, veal, beef and ~ork cheek meat, and meat by-products such as 6 lips, tripe, hearts and tongues. If the product is intended 7 for use as a pet food product, the meat mix may contain, in addition to the meat materials described above, any of the meat by-pro~ucts which are approved for use in animal foods, 1 such as mechanically deboned beef, chicken or fish, beef and pork liver, lungs, kidney, and the like. Typically the meat 1 material is formulated to contain a maximum of about 25~, 1 and preferably below about 15~, by weight of fat.
14 ¦ Additives which are used in-conventional meat emulsion 15 ¦ products may be mixed with the meat material and included in 16 ¦ the meat emulsion of the present invention, such as salt, 17 ¦ spices, seasoning, sugar, and the like in amounts sufficient 18 ¦ to provide the product with desired taste characteristics.
1 In addition, minor amounts of other dry ingredients such as, for example, vitamins, minerals, flavors, and the like, may 21 also be added to the meat emulsion. One or more dry 22 proteinaceous materials, such as, for example, wheat gluten, Z3 soy flour, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, egg 24 albumin and nonfat dry milk, may also be included in the meat emulsion to improve emulsion stability and binding, 26 impart flavor, and reduce formulation costs. The inclusion Z7 of the dry proteinaceous materials in the meat emulsion is 28 particularly advantageous in the production of product 29 intended for use as a pet food, for it enables the processor to use meat materials havin~ a protein to fat ratio and 51 myosin to tatal protein ratio which would otherwise be of 52 marginal acceptability for use in preparing meat emulsion l products. If a dry prcteinaceous material is included in 2 ¦ the m~at emulsion, the amount used may vary from about 5~ to 3 ¦ about 35~ by weight of the emulsion, depending on such 4 ¦ factors as the intended use of the product, the quality of 5 ¦ meat material used in the emulsion, ingredient cost ¦ considerations, and the like. Generally, as the fat content 7 ¦ and moisture content of the meat material used are 8 I increased, the level of dry proteinaceous material in the 9 I emulsion is increased according~y.
While-the formulation of the meat-emulsion may vary ll widely, the emulsion, including the dry proteinaceous 1 material, should have a protein to fat ratio sufficient to 13 form a firm meat emulsion product upon coagulation of the 14 protein with no sign of emulsion instability, and the protein content of the emulsion must be such as will enable l~ the emulsion, upon being heated to a temperature above the 17 boiling point of water, to coagulate and form a firm 18 emulsion product within a short period of time, that is, l9 within about 5 minutes, and, preferably within 3 minutes, after being heated to such a temperature. Thus, the meat 21 materials and the additives, including the dry proteinaceous .
22 material (if used) are mixed together in proportions such 23 that the meat material is present in an amount of between 24 about 65~ to 95~ by weight, and preferably from about 75% to 85~ by weight of the meat emulsion, with the meat emulsion 2 having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1, with 2 a protein to fat ratio of between about 2:1 to 7:1 being 2 preferred. While a higher protein to fat ratio may be used 29 in the meat emulsion, it is generally not preferred since it 3 would increase ingredient costs without providing any 3 significant benefits. It i5 generally preferred to use a 3 blend of meat and meat by products as the meat material in _7_ !
1 ¦ the meat emulsion. However, the meat emulsion may be 2 ¦ formulated using only meat by-products as the meat material, 3 ¦ provided that the resulting meat emulsion, including the dry 4 ¦ proteinaceous material (if used), has a protein to fat ratio 5 ¦ of at least abou~t 1.5:1.
6 ¦ In addition, the meat emulsion should be formulated to 7 ¦ contain between about 45% to ~0% by weight moisture, with 8 ¦ the moisture content preferably being controlled between 9 I about 50% to 75% by weight of the meat emulsion, i.e. the 10 ¦ meat materials and additives. The exact concentration of 1~ ¦ water in the emulsion will, of course, depend on the amount 12 ¦ of protein and fat in the emulsion.
13 ¦ The meat mix selected for use is passed through a 14 ¦ grinder to reduce the meat material into pieces of 1~ substantially uniform size. Generally it is preferred to 16 pass the meat through a grinder equipped with a 1 cm or 17 smaller grinding plate. While satisfactory results may be 18 obtained by grinding the meat to a particle size larger than 1 1 cm, the use of such larger meat particles is generally not - preferred. If the meat materials to be used are in a frozen 21 condition, they must first be prebroken or cut into pieces 22 in order to reduce the size of the pieces going into the 23 grinder. While the size of the pieces will depend on the 24 size of the meat grinder intake, normally the frozen meat material is cut into pieces about 10 cm square.
26 After grinding, the mix of meat particles is conveyed 27 to a holding tank in which the meat mix preferably is heated 28 to a temperature of between about -1C. to 7C., such as by 29 hot water jacketing, steam injection, and the like to facilitate pumping of the meat mix.
31 The mix of ground meat particles is then comminuted 32 under conditions which emulsify the meat material and form a -1328051 ~ ~
1 meat emulsion in which the protein and water of the meat 2 mixture form a matrix that encapsulates fat globules. The 3 meat material may be emulsified by any conventional proced-4 ure and equipment commonly used in meat emulsification such as by using a mi~er, blender, qrinder, silent cutter 6 chopper, emulsion mi~l, and the like which is capable of 1 breaking up and dispersing the fat as globules in the protein slurry to form an emulsion. Typically the 9 temperature of the meat emulsion increases during the 10 ¦ emulsification process. This heating of the meat emulsion 11 ¦ is not objectionable as long as the temperature does not 12 ¦ increase to t~e point that protein denaturation begins to 13 ¦ occur at an undesirable rate at this stage of the process.
14 ¦ The temperature of the meat mixture during emulsification lS ¦ should be maintained below about 49C. in order to minimize 1~ protein denaturing at this stage of the process. According 17 to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the meat 18 material is passed through an emulsion mill to emulsify the 1 meat material with the emulsion being heated to a temperature between about 10C. to 49C., preferably between 21 about 35C. to 46C.
22 The additives to be incorporated in the meat emulsion, 23 including dry proteinaceous material (if used), may be added 24 to the meat mix prior to emulsification. Alternatively, it 26 is frequently preferable to incorporate the additives, 2 particularly the dry proteinaceous material, in the meat mix 2 after emulsification of the meat. Since the addition of the 28 ¦ dry proteinaceous material increases the viscosity of the 29 ¦ emulsion, better emulsification is obtained when the meat 30 ¦ mix is emulsified before the addition of the dry protein-31 ¦ aceous material, which results in the formation of a viscous 32 ¦ meat emulsion.
2~0~1 l The viscous meat emulsion thus obtained by inclusion of 2 the dry proteinaceous material in the ~mulsion pre~erahly is 3 then deaerated by any conventional procedure~ such as by 4 processing it through a vac~um stuffer, to remove occluded air which could disrupt the product matrix and reduce its 6 binding capacity.
7 After deaeration, the meat emulsion is again comminuted 8 to increase the fineness of the emulsion and is rapidly 9 heated to a temperature above the boiling point of water, at which temperature the coagulation of protein in the emulsion ll proceeds so rapidly that the emulsion is set and a firm 12 emulsion product formed within a very short period of time.
