WO2004006694A1

WO2004006694A1 - A method of processing animal bone

Info

Publication number: WO2004006694A1
Application number: PCT/IB2003/002797
Authority: WO
Inventors: Charles Booysen
Original assignee: Charles Booysen
Priority date: 2002-07-16
Filing date: 2003-07-14
Publication date: 2004-01-22
Also published as: AU2003249111A1

Abstract

This invention relates to a method of processing animal bone which includes, at a temperature sufficiently low to inhibit the growth of microorganisms, breaking the animal bone into pieces, and mincing or grinding the bone pieces to produce a minced bone product. The invention extends to a minced bone product prepared by the method and to a food product including a comminuted bone material.

Description

A METHOD OF PROCESSING ANIMAL BONE

THIS INVENTION relates to a food product. It also relates to a method of processing an animal product, more particularly, animal bone.

Approximately eight thousand to twelve thousand head of cattle are slaughtered in South Africa daily, from which about four hundred thousand kilograms of bone are produced as a waste product. It is an object of the invention to provide a method for processing and thereby recovering at least some of this bone.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided, a method of processing animal bone, which method includes the steps of, at a temperature sufficiently low to inhibit the growth of micro-organisms, breaking the animal bone into bone pieces; and mincing or grinding the bone pieces to produce a minced bone product.

For the purposes of this specification, "breaking" should be understood to include cutting the bone, for example with a blade or saw.

The method may include rolling the minced bone product to produce a recovered bone product of dough-like consistency. Naturally, the animal bone may be derived from animals other than beef cattle, including, for example, pigs, sheep and poultry.

It will be appreciated that a temperature sufficiently low to inhibit micro-organism growth, more particularly, bacterial growth, will typically be lower than about 10° Celsius, preferably below about 7° Celsius.

The method may include the step of mechanically removing flesh from the animal bone prior to breaking the bone. The method may include cooling or freezing the animal bone prior to breaking the bone. The animal bone may be cooled to a temperature of less than about -10° Celsius and preferably to a temperature of about -20° Celsius to about -25° Celsius.

Breaking the bone into pieces may include passing the bone through a size reducing apparatus, such as a "pre-breaker" or "shredder". The apparatus may be a traditional multi-purpose pre-breaker, adapted to facilitate continued and extended use with hard boney material. The bone may be broken into bone pieces having a size of between about 0,5 cm and about 2 cm, preferably, about 1 cm.

Mincing the bone pieces may include passing the bone pieces through a grinder/mincer. The mincer may be a heavy duty floor grinder/mincer which is similarly adapted to allow continued use as described above. Naturally, however, any suitable mincer may be used.

Mincing the bone pieces may involve a succession of mincing steps. Each mincing step may produce a bone product having a particle size less than that of the bone product of the preceding step. A blending step may be introduced between at least some of the mincing steps, in which the bone product from a preceding mincing step is blended with water or ice to reduce its consistency and increase its water content. Typically, the final minced bone product contains bone particles having a particle size of between about 0,01 mm and about 0,03 mm, preferably about 0,02 mm.

The invention extends to a minced bone product prepared by a method as hereinbefore described.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a food product which includes a recovered bone product as hereinbefore described.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a food product for human consumption, which food product includes a comminuted bone material.

The comminuted bone material may contain bone particles with a particle size of between about 0,01 mm and about 0,03 mm, preferably about 0,02 mm. The comminuted bone material may be a minced bone product as hereinbefore described.

The food product may be a processed meat product, such as polony. The minced bone product may be combined with a binder, such as starch, plant fat or animal fat, for more volume or to further accommodate considerations of cost of the eventual food product.

This food product is suitable for human consumption, on its own or in combination as described above. The invention is now described, by way of example, with reference to Figure 1 which is a schematic diagram of a method of processing animal bone in accordance with the invention.

EXAMPLE

Referring to Figure 1 , reference numeral 10 schematically indicates the process of the invention.

In the first step of the process, as shown schematically at 12, an animal carcass was stripped of its meat and flesh to yield waste bone. In a preferred embodiment of this step of the invention, the carcass was stripped of its meat mechanically to yield what is known as "mechanically deboned meat". This product is used in the manufacture of meat products. In another embodiment, the meat is stripped from the carcass by hand. Irrespective of which embodiment of the first step is employed, the bone is subject to minimal handling to reduce the likelihood of bacterial contamination.

The entire process is conducted at a temperature of not more than about 10° Celsius and is preferably conducted at a temperature below 7° Celsius, to inhibit bacterial contamination.

The waste bone was cooled to a temperature of about -20° Celsius to about -25° Celsius and the cooled frozen material was fed into the hopper of a pre-breaker or shredder, as shown schematically at 14, where the waste bone was broken by cutters into bone pieces having a particle size of about 1 cm. In another embodiment of the invention the bone was first cut into manageable pieces with a band saw. The broken bone pieces were combined with about 2 % of their mass of crushed ice and minced in a mincer/grinder as shown schematically at 16 to produce a first minced bone product having a bone particle size of about 5 mm. At this stage the minced product began to take on a dough-like consistency.

The first minced bone product was then combined with about

3 - 4 % of its mass of crushed ice and blended in a blender, as shown schematically at 18, to produce a first blend.

