WO2020121087A1 - System for and method of forming a batch of a meat product - Google Patents
System for and method of forming a batch of a meat product Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2020121087A1 WO2020121087A1 PCT/IB2019/059916 IB2019059916W WO2020121087A1 WO 2020121087 A1 WO2020121087 A1 WO 2020121087A1 IB 2019059916 W IB2019059916 W IB 2019059916W WO 2020121087 A1 WO2020121087 A1 WO 2020121087A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- batch
- meat product
- fat content
- fat
- weight
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
- A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
- A22C5/00—Apparatus for mixing meat, sausage-meat, or meat products
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
- A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
- A22C17/00—Other devices for processing meat or bones
- A22C17/0006—Cutting or shaping meat
- A22C17/002—Producing portions of meat with predetermined characteristics, e.g. weight or particular dimensions
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
- A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
- A22C18/00—Plants, factories, or the like for processing meat
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a system for and a method of forming a batch of a meat product having predetermined weight and fat content.
- predetermined fat content for the meat batch is met.
- the sub-batch target fat content is the
- a batch may be formed having a consistent fat content throughout its volume without the need for mixing since each sub-batch has the same (within an acceptable variation) fat content as the predetermined fat content.
- the sub-batch is a part of a more or less continuous stream of meat product.
- the fat content of the supplied meat product is
- the supplied meat product is adjusted automatically in dependence of the comparison.
- additional sources of meat product may be provided upstream of the fat analyser and downstream of the number of sources of meat product to supply additional meat product for adjusting the fat content of the supplied meat product. Being physically closer to the fat analyser than the number of sources of meat product reduces the time lag between adjusting the fat content of the meat product and making an analysis of the adjusted fat content in the fat analyser.
- the operation of the number of sources of meat product may additionally or alternatively be controlled to adjust the fat content of the supplied meat product.
- a system for forming a meat batch having a predetermined weight and a predetermined fat content comprising:
- a conveyor means having an in-feed end and an out-feed end and configured to convey meat product in a direction from the in- feed end to the out-feed end;
- a fat analyser arranged at a location between the in-feed end and the out-feed end and configured to determine in portions a fat content of the deposited meat product being conveyed;
- a weighing device arranged to determine a weight of the portion of the deposited meat product
- a computing device wherein the computing device is arranged to construct a desired number of sub-batches, each having a target weight and a target fat content by adding to a current sub batch at least a part of the portion; to determine a current fat content and a current weight of the current-sub-batch and to generate and to output control information to regulate the fat content of meat product being supplied to the fat analyser in dependence of the current fat content so as to achieve the target fat content for the current sub-batch.
- Fig. 1 shows a representation of a first embodiment of a system
- Fig. 2 illustrates exemplary control information displayed to an
- FIG. 3 shows a representation of a portion of a second embodiment of a system according to the present invention
- a system 2 for forming a meat batch 4 is illustrated in Fig. 1.
- the system 2 comprises a number, here a plurality, of meat product sources (here three) 6a,b,c each of which holds meat product of different fat contents, say high fat 6a, medium fat 6b and low fat 6c sources.
- the allocation of the meat product to the correct meat product source 6a, b or c may be done using a fat analyser to provide an accurate lean/fat ratio determination, often referred to as a Chemical Lean (CL) level determination or the allocation may be made after a visual inspection of the meat product to determine an estimated lean/fat ratio, often referred to as a Visual Lean (VL) level.
- CL Chemical Lean
- VL Visual Lean
- the meat product sources 6a,b,c are arranged to deposit their contents in a controlled manner on to a conveyor belt 8c at an in-feed end 8a of a conveyor system 8 of the system 2 which is moved on the conveyor belt 8c (in the direction of the arrows) towards an out-feed end 8b of the conveyor system 8.
- an optional buffer 10 is provided as a
- the system 2 further comprises a fat analyser, here an known X-ray fat analyser 12, preferably employing a multi (typically dual) energy X-ray source and complementary detector, which are arranged to measure a fat content of a portion of meat product being conveyed on the conveyor belt 8c of the conveyor system 8 at a location between its in-feed end 8a and its out-feed end 8b.