It has been found that rapidly heating the viscous meat 14 emulsion to a temperature above the boiling point of water, and generally between 104C. and 118C., will result in the lB protein in the emulsion coagulating to set the emulsion and 17 form a firm emulsion product within about 5 minutes and 18 typically from a few seconds to about 3 minutes after l9 I heating. In addition, heating the meat emulsion, which has 20 ¦ a moisture content of about 45% to 80% by weight, to such 21 ¦ temperature results in vaporization of the emulsion water to 22 ¦ form steam in the body of the emulsion mass when it is at or 23 ¦ near atmospheric pressure. This internal generation of 24 ¦ steam in the emulsion is a significant factor in the 25 ¦ production of product having the desired distinct layered 26 I structure. Preferably the emulsion is processed in 27 I equipment in which the emulsion is heated to such elevated 28 ¦ temperatures while it is being comminuted such as by 29 ¦ mechanical heating and/or steam injection. According to a 30 ¦ preferred embodiment, the viscous meat emulsion, which is at 31 ¦ a temperature of between about 30C.-40C., is pumped 32 ¦ through an emulsion mill in which the meat emulsion is il , I ..
Il ~ 328051 l subjected to shearing to increase the fineness of the 2 emulslon and almost simultaneously heat the emulsion to 3 between about 104C.-118C., through rapid mechanical 4 heating and/or steam injection. Thus, the deaerated emulsion prefera~ly is heated to such elevated temperatureS
6 in a period of less than about 60 seconds. When the 1 emulsion has been heated to such an elevated temperature in 8 this manner, further significant shearing and cutting of the 9 emulsion should be avoided. While the meat emulsion may be heated to a temperature above 118C., such higher 1 temperatures are generally not advantageous. Control of the l emulsion temperature within the desired range can be l effected adjusting such factors as the feed rate into the l emulsion mill, the rotational speed of the emulsion mill, 1 and the like, and can readily be determined by those skilled l in the art.
1 The hot meat emulsion, which is at a temperature above l the boiling point of water and preferably in the range of l between about 102C. to 118C., is pumped under positive 20 ¦ pressure by a centrifug~l force directly from the equipment 21 ¦ in which it is comminuted and heated into a confined 22 ¦ processing zone, which preferably is in the form of an 23 I elongated tube, and is retained in the confined processing ~4 ¦ zone at a pressure above the vapor pressure of the emulsion until the protein in the meat emulsion has coagulated 26 sufficiently to set the emulsion and form a firm emulsion 27 product, which retains its shape and layered structure when 28 ¦ discharged from the tubular processing zone. At such 29 elevated temperature, protein coagulation proceeds at a very rapid rate. While the period-of time required for the hot 31 emulsion to set sufficiently to form a firm product will 32 depend on a number of factors, such as the temperature to 13~8051 1 which the emulsion is heated and the amount and type of 2 ¦ protein in the emulsion, a residence time of between a few 3 ¦ seconds to about 3 minutes, and usually bet~een about 1 to 4 ¦ 1.5 minutes, in the elongated tube is generally sufficient 5 ¦ for the protein ~o sufficiently coagulate and form a firm 6 ¦ emulsion product which will retain its shape, integrity and 1 ¦ physical characteristics. The residence time in the 8 ¦ elongated tube can be controlled by adjusting the flow rate 9 of the emulsion to the elongated tube and/or by adjusting 10 ¦ the length of the elongated tube. The dimensions of the 11 ¦ holding tube are not critical but must be sufficient to 12 provide the emulsion with sufficient retention time in the 13 ¦ tube for the emulsion to set. In practice, tubes having a 14 ¦ length of between about 4.5m and 12.2m and an internal 1~ diameter of between about 4.5 cm and 15.2 cm provide la sufficient retention time to form a firm emulsion product.
17 Tubes of various cross-sectional shapes may be used, such as 18 circular, square, octagonal, and the like.
19 According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, flow restriction means, such as a pinch valve, is mounted in 2 the tubular processing zone at or near the inlet of the tube 2 to restrict the flow of the hot emulsion from the emulsion 2 mill into the tube and maintain the hot emulsion at a 2 pressure in excess of the vapor pressure of emulsion water.
2 Satisfactory results may be obtained when the back pressure 2 on the emulsion pumped from the emulsion mill to the tube is 2 in the range of about 1.4 to 4.2 Kg/cm~. Preferably, this 28 flow restriction means is responsive to the pressure of the 2 emulsion and maintains the back pressure at a relatively 3 constant predetermined value despite fluctuations in the 3 rate of emulsion discharge from the emulsion mill.
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~ - 12 -13280~1 1 Preferably steam, at a pressure of about 0.3 to 3 Z Kg/cm2, is intermittently injected into the hot meat 3 emulsion in the elongated tube at one or more a points along 4 the len~th of the tube. Such injection of steam into the emulsion is inte~mittent rather than continuous, and is 6 generally injected at time intervals of about one-half the 7 residence time of the emulsion in the tubular processing 8 zone. For example, if the length of the tube and the . 9 throughput rate of the emulsion in the.tube are such that the retention time of the.emulsion in the tube is 120 .ll seconds, steam is injected into the emulsion at intervals of 12 about 60 seconds, with the steam being injected for a period 13 of from l to 5 seconds per injection.
l .. The injection of such pressurized steam into the l emulsion in the confined zone further promotes development .l of the layered structure in the emulsion, and assists in 1 discharging the set emulsion product from the elongated 1 tube. $hus, steam which is generated internally in the l emulsion by vaporization of emulsion water, and steam which .20 ¦ is periodically injected into the emulsion accumulates 21 ¦ within the emulsion mass in the confined processing zone so 22 ¦ that the internal pressure in the confined zone increases .23 ¦ until it is sufficient to disrupt the meat emulsion mass 24 ¦ adjacent the discharge end of the tube into discrete pieces 25 ¦ and cause the pieces to be rapidly discharged from the tube 26 into atmospheric conditions. When this is repeated, the 27 ¦ discrete meat emulsion pieces are intermittently discharged 28 ¦ from the tube. .
~ ¦ In order to maintain the hot emulsion in the tubular : 30 processing zone at a pressllre greater than the vapor : ~1 pressure of the emulsion until the protein has coagulated 32 sufficient~y to form a firm product, suitable flow control 1 j means, sucl- as a pinch valve which is responsive to pressure 2 I of the emulsion in the tube, preferably is mounted at one or 3 I more points along the length of the tube. If utilized, such 4 ¦ flow control means is mounted in the tube at a point where a 5 I firm emulsion product has already been formed, and typically 6 ¦ is mounted intermediate the mldpoint and the discharge end 7 ¦ of the tube. The flow control means, such as a pinch valve, 8 ¦ is adapted to open and close in response to pressure of the 9 ¦ emulsion in the tube to thereby control the flow of ~0 ¦ emulsion. Injection of pressurized steam into the emulsion 11 ¦ is coordinated with the opening of the air valve to assist 12 ¦ in the discharge of the set emulsion from the tubular 15 ¦ processing zone. According to one embodiment, a pinch valve 14 ¦ is mounted in the elongated tube at a point within the last 15 ¦ 50% of the tube where the emulsion has set sufficiently to lB ¦ form a firm emulsion product. This valve is adapted to open 17 ¦ when the pressure of the emulsion in the tube between the 18 ¦ tube inlet and the valve reaches a predetermined value and 19 ¦ to close when the emulsion pressure drops below a predetermined value, lower than that at which the valve 21 ¦ opens. The pressure value at which this valve opens is 22 ¦ sufficiently high to ensure that the emulsion in the tube X3 ¦ upstream of the valve will be at a pressure higher than the 24 ¦ vapor pressure of the emulsion water until the valve is 25 ¦ opened, at which time the emulsion pressure will drop below 2B I the vapor pressure of the emulsion. When the air valve 27 opens, pressurized steam is intermittently injected into the 28 emulsion at one or more points upstream of the air valve to 29 facilitate the discharge of the set emulsion from the tube.