The first blend was further minced, as shown schematically at 20, in an emulsifier to produce a second minced bone product having a bone particle size of about 3 mm.

The second minced bone product was combined with about 3 -

4 % of its mass of crushed ice and blended in a blender, as shown schematically at 22, to produce a second blend.

The second blend was further minced in an emulsifier, as shown schematically at 24, to produce a third minced bone product.

The third minced bone product was combined with about 3 - 4 % of its mass of crushed ice and blended in a blender, as shown schematically at 26 to produce a third blend.

The third blend was further minced in an emulsifier at a very high speed as shown schematically at 28 to produce a product having a bone particle size of about 0,02 mm. This product was formed into blocks having a mass of about 10 kg, as shown schematically at 30, and packaged in a low micron film and boxed in cardboard boxes. The packaged product was stored at a temperature of about -25° Celsius.

The crushed ice introduced at steps 16, 18, 22 and 26 served to reduce the effect of heat generated by the machinery and to provide a product with a progressively finer/thinner consistency after each blending step.

The first grinding step is typically carried out in a meat grinder ofthe type available from Kramer & Grebe. Each blending step was typically carried out in a blender similar to the paddle blender which is available from Wolfking. The emulsifier was typically ofthe type available from Karl Schnell.

The process of the invention can produce about 20 - 25 thousand kg of product per day and the entire cycle takes about 30 minutes.

The total amount of ice used is about 13 % of the mass of the original bone and, if desired, the end user can blend in further water, as desired, typically about 20 %.

Table 1 shows a comparison of commercially available MDM and the product of the invention.

TABLE 1

MRM refers to the product of the invention.

MDM refers to imported mechanically deboned meat.

Fat was measured by ether extraction.

The frozen product may be transported to a meat processing installation for utilisation in the production of a processed meat product. Alternatively, on its own, after adding the necessary flavouring, fats and gelatin, the product can be used as a foodstuff without further processing. In the production of a processed meat product, the minced bone product is combined with a meat mixture and the resulting composition is shaped into the processed meat product using conventional mixing and shaping methods and apparatus. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the processed meat product is intended for human consumption, and may be, for example, a cooked luncheon meat (or 'cold meat') product such as polony.

In different embodiments of the invention, the minced bone product is combined with a binder material selected from, for example, starch, an animal fat or a plant fat prior to being combined with the meat mixture for the production of the processed meat product.

All work surfaces used whilst carrying out the method steps of the invention should preferably be of stainless steel for hygiene purposes. RESULTS

A sample of the bone product was analysed for nutrient content. The results of the analysis are set out in Table 2.

TABLE 2

The above results are expressed on a wet basis, i.e. as samples were received.

The test results show that the bone product is suitable for use as an animal protein product, and hence for use as a non-meat constituent of a processed meat product for human consumption.

The Inventor believes that at least eighty percent of the four hundred and sixty thousand kilograms of bone yielded daily during slaughtering of animals can be recovered and processed for human consumption by means of the method of the invention. It is believed that the method of the invention will provide a use for what might otherwise be waste material as an economical food product for human consumption which has nutritional value. The Inventor further believes that the product ofthe method of the invention will provide a suitable alternative or complement ingredient to mechanically deboned meat which is currently used in the meat processing industry.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of processing animal bone, which method includes the steps of, at a temperature sufficiently low to inhibit the growth of microorganisms, breaking the animal bone into bone pieces; and mincing or grinding the bone pieces to produce a minced bone product.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1 , which includes the step of mechanically removing flesh from the animal bone prior to breaking the bone.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, which includes the step of cooling the animal bone prior to breaking the bone.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 3, in which the animal bone is cooled to a temperature of less than about -10° Celsius.

5. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the bone is broken into bone pieces having a size of between about

0,5 cm and about 2 cm, preferably about 1cm.

6. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which mincing the bone pieces involves a succession of mincing steps.

7. A method as claimed in Claim 6, in which each mincing step produces a bone product having a particle size less than that of the bone product of the preceding step.

8. A method as claimed in Claim 6 or Claim 7, in which a blending step is introduced between at least some of the mincing steps, in which the bone product from a preceding mincing step is blended with water or ice to reduce its consistency and increase its water content.

9. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which, the minced bone product contains bone particles having a particle size of between about 0,01 mm and about 0,03 mm, preferably about 0,02 mm.

10. A minced bone product prepared by the method according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, inclusive.

11. A food product which includes a minced bone product as claimed in Claim 10.

12. A food product for human consumption, which food product includes a comminuted bone material.

13. A food product as claimed in Claim 12, in which the comminuted bone material contains bone particles with a particle size of between about 0,01 mm and about 0,03 mm , preferably about 0,02 mm.

14. A food product as claimed in Claim 12 or Claim 13, in which the comminuted bone material is a minced bone product as claimed in Claim 10.

15. A food product as claimed in any one of Claims 12 to 14, inclusive, which is in the form of a processed meat product.

16. A food product as claimed in Claim 15, in which the minced bone product is combined with a binder.

17. A method as claimed in Claim 1 , substantially as herein described and illustrated.

18. A bone product as claimed in Claim 10, substantially as herein described and illustrated.

19. A food product as claimed in Claim 11 or Claim 12, substantially as herein described and illustrated.

20. A new method of processing animal bone, a new bone product, or a new food product, substantially as herein described.