- a fat analyser here an known X-ray fat analyser 12
- a multi (typically dual) energy X-ray source and complementary detector which are arranged to measure a fat content of a portion of meat product being conveyed on the conveyor belt 8c of the conveyor system 8 at a location between its in-feed end 8a and its out-feed end 8b.
- a weighing device 14 of the system 2 is arranged to weigh the portion of meat product whose fat content is measured with the fat analyser 12 and may be collocated with the X-ray fat analyser 12 to weigh the portion of the meat product substantially simultaneously with the determination of the fat content.
- the weighing device 14 may be any known weighing device such as weight cell, or may be a‘virtual’ weighing device by which the weight of the portion of meat product is indirectly obtained in a known manner by the X-ray fat analyser from a prediction of the areal density (g/cm2) in each individual pixel, i.e. the amount of meat per area unit. The areal densities of all pixels in the image are then summed and converted into the weight of meat product.
- a computing device 16 is also provided in operable communication with the X-ray fat analyser 12 and the weighing device 14 to receive
- the computing device 16 may be a single unit, as illustrated in Fig.1 , or may comprise a plurality of separate elements cooperating to function as the single unit. Moreover the computing device 16 or some or all of the elements thereof may be located remotely of the X-ray fat analyser 12 and conveyor system 8 and connected via a telecommunications network, for example via a wide area network, a local area network or the internet.
- the control information may be output to one or both a display unit 18 and a controller 20.
- the controller 20 is arranged to control the output of meat product from each of the meat product sources 6a,b,c.
- the system 2 of the present embodiment also comprises one or more
- each hopper 22,24 is individually controllable in response to the control information output by the computing device 16 to automatically deposit some or all of its contents onto the conveyor belt 8c of conveyor system 8 at location upstream of the fat analyser 12 and downstream of the meat product sources 6a,b,c.
- each hopper 22,24 is deposited manually onto the conveyor belt 8c in response to control information which displayed by the display unit 18.
- the inclusion of the hoppers 22,24 is advantageous but not essential.
- Location of the hoppers 22,24 close to the fat analyser 12, at least closer than the meat product sources 6a,b,c, means that the time between adjusting the fat content of the meat product on the conveyor belt 8c to measuring in the fat analyser 12 is lowered
- the controller 20 may additionally or alternatively be operated in response to the control information output by the computing device 16.
- the controller 20 is configured to respond to the control information to automatically control the operation of each of the meat product sources 6a,b,c to adjust the flow of respective meat product so as to achieve a desired fat content of meat product being analysed by the fat analyser 12 and the hoppers 22,24 may be omitted.
- the computing device 16 may also be configured to control the operation of other components of the system 2 such as the speed of the conveyor belt 8c of conveyor system 8 or the operation of the X-ray fat analyser 12.
- the system according to the present invention operates to form a batch of meat product having a predetermined weight and a predetermined fat content (CL level) in the following exemplary manner:
- the computing device 16 obtains into its memory a value for the predetermined weight and a value for the predetermined fat content of the batch 4 to be formed.
- These values may be permanently or temporarily stored in the memory and may be input by an operator using a conventional input device (not shown), such as a keyboard or touch screen, or may be accessed by the computing device 16 from a remote location.
- the computing device 16 operates to internally construct sub-batches by obtaining into its memory a target weight of a current sub-batch which is less than the predetermined weight and a target fat content for the current sub-batch.
- One or both of the current sub-batch target weight and target fat content may be calculated by a processor (not shown) of the computing device 16 or may be obtained internally from a memory or externally, for example from a remotely located server memory or from an operator using the input device, and which may be a variable or a constant for all sub-batches comprising the batch 4.
- the formed batch 4 is intended to be divided (here manually) into lots 26, each having a lot weight, typically between 20-40 kg, that are for example contained in boxes 28a,b,c,d.
- the current sub batch target weight is selected to be equal (within acceptable limits) to the lot weight and is the same for all sub-batches.
- the target fat content for each sub-batch is a constant and is equal to the predetermined fat content for the formed batch 4.