As the air valve opens and a portion of the set emulsion 31 adjacent the air valve is discharged from the tube, the 3 pressure on the emulsion upstream of the air valve drops ''"
132~1~51 1 below the vapor pressure of the emulsion water to generate 2 steam in the hot emulsion due to the vaporization of 3 emulsion water. The effect of the combinati~n of pumping 4 the hot emulsion into the tubular processing zone by centrifugal force, subjecting the hot confined emulsion to 6 steam pressure while the protein is coagulating at a rapid 7 rate, together with the pressure exerted on the emulsion by 8 pumping it throuqh a confined zone, provides the meat 9 emulsion with a layered, meat-like structure and appearance which is retained upon discharge from the tube. In 11 addition, the internal generation of steam in the hot 1 confined emulsion serves to disrupt the meat emulsion mass 1 into discrete pieces which, by virtue of the steam pressure 1 are rapidly discharged from the tubular processing zone into 1 atmospheric conditions.
1 While the use of one or more such pinch valves or other 1 flow control means in the tubular processing zone is a 1 preferred embodiment in that it facilitates control of 19 ¦ operating conditions, satisfactory product may be produced 20 ¦ without the use of a flow control valve in the elongated 21 tube.
22 The set, layered meat emulsion pieces discharged from 23 ¦ the confined processing zone are in the form of discrete 24 ¦ pieces or chunks having a temperature of about 98C.-100C., 25 ¦ and a moisture content of about 50% to 65%, with the pieces 2~ I varying in size. Upon discharge from the processing zone, 27 I the pieces are rapidly cooled by evaporative cooling to a 28 ¦ temperature in the range of 83C.-93~C. If desired, ~ 29 ¦ suitable cutting means, such as a rotary cut-off knife, a 1 30 ¦ water jet knife, a knife grid, or the like may be mounted at 31 ¦ the discharge end of the elongated tube to cut the chunks 32 ¦ into pieces of a desired size, e.g. from about 1.2 cm to 5 :
~1 132~051 l ~ cm or more. The size of the pieces into which the firm 2 ¦ emulsion chunks may be cut will, to a large extent, depend 3 ¦ upon the i~tended us~ of the product. The èmulsion pieceS
4 ¦ thus provided comprise discrete, unitary, irregularly shaped 5 ¦ pieces or chunk~ of set meat emulsion which have a plurality 6 ¦ of separate, distinct layers bonded together and resemble 7 ¦ chunks of natural meat in appearance and texture. The meat 8 ¦ emulsion chunks thus formed have excellent integrity and 9 ¦ strength and will retain their shape and layered lO I characteristics when subjected to commercial canning and ll ¦ retorting procedures such as those required in the 12 ¦ production of canned foods having a high moisture content.
13 ¦ The layered meat emulsion pieces discharged from the 14 ¦ confined processing zone may be conveyed to a dryer to 15 ¦ remove a large portion of the moisture therefrom, and the 16 ¦ dried product collected and stored. Alternatively, the 17 ¦ layered meat emulsion pieces may be conveyed from the 18 ¦ elongated tube directly to a canning operation in which 19 layered chunks are filled into cans together with other ingredients, such as sauce, gravy, and the like, and the 2 cans retorted. For example, in the production of a canned 2 pet food product, a suitable gravy may be prepared by 23 I heating a mixture of water, starch and condiments. The 24 ¦ layered meat emulsion chunks and gravy are filled into cans 25 ¦ in the desired proportions, the cans are vacuum sealed and 26 ¦ are then retorted under time-temperature conditions 27 ¦ sufficient to effect commercial sterilization. Convention 28 ¦ retorting procedures may be used. Typically, a retorting 29 I temperature of about 1~8C.-121C. for approximately 65-90 50 ¦ minutes is satisfactory in produciDg a commercially sterile 31 ¦ product.
52 l -- 16a 1328051 In one aspect, the present invention provides a method of producing a meat emulsion product having a layered, meat-like appearance and testure. The method includes forming a meat emulsion containing a mix of meat materials with the emulsion having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1 and a moisture content of between about 45% to 80% by weight and deaerating the meat emulsion. The method includes comminuting and heating the meat emulsion to a temperature above the boiling point of water and introducing the heated emulsion by centrifugal force into a confined processing zone while maintaining the emulsion under a pressure greater than the vapor pressure of the emulsion water. Other steps include maintaining the heated emulsion under such pressure in the confined zone until the protein is coagulated to form a firm emulsion mass, reducing the pressure on the emulsion in the confined zone to below the vapor pressure of the emulsion water to vaporize emulsion water, and intermittently injecting pressurized steam into the emulsion in the confined zone whereby the firm emulsion mas8 is disrupted to form discrete pieces of set emulsion having a plurality of distinct layers bonded together, and discharging the layered meat emulsion pieces from the confined processing zone.
In another aspect the the invention is of a ;
method for producing a meat emulsion product having layered meat-~ike appearance and testure including the steps of formulating a meat mis containing a member of the group consisting of meat, meat by-products and mixtures thereof, and water and emulsifying the meat mis. This method includes adding to the meat emulsion a dry proteinaceous material selected from the group consisting of wheat gluten, soy flour, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, egg albumin, nonfat dry milk and mixtures thereo in an amount of from 15% to 35% by weight of the ~--' -16b - 13280Sl ; ~
total formulation, with the emulsion having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1 and deaerating the meat emulsion. Other steps include comminuting the meat emulsion under conditions which heat the emulsion to a temperature in the range of from abut 104C. to 118C., introducing the heated emulsion by centrifugal force into an elongated tubular member having a length sufficient that the protein in the meat emulsion coagulates to form a firm emulsion mass prior to discharge from the elongated :
tubular member, with steam being formed internally in the emulsion in the tubular member, periodically injecting ~team under pressure into the meat emulsion at a point intermediate the inlet and discharge ends of the member, whereby the steam ormed internally in the emulsion and that in;ected into the emulsion produce conditions in the ::
tubular member sufficient to facilitate layering of the meat emulsion and to disrupt the meat emulsion into discrete pieces having a plurality of distinct layers bonded together, and discharging the layered meat emulsion pieces from the tubular member.
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Ill I ~328051 1 ¦ The following examples illustrate the inventlon. In 2 ¦ the examples and elsewhere herein, parts and p~rcentageS are 3 ¦ expressed by weight, unless otherwise indicated.
4 l 5 ¦ ~ EXAMPLE 1 6 ¦ A canned pet food product comprising chunks of layered 7 ¦ meat emulsion in an aqueous gravy is prepared by the 8 ¦ following procedure.9 ¦ Blocks of frozen meat are first cut or broken into 10 ¦ pieces about 10 cm inches in size and the pieces are ground 11 ¦ in conventional meat grinder equipped with a 1 cm plate.
12 ¦ The proportions of meat material used are as follows:
15 ¦ Meat l'ype Parts bv wt.
14 ¦ Mechanically deboned beef 60 15 ¦ Lungs 25 1~ ¦ Liver 15 17 ¦ The ground meat i5 introduced into a mixer in which it is 18 heated by steam injection to a temperature of about 0C.
19 ¦ After mixing, the blend of ground meat materials is fed into 20 ¦ an emulsion mill in which the meat is cut and sheared to 21 form a meat emulsion which is heated by mechanical working 22 during emulsification to a temperature of between about 25 ¦ 15.6C. to 43C. The warm meat emulsion is pumped from the 24 ¦ emulsion mill into a continuous mixer where it is thoroughly 25 ¦ admixed with a blend of dry ingredients containing the dry 26 ¦ proteinaceous materials, wheat gluten and soy flour together 27 ¦ with vitamins, minerals and spices to form a thickened, 28 ¦ viscous meat emulsion containing about ~0% meat material, 29 ¦ ~ l9~ dry proteinaceous material, and the balance vitamins, 30 ~ mlnera1s and spices. The viscous meat emulsion thus formed 51 ~ is pumpe`d ~rom the continuous mixer into a vacuum-stuffer to 32 ¦ deaerate the emulsion.
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1 After deaeration the viscous emulsion, which is at a 2 temperature of about 30C. to 40C., is pumped into an 3 emulsion mill in which the emulsion is cut and sheared under 4 conditions to increase the fineness of the emulsion and almost simultaneously heat the emulsion to a temperature of 6 about 104C. to 113C. At such a emulsion temperature, 7 protein coagulation proceeds very rapidly, so that a firm 8 meat emulsion product will be formed within 2 minutes after 9 heating.
The hot emulsion is pumped directly from the emulsion 11 mill into an elongated tube having an internal diameter of l 6.35 cm and a length of 6.1 m. The flow rate of the 1 emulsion through the tube is controlled to provide the l emulsion with a residence time of about 2 minutes in the 1 tube.
l Steam, at a pressure of between 0.5-1 Kg/cm~, is 1 injected into the emulsion at a point within the first 25%
1 of the length of the tube, with the steam being injected at l 60 second intervals for a period of about 3 seconds per 20 ¦ injection. A firm emulsion product is intermittently 21 discharged from the elongated tube in the form of discrete 22 ¦ irregularly shaped meat-like pieces or chunks varying in 25 ¦ length from about 1.27 cm to about 5.1 cm or more, with each 24 ¦ of the chunks having a plurality of juxtaposed layers of set 25 ¦ meat emulsion bonded together and resembling natural meat 26 ¦ chunks in appearance and texture. The distinct layers of 27 ¦ the chunks, while being bonded together are manually 28 ¦ separable, similar to cutting along the grain of a chunk of 29 ¦ meat. The individual chunks discharged from the tube are at 50 I a temperature of about 99C. and have a moisture content of 31 ¦ between ~0% to 65%. The resulting layered meat emulsion 52 ¦ pieces are filled into cans, topped with an aqueous il ' I
132~
l starch-containing gravy, sealed and retorted under 2 conditions sufficient to prov-.de a commercially sterile 3 product. Upon retorting, the la~ered pieces retain their 4 shape, integrity, and mcat-like appearance and texture.
The procedure described in Example l is repeated, with the exception that the following proportions of meat . material are used:
l. Meat Type Parts by wt.
.l . Fish 32 l Chicken necks 29 l Liver 25 14 Spleen 14 l The meat ingredients are ground and emulsified, and a l blend of dry ingredients containing wheat gluten and soy l protein concentrate is added to the emulsion with vigorous l agitation to form a thickened, viscous meat emulsion l9 containing about 80% meat material, 19% dry proteinaceous material, vitamins, minerals and spices. The viscous meat 2 emulsion has a fat content of less than 12%, a moisture .
22 ¦ content of~between 55~ to 65~, and a protein to fat ratio. of 23 I between 2.25-2.5:1. After deaeration, the viscous emulsion 24 ¦ is pumped into an emulsion mill in which the emulsion is 25 ¦ subiected to shearing forces to increase the fineness of the 26 ¦ emulsion and heat the emulsion to a temperature in the 27 ¦ 104C. to 113C. range, and is pumped from the emulsion mill 28 ¦ directly into the inlet of an elongated holding tube by a 29 centrifugal force. The holding tube, which has a length to 30 ¦ diameter ratio of about 30:1, is provided with two pinch :
~l valves, one mounted at the inlet end of the tube, and the 32 other mounted at a point within the last 50% of the tube :~
;l ' ' - 13280~ :-~
l length. The valve at the inlet end of the tube restricts 2 the flow of hot emulsion into the tube to maintain the 3 emulsion upstream of the inlet valve under a relatively 4 constant pressure in the range of about 2.0-3.5 Kg/cm2.
As the hot emuls~ion is pumped through th~ inlet valve, it 6 fills the tube portion between the valves, with the emulsion 7 being under a pressure greater than the vapor pressure of 8 the emulsion water. The downstream pinch valve is adapted 9 to open when the pressure of the emulsion intermediate the two valves reaches a predetermined level in the range of ll about 0.35-1.8 Kg/cm2. When the second valve opens, 12 pressurized steam (0.5-1 Kgtcm2) is intermittently injected 13 into the emulsion at one or more points upstream of the 14 second valve whereby a section of the set emulsion adjacent ; ;
the second valve is forced through the valve and discharged l from the tube. This opening of the second valve and l discharge of a portion of the emulsion causes the emulsion l pressure intermediate the two valves to drop below the vapor l pressure of the emulsion water so that emulsion water is vaporized and forms steam in situ in the emulsion. The 2 rapid generation of steam internally in the confined 22 ¦ emulsion, together with the intermittent injection of 23 ¦ press~rized steam into the emulsion facilitates the 24 ¦ formation of a layered structure in the emulsion and 25 ¦ disrupts the emulsion mass into chunks, which are rapidly 26 discharged form the tube. When the pressure in the tube 27 section between the two valves drops to a predetermined 28 I value, the second valve closes and the cycle is repeated. A
2g firm emulsion product is cyclically discharged from the tube in the form of discrete irregularly shaped chunks having a 51 ¦ layered, mea~-like appearance and texture, which retain ~;
32 l I~ i3280~1 .
1 their shape, integrity, appearance and texture upon canning 2 and retorting.
3 Alth~ugh the present invention has been described with 4 reference to specific examples and preferred embodiments~ it will be understood that changes, modifications and vari-6 ations of composition and procedure may be made within the 7 principle and scope of the invention as set forth in the 9 ppended claim ~, .
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22 The additives to be incorporated in the meat emulsion, 23 including dry proteinaceous material (if used), may be added 24 to the meat mix prior to emulsification. Alternatively, it 26 is frequently preferable to incorporate the additives, 2 particularly the dry proteinaceous material, in the meat mix 2 after emulsification of the meat. Since the addition of the 28 ¦ dry proteinaceous material increases the viscosity of the 29 ¦ emulsion, better emulsification is obtained when the meat 30 ¦ mix is emulsified before the addition of the dry protein-31 ¦ aceous material, which results in the formation of a viscous 32 ¦ meat emulsion.