- each partial volume of the batch 4 that corresponds to each sub-batch will have a uniform fat content value (CL level) and this CL level will be substantially uniform throughout the batch 4 without the need to perform a mixing operation on the batch 4.
- CL level uniform fat content value
- Meat product from one or more of the meat product sources 6a,b,c feeds onto the moving conveyor belt 8c of conveyor system 8 towards its in-feed end 8a and is transported as a more or less continuous stream of meat product to the X-ray fat analyser 12.
- the analyser 12 may operate in a conventional manner to expose a portion of the moving meat product to X- ray beams of at least two different energies and to detect the intensities of the X-ray beams after they have passed through the portion.
- a fat content (CL level) of the portion of the moving stream of meat product is then determined from the detected intensities in a computer of the analyser 12 (which may be considered functionally as an element of the computing device 16).
- the areal extent of the portion is delimited by the extent of the X-ray beam incident on the meat product.
- the computer in the analyser 12 is presently also configured to determine a weight of the portion of meat product being illuminated using the detected intensities and to pass the so determined fat and weight values to the computing device 16.
- the detected intensities may be output (with or without conventional pre-treatment) to the computing device 16 which is then also programmed to determine the weight and fat values from the output.
- the computing device 16 of the present embodiment operates to
- the computing device 16 operates to combine the determined fat content of the portion with the determined fat content(s) of these previously analysed portion(s) to generate an average fat content for current sub-batch and the weight of the current sub-batch is increased with the determined weight of the at least part of the portion.
- the computing device 16 operates to determine a new target weight for the new sub-batch from a difference between the current weight of the batch 4 and the predetermined weight.
- the fat content of the current sub-batch or the portion is combined in the computing device 16 with the fat contents of all previous sub-batches or portions (as
- the current weight of the batch 4 may be calculated in the computing device 16 by adding the weight of the current sub-batch to the combined weights of any previously formed sub-batches. Alternatively or additionally, the weight of the portion may be added to the weights of all previous portions in order to determine a current weight of the batch 4 being formed.
- the computing device 16 generates and outputs control information which is employed in the adjustment of the fat content of meat product upstream of the X-ray fat analyser 12 to meet the target fat content (typically the predetermined fat content for the batch 4) for the current sub-batch.
- the control information may comprise a signal to drive the display unit 18 to display information to the operator O based on the values of the current fat content and weight of the current sub-batch, such as may be determined as described above.
- the operator O then responds to the displayed values to add meat product from one or more of the hoppers 22,24 as required in order to achieve the target fat content for the current sub-batch.
- a screen 30 of the display unit 18 may be driven by the control information output by the computing device 16 to display:
- the predetermined batch weight and fat content targets together with a current accumulated weight and fat content for the batch, as derived from the portions that have been analysed by the fat analyser 12;
- a second region 34 entitled“Sub Batch”, the current sub-batch target sub-batch weight and target sub-batch fat content (preferably the predetermined fat content for the batch) together with current accumulated weight and fat content of the sub-batch.
- This information enables the operator O to make a manual fat content (CL) adjustment control through the manual addition of meat product from one or more of the hoppers 22,24 depending on whether the current status shows the fat content to be above (more lean product to be added) or below (more fat product to be added) the sub-batch target fat content.
- a third region 36 entitled“Sub Batch History”, the history and therefore the trend of some or all of the previously formed virtual sub batches; and
- a fourth region 38 graphically the trend in fat content with batch weight over some or all of the previously formed virtual sub-batches.
- the computing device 16 may additionally or
- FIG. 3 A further embodiment of a system 40 for forming a batch of meat 42 is partly illustrated in Fig. 3.
- the system 40 differs from the system 2 of Fig.
- a batch 42, in the present system 40 is formed directly in large containers 44, often called“combos” or“DolavTM”, which typically hold a batch of around 500kg of meat product.
- the out-feed end 8b feeds directly into such a container 44.
- the process must be halted once a predetermined batch weight has been achieved and the filled container replaced with an empty one before the process can be continued.
- the system 40 includes a multi-directional (here bi-directional) conveyor 46 which is configured to be fed from the out-feed end 8b with meat product 48 and to switch conveyance of this fed meat product 48 to another one of a plurality (here two) containers 44 when a batch 42 has been formed in a one of the containers 44.
- a new batch 50 may be started when one batch 42 is completed without halting the process.
- each of the containers 44 may be located on an associated weighing device 52 which is configured to determine a weight of the contents of the associated container 44. In some embodiments this weight may then be output to a controller 54 which operates to control the direction of movement of the multi-directional conveyor 46 and may also be employed in the computing device 16 as a check weight against the weight of the new batch 50 being formed as determined from the output of the weighing device 14. Information such as the final batch weight of the container 44 and the fat content may usefully be printed on to labels that are attached to a completed batch 42.
- a dicing machine 56 may be integrated with the system 2,40 to comminute the meat product before it is added to form the batch 4,42,50 or a foreign object detector may be employed to reject portions of meat product containing a foreign object before the portion enters the batch 4,42,50.
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- Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
- Zoology (AREA)
- Food Science & Technology (AREA)
- Meat, Egg Or Seafood Products (AREA)
- Analysing Materials By The Use Of Radiation (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
NZ773407A NZ773407A (en) | 2018-12-10 | 2019-11-19 | System for and method of forming a batch of a meat product |
BR112021007103-2A BR112021007103A2 (en) | 2018-12-10 | 2019-11-19 | system and method for forming a batch of a meat product |
AU2019397575A AU2019397575A1 (en) | 2018-12-10 | 2019-11-19 | System for and method of forming a batch of a meat product |
EP19809627.3A EP3893651A1 (en) | 2018-12-10 | 2019-11-19 | System for and method of forming a batch of a meat product |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
DKPA201800979 | 2018-12-10 | ||
DKPA201800979 | 2018-12-10 |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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WO2020121087A1 true WO2020121087A1 (en) | 2020-06-18 |
Family
ID=68696479
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/IB2019/059916 WO2020121087A1 (en) | 2018-12-10 | 2019-11-19 | System for and method of forming a batch of a meat product |
Country Status (6)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP3893651A1 (en) |
AR (1) | AR117282A1 (en) |
AU (1) | AU2019397575A1 (en) |
BR (1) | BR112021007103A2 (en) |
NZ (1) | NZ773407A (en) |
WO (1) | WO2020121087A1 (en) |
Citations (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4171164A (en) * | 1977-12-12 | 1979-10-16 | The Kartridg Pak Co. | Continuous X-ray analysis for meat blending system |
US7123685B2 (en) | 2000-12-22 | 2006-10-17 | Convenience Food Systems Wallau Gmbh & Co. Kg | Device and method for analyzing fat of meat |
US9066524B2 (en) * | 2010-05-07 | 2015-06-30 | Marel Hf | Fat/meat grading method and system |
-
2019
- 2019-11-19 AU AU2019397575A patent/AU2019397575A1/en active Pending
- 2019-11-19 NZ NZ773407A patent/NZ773407A/en unknown
- 2019-11-19 WO PCT/IB2019/059916 patent/WO2020121087A1/en unknown
- 2019-11-19 BR BR112021007103-2A patent/BR112021007103A2/en unknown
- 2019-11-19 EP EP19809627.3A patent/EP3893651A1/en active Pending
- 2019-12-09 AR ARP190103592A patent/AR117282A1/en unknown
Patent Citations (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4171164A (en) * | 1977-12-12 | 1979-10-16 | The Kartridg Pak Co. | Continuous X-ray analysis for meat blending system |
US7123685B2 (en) | 2000-12-22 | 2006-10-17 | Convenience Food Systems Wallau Gmbh & Co. Kg | Device and method for analyzing fat of meat |
US9066524B2 (en) * | 2010-05-07 | 2015-06-30 | Marel Hf | Fat/meat grading method and system |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
NZ773407A (en) | 2024-01-26 |
AU2019397575A1 (en) | 2021-03-25 |
BR112021007103A2 (en) | 2021-07-20 |
AR117282A1 (en) | 2021-07-28 |
EP3893651A1 (en) | 2021-10-20 |
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