2~0~1 l The viscous meat emulsion thus obtained by inclusion of 2 the dry proteinaceous material in the ~mulsion pre~erahly is 3 then deaerated by any conventional procedure~ such as by 4 processing it through a vac~um stuffer, to remove occluded air which could disrupt the product matrix and reduce its 6 binding capacity.
7 After deaeration, the meat emulsion is again comminuted 8 to increase the fineness of the emulsion and is rapidly 9 heated to a temperature above the boiling point of water, at which temperature the coagulation of protein in the emulsion ll proceeds so rapidly that the emulsion is set and a firm 12 emulsion product formed within a very short period of time.
It has been found that rapidly heating the viscous meat 14 emulsion to a temperature above the boiling point of water, and generally between 104C. and 118C., will result in the lB protein in the emulsion coagulating to set the emulsion and 17 form a firm emulsion product within about 5 minutes and 18 typically from a few seconds to about 3 minutes after l9 I heating. In addition, heating the meat emulsion, which has 20 ¦ a moisture content of about 45% to 80% by weight, to such 21 ¦ temperature results in vaporization of the emulsion water to 22 ¦ form steam in the body of the emulsion mass when it is at or 23 ¦ near atmospheric pressure. This internal generation of 24 ¦ steam in the emulsion is a significant factor in the 25 ¦ production of product having the desired distinct layered 26 I structure. Preferably the emulsion is processed in 27 I equipment in which the emulsion is heated to such elevated 28 ¦ temperatures while it is being comminuted such as by 29 ¦ mechanical heating and/or steam injection. According to a 30 ¦ preferred embodiment, the viscous meat emulsion, which is at 31 ¦ a temperature of between about 30C.-40C., is pumped 32 ¦ through an emulsion mill in which the meat emulsion is il , I ..
Il ~ 328051 l subjected to shearing to increase the fineness of the 2 emulslon and almost simultaneously heat the emulsion to 3 between about 104C.-118C., through rapid mechanical 4 heating and/or steam injection. Thus, the deaerated emulsion prefera~ly is heated to such elevated temperatureS
6 in a period of less than about 60 seconds. When the 1 emulsion has been heated to such an elevated temperature in 8 this manner, further significant shearing and cutting of the 9 emulsion should be avoided. While the meat emulsion may be heated to a temperature above 118C., such higher 1 temperatures are generally not advantageous. Control of the l emulsion temperature within the desired range can be l effected adjusting such factors as the feed rate into the l emulsion mill, the rotational speed of the emulsion mill, 1 and the like, and can readily be determined by those skilled l in the art.
1 The hot meat emulsion, which is at a temperature above l the boiling point of water and preferably in the range of l between about 102C. to 118C., is pumped under positive 20 ¦ pressure by a centrifug~l force directly from the equipment 21 ¦ in which it is comminuted and heated into a confined 22 ¦ processing zone, which preferably is in the form of an 23 I elongated tube, and is retained in the confined processing ~4 ¦ zone at a pressure above the vapor pressure of the emulsion until the protein in the meat emulsion has coagulated 26 sufficiently to set the emulsion and form a firm emulsion 27 product, which retains its shape and layered structure when 28 ¦ discharged from the tubular processing zone. At such 29 elevated temperature, protein coagulation proceeds at a very rapid rate. While the period-of time required for the hot 31 emulsion to set sufficiently to form a firm product will 32 depend on a number of factors, such as the temperature to 13~8051 1 which the emulsion is heated and the amount and type of 2 ¦ protein in the emulsion, a residence time of between a few 3 ¦ seconds to about 3 minutes, and usually bet~een about 1 to 4 ¦ 1.5 minutes, in the elongated tube is generally sufficient 5 ¦ for the protein ~o sufficiently coagulate and form a firm 6 ¦ emulsion product which will retain its shape, integrity and 1 ¦ physical characteristics. The residence time in the 8 ¦ elongated tube can be controlled by adjusting the flow rate 9 of the emulsion to the elongated tube and/or by adjusting 10 ¦ the length of the elongated tube. The dimensions of the 11 ¦ holding tube are not critical but must be sufficient to 12 provide the emulsion with sufficient retention time in the 13 ¦ tube for the emulsion to set. In practice, tubes having a 14 ¦ length of between about 4.5m and 12.2m and an internal 1~ diameter of between about 4.5 cm and 15.2 cm provide la sufficient retention time to form a firm emulsion product.
17 Tubes of various cross-sectional shapes may be used, such as 18 circular, square, octagonal, and the like.
19 According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, flow restriction means, such as a pinch valve, is mounted in 2 the tubular processing zone at or near the inlet of the tube 2 to restrict the flow of the hot emulsion from the emulsion 2 mill into the tube and maintain the hot emulsion at a 2 pressure in excess of the vapor pressure of emulsion water.
2 Satisfactory results may be obtained when the back pressure 2 on the emulsion pumped from the emulsion mill to the tube is 2 in the range of about 1.4 to 4.2 Kg/cm~. Preferably, this 28 flow restriction means is responsive to the pressure of the 2 emulsion and maintains the back pressure at a relatively 3 constant predetermined value despite fluctuations in the 3 rate of emulsion discharge from the emulsion mill.
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~ - 12 -13280~1 1 Preferably steam, at a pressure of about 0.3 to 3 Z Kg/cm2, is intermittently injected into the hot meat 3 emulsion in the elongated tube at one or more a points along 4 the len~th of the tube. Such injection of steam into the emulsion is inte~mittent rather than continuous, and is 6 generally injected at time intervals of about one-half the 7 residence time of the emulsion in the tubular processing 8 zone. For example, if the length of the tube and the . 9 throughput rate of the emulsion in the.tube are such that the retention time of the.emulsion in the tube is 120 .ll seconds, steam is injected into the emulsion at intervals of 12 about 60 seconds, with the steam being injected for a period 13 of from l to 5 seconds per injection.
l .. The injection of such pressurized steam into the l emulsion in the confined zone further promotes development .l of the layered structure in the emulsion, and assists in 1 discharging the set emulsion product from the elongated 1 tube. $hus, steam which is generated internally in the l emulsion by vaporization of emulsion water, and steam which .20 ¦ is periodically injected into the emulsion accumulates 21 ¦ within the emulsion mass in the confined processing zone so 22 ¦ that the internal pressure in the confined zone increases .23 ¦ until it is sufficient to disrupt the meat emulsion mass 24 ¦ adjacent the discharge end of the tube into discrete pieces 25 ¦ and cause the pieces to be rapidly discharged from the tube 26 into atmospheric conditions. When this is repeated, the 27 ¦ discrete meat emulsion pieces are intermittently discharged 28 ¦ from the tube. .
~ ¦ In order to maintain the hot emulsion in the tubular : 30 processing zone at a pressllre greater than the vapor : ~1 pressure of the emulsion until the protein has coagulated 32 sufficient~y to form a firm product, suitable flow control 1 j means, sucl- as a pinch valve which is responsive to pressure 2 I of the emulsion in the tube, preferably is mounted at one or 3 I more points along the length of the tube. If utilized, such 4 ¦ flow control means is mounted in the tube at a point where a 5 I firm emulsion product has already been formed, and typically 6 ¦ is mounted intermediate the mldpoint and the discharge end 7 ¦ of the tube. The flow control means, such as a pinch valve, 8 ¦ is adapted to open and close in response to pressure of the 9 ¦ emulsion in the tube to thereby control the flow of ~0 ¦ emulsion. Injection of pressurized steam into the emulsion 11 ¦ is coordinated with the opening of the air valve to assist 12 ¦ in the discharge of the set emulsion from the tubular 15 ¦ processing zone. According to one embodiment, a pinch valve 14 ¦ is mounted in the elongated tube at a point within the last 15 ¦ 50% of the tube where the emulsion has set sufficiently to lB ¦ form a firm emulsion product. This valve is adapted to open 17 ¦ when the pressure of the emulsion in the tube between the 18 ¦ tube inlet and the valve reaches a predetermined value and 19 ¦ to close when the emulsion pressure drops below a predetermined value, lower than that at which the valve 21 ¦ opens. The pressure value at which this valve opens is 22 ¦ sufficiently high to ensure that the emulsion in the tube X3 ¦ upstream of the valve will be at a pressure higher than the 24 ¦ vapor pressure of the emulsion water until the valve is 25 ¦ opened, at which time the emulsion pressure will drop below 2B I the vapor pressure of the emulsion. When the air valve 27 opens, pressurized steam is intermittently injected into the 28 emulsion at one or more points upstream of the air valve to 29 facilitate the discharge of the set emulsion from the tube.
As the air valve opens and a portion of the set emulsion 31 adjacent the air valve is discharged from the tube, the 3 pressure on the emulsion upstream of the air valve drops ''"
132~1~51 1 below the vapor pressure of the emulsion water to generate 2 steam in the hot emulsion due to the vaporization of 3 emulsion water. The effect of the combinati~n of pumping 4 the hot emulsion into the tubular processing zone by centrifugal force, subjecting the hot confined emulsion to 6 steam pressure while the protein is coagulating at a rapid 7 rate, together with the pressure exerted on the emulsion by 8 pumping it throuqh a confined zone, provides the meat 9 emulsion with a layered, meat-like structure and appearance which is retained upon discharge from the tube. In 11 addition, the internal generation of steam in the hot 1 confined emulsion serves to disrupt the meat emulsion mass 1 into discrete pieces which, by virtue of the steam pressure 1 are rapidly discharged from the tubular processing zone into 1 atmospheric conditions.
1 While the use of one or more such pinch valves or other 1 flow control means in the tubular processing zone is a 1 preferred embodiment in that it facilitates control of 19 ¦ operating conditions, satisfactory product may be produced 20 ¦ without the use of a flow control valve in the elongated 21 tube.
22 The set, layered meat emulsion pieces discharged from 23 ¦ the confined processing zone are in the form of discrete 24 ¦ pieces or chunks having a temperature of about 98C.-100C., 25 ¦ and a moisture content of about 50% to 65%, with the pieces 2~ I varying in size. Upon discharge from the processing zone, 27 I the pieces are rapidly cooled by evaporative cooling to a 28 ¦ temperature in the range of 83C.-93~C. If desired, ~ 29 ¦ suitable cutting means, such as a rotary cut-off knife, a 1 30 ¦ water jet knife, a knife grid, or the like may be mounted at 31 ¦ the discharge end of the elongated tube to cut the chunks 32 ¦ into pieces of a desired size, e.g. from about 1.2 cm to 5 :
~1 132~051 l ~ cm or more. The size of the pieces into which the firm 2 ¦ emulsion chunks may be cut will, to a large extent, depend 3 ¦ upon the i~tended us~ of the product. The èmulsion pieceS
4 ¦ thus provided comprise discrete, unitary, irregularly shaped 5 ¦ pieces or chunk~ of set meat emulsion which have a plurality 6 ¦ of separate, distinct layers bonded together and resemble 7 ¦ chunks of natural meat in appearance and texture. The meat 8 ¦ emulsion chunks thus formed have excellent integrity and 9 ¦ strength and will retain their shape and layered lO I characteristics when subjected to commercial canning and ll ¦ retorting procedures such as those required in the 12 ¦ production of canned foods having a high moisture content.
13 ¦ The layered meat emulsion pieces discharged from the 14 ¦ confined processing zone may be conveyed to a dryer to 15 ¦ remove a large portion of the moisture therefrom, and the 16 ¦ dried product collected and stored. Alternatively, the 17 ¦ layered meat emulsion pieces may be conveyed from the 18 ¦ elongated tube directly to a canning operation in which 19 layered chunks are filled into cans together with other ingredients, such as sauce, gravy, and the like, and the 2 cans retorted. For example, in the production of a canned 2 pet food product, a suitable gravy may be prepared by 23 I heating a mixture of water, starch and condiments. The 24 ¦ layered meat emulsion chunks and gravy are filled into cans 25 ¦ in the desired proportions, the cans are vacuum sealed and 26 ¦ are then retorted under time-temperature conditions 27 ¦ sufficient to effect commercial sterilization. Convention 28 ¦ retorting procedures may be used. Typically, a retorting 29 I temperature of about 1~8C.-121C. for approximately 65-90 50 ¦ minutes is satisfactory in produciDg a commercially sterile 31 ¦ product.
52 l -- 16a 1328051 In one aspect, the present invention provides a method of producing a meat emulsion product having a layered, meat-like appearance and testure. The method includes forming a meat emulsion containing a mix of meat materials with the emulsion having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1 and a moisture content of between about 45% to 80% by weight and deaerating the meat emulsion. The method includes comminuting and heating the meat emulsion to a temperature above the boiling point of water and introducing the heated emulsion by centrifugal force into a confined processing zone while maintaining the emulsion under a pressure greater than the vapor pressure of the emulsion water. Other steps include maintaining the heated emulsion under such pressure in the confined zone until the protein is coagulated to form a firm emulsion mass, reducing the pressure on the emulsion in the confined zone to below the vapor pressure of the emulsion water to vaporize emulsion water, and intermittently injecting pressurized steam into the emulsion in the confined zone whereby the firm emulsion mas8 is disrupted to form discrete pieces of set emulsion having a plurality of distinct layers bonded together, and discharging the layered meat emulsion pieces from the confined processing zone.
In another aspect the the invention is of a ;
method for producing a meat emulsion product having layered meat-~ike appearance and testure including the steps of formulating a meat mis containing a member of the group consisting of meat, meat by-products and mixtures thereof, and water and emulsifying the meat mis. This method includes adding to the meat emulsion a dry proteinaceous material selected from the group consisting of wheat gluten, soy flour, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, egg albumin, nonfat dry milk and mixtures thereo in an amount of from 15% to 35% by weight of the ~--' -16b - 13280Sl ; ~
total formulation, with the emulsion having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1 and deaerating the meat emulsion. Other steps include comminuting the meat emulsion under conditions which heat the emulsion to a temperature in the range of from abut 104C. to 118C., introducing the heated emulsion by centrifugal force into an elongated tubular member having a length sufficient that the protein in the meat emulsion coagulates to form a firm emulsion mass prior to discharge from the elongated :
tubular member, with steam being formed internally in the emulsion in the tubular member, periodically injecting ~team under pressure into the meat emulsion at a point intermediate the inlet and discharge ends of the member, whereby the steam ormed internally in the emulsion and that in;ected into the emulsion produce conditions in the ::
tubular member sufficient to facilitate layering of the meat emulsion and to disrupt the meat emulsion into discrete pieces having a plurality of distinct layers bonded together, and discharging the layered meat emulsion pieces from the tubular member.
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Ill I ~328051 1 ¦ The following examples illustrate the inventlon. In 2 ¦ the examples and elsewhere herein, parts and p~rcentageS are 3 ¦ expressed by weight, unless otherwise indicated.
4 l 5 ¦ ~ EXAMPLE 1 6 ¦ A canned pet food product comprising chunks of layered 7 ¦ meat emulsion in an aqueous gravy is prepared by the 8 ¦ following procedure.9 ¦ Blocks of frozen meat are first cut or broken into 10 ¦ pieces about 10 cm inches in size and the pieces are ground 11 ¦ in conventional meat grinder equipped with a 1 cm plate.
12 ¦ The proportions of meat material used are as follows:
15 ¦ Meat l'ype Parts bv wt.
14 ¦ Mechanically deboned beef 60 15 ¦ Lungs 25 1~ ¦ Liver 15 17 ¦ The ground meat i5 introduced into a mixer in which it is 18 heated by steam injection to a temperature of about 0C.
19 ¦ After mixing, the blend of ground meat materials is fed into 20 ¦ an emulsion mill in which the meat is cut and sheared to 21 form a meat emulsion which is heated by mechanical working 22 during emulsification to a temperature of between about 25 ¦ 15.6C. to 43C. The warm meat emulsion is pumped from the 24 ¦ emulsion mill into a continuous mixer where it is thoroughly 25 ¦ admixed with a blend of dry ingredients containing the dry 26 ¦ proteinaceous materials, wheat gluten and soy flour together 27 ¦ with vitamins, minerals and spices to form a thickened, 28 ¦ viscous meat emulsion containing about ~0% meat material, 29 ¦ ~ l9~ dry proteinaceous material, and the balance vitamins, 30 ~ mlnera1s and spices. The viscous meat emulsion thus formed 51 ~ is pumpe`d ~rom the continuous mixer into a vacuum-stuffer to 32 ¦ deaerate the emulsion.
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1 After deaeration the viscous emulsion, which is at a 2 temperature of about 30C. to 40C., is pumped into an 3 emulsion mill in which the emulsion is cut and sheared under 4 conditions to increase the fineness of the emulsion and almost simultaneously heat the emulsion to a temperature of 6 about 104C. to 113C. At such a emulsion temperature, 7 protein coagulation proceeds very rapidly, so that a firm 8 meat emulsion product will be formed within 2 minutes after 9 heating.
The hot emulsion is pumped directly from the emulsion 11 mill into an elongated tube having an internal diameter of l 6.35 cm and a length of 6.1 m. The flow rate of the 1 emulsion through the tube is controlled to provide the l emulsion with a residence time of about 2 minutes in the 1 tube.
l Steam, at a pressure of between 0.5-1 Kg/cm~, is 1 injected into the emulsion at a point within the first 25%
1 of the length of the tube, with the steam being injected at l 60 second intervals for a period of about 3 seconds per 20 ¦ injection. A firm emulsion product is intermittently 21 discharged from the elongated tube in the form of discrete 22 ¦ irregularly shaped meat-like pieces or chunks varying in 25 ¦ length from about 1.27 cm to about 5.1 cm or more, with each 24 ¦ of the chunks having a plurality of juxtaposed layers of set 25 ¦ meat emulsion bonded together and resembling natural meat 26 ¦ chunks in appearance and texture. The distinct layers of 27 ¦ the chunks, while being bonded together are manually 28 ¦ separable, similar to cutting along the grain of a chunk of 29 ¦ meat. The individual chunks discharged from the tube are at 50 I a temperature of about 99C. and have a moisture content of 31 ¦ between ~0% to 65%. The resulting layered meat emulsion 52 ¦ pieces are filled into cans, topped with an aqueous il ' I
132~
l starch-containing gravy, sealed and retorted under 2 conditions sufficient to prov-.de a commercially sterile 3 product. Upon retorting, the la~ered pieces retain their 4 shape, integrity, and mcat-like appearance and texture.
The procedure described in Example l is repeated, with the exception that the following proportions of meat . material are used:
l. Meat Type Parts by wt.
.l . Fish 32 l Chicken necks 29 l Liver 25 14 Spleen 14 l The meat ingredients are ground and emulsified, and a l blend of dry ingredients containing wheat gluten and soy l protein concentrate is added to the emulsion with vigorous l agitation to form a thickened, viscous meat emulsion l9 containing about 80% meat material, 19% dry proteinaceous material, vitamins, minerals and spices. The viscous meat 2 emulsion has a fat content of less than 12%, a moisture .
22 ¦ content of~between 55~ to 65~, and a protein to fat ratio. of 23 I between 2.25-2.5:1. After deaeration, the viscous emulsion 24 ¦ is pumped into an emulsion mill in which the emulsion is 25 ¦ subiected to shearing forces to increase the fineness of the 26 ¦ emulsion and heat the emulsion to a temperature in the 27 ¦ 104C. to 113C. range, and is pumped from the emulsion mill 28 ¦ directly into the inlet of an elongated holding tube by a 29 centrifugal force. The holding tube, which has a length to 30 ¦ diameter ratio of about 30:1, is provided with two pinch :
~l valves, one mounted at the inlet end of the tube, and the 32 other mounted at a point within the last 50% of the tube :~
;l ' ' - 13280~ :-~
l length. The valve at the inlet end of the tube restricts 2 the flow of hot emulsion into the tube to maintain the 3 emulsion upstream of the inlet valve under a relatively 4 constant pressure in the range of about 2.0-3.5 Kg/cm2.
As the hot emuls~ion is pumped through th~ inlet valve, it 6 fills the tube portion between the valves, with the emulsion 7 being under a pressure greater than the vapor pressure of 8 the emulsion water. The downstream pinch valve is adapted 9 to open when the pressure of the emulsion intermediate the two valves reaches a predetermined level in the range of ll about 0.35-1.8 Kg/cm2. When the second valve opens, 12 pressurized steam (0.5-1 Kgtcm2) is intermittently injected 13 into the emulsion at one or more points upstream of the 14 second valve whereby a section of the set emulsion adjacent ; ;
the second valve is forced through the valve and discharged l from the tube. This opening of the second valve and l discharge of a portion of the emulsion causes the emulsion l pressure intermediate the two valves to drop below the vapor l pressure of the emulsion water so that emulsion water is vaporized and forms steam in situ in the emulsion. The 2 rapid generation of steam internally in the confined 22 ¦ emulsion, together with the intermittent injection of 23 ¦ press~rized steam into the emulsion facilitates the 24 ¦ formation of a layered structure in the emulsion and 25 ¦ disrupts the emulsion mass into chunks, which are rapidly 26 discharged form the tube. When the pressure in the tube 27 section between the two valves drops to a predetermined 28 I value, the second valve closes and the cycle is repeated. A
2g firm emulsion product is cyclically discharged from the tube in the form of discrete irregularly shaped chunks having a 51 ¦ layered, mea~-like appearance and texture, which retain ~;
32 l I~ i3280~1 .
1 their shape, integrity, appearance and texture upon canning 2 and retorting.
3 Alth~ugh the present invention has been described with 4 reference to specific examples and preferred embodiments~ it will be understood that changes, modifications and vari-6 ations of composition and procedure may be made within the 7 principle and scope of the invention as set forth in the 9 ppended claim ~, .
2 .
212 . ' . :, 23 I .
26 :
27 I .
29 l 30 ~ .
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Claims (22)
1. A method of producing a meat emulsion product having a layered, meat-like appearance and texture which comprises forming a meat emulsion containing a mix of meat materials with the emulsion having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1 and a moisture content of between about 45% to 80% by weight, deaerating said meat emulsion, comminuting and heating the meat emulsion to a temperature above the boiling point of water, introducing the heated emulsion by centrifugal force into a confined processing zone while maintaining the emulsion under a pressure greater than the vapor pressure of the emulsion water, maintaining the heated emulsion under such pressure in the confined zone until the protein is coagulated to form a firm emulsion mass, reducing the pressure on the emulsion in the confined zone to below the vapor pressure of the emulsion water to vaporize emulsion water, and intermittently injecting pressurized steam into the emulsion in the confined zone whereby the firm emulsion mass is disrupted to form discrete pieces of set emulsion having a plurality of distinct layers bonded together, and discharging the layered meat emulsion pieces from said confined processing zone.
2. The method defined in claim 1 in which the meat emulsion is formed by emulsifying the mix of meat materials and adding one or more dry proteinaceous materials thereto to provide a viscous emulsion containing between about 65%
to 95% by weight of meat materials and having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1.
to 95% by weight of meat materials and having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1.
3. The method defined in claim 2 in which the viscous meat emulsion is heated to a temperature of between about 104°C.
to 118°C.
to 118°C.
4. The method defined in claim 1 in which the confined processing zone is an elongated tubular member in which the heated meat emulsion is retained for a period of time sufficient for the emulsion to set.
5. The method defined in claim 1 in which steam having a pressure of about 0.3-3 Kg/cm2 is intermittently injected into the meat emulsion in said confined processing zone.
6. The method defined in claim 4 in which flow of the heated meat emulsion into the tubular member is restricted so that the emulsion is maintained under a pressure greater than its vapor pressure.
7. The method defined in claim 6 in which the emulsion in the tubular member is maintained under a pressure greater than its vapor pressure until the protein in the emulsion has coagulated to an extent sufficient to form a firm emulsion.
8. The method defined in claim 7 in which the emulsion pressure in the tubular member is reduced below the emulsion vapor pressure when the protein has coagulated sufficiently to form a firm emulsion.
9. The method defined in claim 7 in which the flow of emulsion through the tubular member is restricted at a point intermediate the inlet end and discharge end of said tubular member so that the pressure of the emulsion in the portion of the tubular member upstream from the flow restriction is greater then its vapor pressure.
10. The method defined in claim 7 in which the restriction in the flow of emulsion through the tubular member is removed when the emulsion pressure in the tubular member reaches a predetermined value.
11. The method defined in claim 10 in which the flow restriction is removed when the emulsion pressure is in the range of between about 0.35 to 1.8 Kg/cm2.
12. A method for producing a meat emulsion product having layered meat-like appearance and texture which comprises formulating a meat mix containing a member of the group consisting of meat, meat by-products and mixtures thereof, and water;
emulsifying said meat mix, adding to said meat emulsion a dry proteinaceous material selected from the group consisting of wheat gluten, soy flour, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, egg-albumin, nonfat dry milk and mixtures thereof in an amount of from 15% to 35% by weight of the total formulation, with the emulsion having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1, deaerating said meat emulsion, comminuting the meat emulsion under conditions which heat the emulsion to a temperature in the range of from about 104°C. to 118°C., introducing the heated emulsion by centrifugal force into an elongated tubular member having a length sufficient that the protein in the meat emulsion coagulates to form a firm emulsion mass prior to discharge from said elongated tubular member, with steam being formed internally in the emulsion in said tubular member, periodically injecting steam under pressure into said meat emulsion at a point intermediate the inlet and discharge ends of said member, whereby the steam formed internally in the emulsion and that injected into the emulsion produce conditions in said tubular member sufficient to facilitate layering of the meat emulsion and to disrupt the meat emulsion into discrete pieces having a plurality of distinct layers bonded together, and discharging the layered meat emulsion pieces from said tubular member.
emulsifying said meat mix, adding to said meat emulsion a dry proteinaceous material selected from the group consisting of wheat gluten, soy flour, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, egg-albumin, nonfat dry milk and mixtures thereof in an amount of from 15% to 35% by weight of the total formulation, with the emulsion having a protein to fat ratio of at least about 1.5:1, deaerating said meat emulsion, comminuting the meat emulsion under conditions which heat the emulsion to a temperature in the range of from about 104°C. to 118°C., introducing the heated emulsion by centrifugal force into an elongated tubular member having a length sufficient that the protein in the meat emulsion coagulates to form a firm emulsion mass prior to discharge from said elongated tubular member, with steam being formed internally in the emulsion in said tubular member, periodically injecting steam under pressure into said meat emulsion at a point intermediate the inlet and discharge ends of said member, whereby the steam formed internally in the emulsion and that injected into the emulsion produce conditions in said tubular member sufficient to facilitate layering of the meat emulsion and to disrupt the meat emulsion into discrete pieces having a plurality of distinct layers bonded together, and discharging the layered meat emulsion pieces from said tubular member.
13. The method defined in claim 12 in which the heated meat emulsion is retained in said tubular member for a period from about a few seconds to about 3 minutes.
14. The method defined in claim 12 in which steam having a pressure of about 0.3-3 Kg/cm2 is intermittently injected into the meat emulsion in said confined processing zone.
15. The method defined in claim 12 in which flow of the meat emulsion through the tubular member is restricted at one or more points along the tubular member to maintain the emulsion at a pressure greater than the emulsion vapor pressure at least until the protein in the emulsion has coagulated sufficiently to form a firm emulsion.
16. The method defined in claim 15 in which the flow of hot emulsion into the inlet of the tubular member is restricted so that the emulsion introduced into the tubular member is under a pressure greater than its vapor pressure.
17. The method defined in claim 16 in which the emulsion introduced into the tubular member is at a pressure of about 2.0-3.5 Kg/cm2.
18. The method defined in claim 16 in which pressurized steam is intermittently injected into the emulsion at one or more points intermediate the inlet and discharge ends of the tubular member.
19. The method defined in claim 16 in which the flow of emulsion through the tubular member is restricted at a point intermediate the inlet and discharge ends of the tubular member where the emulsion protein has coagulated sufficiently to form a firm emulsion, so that the emulsion pressure in the portion of the tubular member upstream from the flow restriction is greater than the emulsion vapor pressure.
20. The method defined in claim 19 in which the restriction in the flow of emulsion through the tubular member is removed when the emulsion pressure reaches a predetermined value.
21. A layered meat emulsion product comprising chunks of set meat emulsion having a plurality of distinct, separate, juxtaposed layers bonded together to form chunks with good structural integrity and having the texture and appearance of chunks of natural meat.
22. The product produced by the method of claim 1.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US07/082,767 | 1987-08-11 | ||
| US07/082,767 US4781939A (en) | 1986-10-28 | 1987-08-11 | Layered meat emulsion product and method of producing same |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1328051C true CA1328051C (en) | 1994-03-29 |
Family
ID=22173335
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000569478A Expired - Lifetime CA1328051C (en) | 1987-08-11 | 1988-06-14 | Layered meat emulsion product and method of producing same |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1328051C (en) |
-
1988
- 1988-06-14 CA CA000569478A patent/CA1328051C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
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