WO2002034397A1

WO2002034397A1 - Process and appliance for production of minced meat

Info

Publication number: WO2002034397A1
Application number: PCT/IB2000/001545
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lucjan Pilsniak
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-10-26
Filing date: 2000-10-26
Publication date: 2002-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 2003-04-26

Abstract

The minced meat production process consists in cooling the pre-processed meat from 0 to 2 °C, transportation to a sales point at the temperature from 0 to 5 °C where the meat is stored at the temperature from 0 to 4 °C and then minced in the meat production appliance that is continuously cooled down to the temperature from -2 to 4 °C. The appliance for meat mincing has the cooling coil (8) installed on the outer surface of the processing unit (3) and feeder (2). The space where the cooling coil is installed (8) is filled with thermally-insulating material (9). The upper part of the appliance is furnished with an opening door (11) and the outlet (5) with a protective hood (13).

Description

[ DESCRIPTION ]

Process and Appliance for Production of Minced Meat

The subject of the invention is the process and appliance for production of minced meat out of the fresh raw material directly at sales points.

The appliance known from the description of the PL no 31628 utility model is the electric meat grinder consisting of the electric drive system coupled with the axis of the screw feeder by a gear transmission installed in a metal casing. At the opposite end of the feed screw flight, there is a knife with a screen bolted by a threaded ring. This machine is mostly used in households or small food processing plants.

In the above described popular meat mincers, the friction energy is converted into heat during the mincing operation. The heat exposure of the meat causes the reproduction of bacteria in ground raw meat and leftovers that remain in the utensil after the mincing operation has been completed.

The appliance known from the PL no 175066 patent description is a food product slicer designed particularly for cutting pieces of frozen meat of -9 °C; this utensil is furnished with the continuous meat feeder and a system of rotating knives driven by a separate driving system. The bottom part of the processing unit is furnished with an outlet open at the bottom. A system of knives driven by an electric motor is installed in the processing unit. Diameters of the knife tops are several millimetres smaller than the internal diameter of the unit. This invention solves the issue of friction energy conversion into heat in the process of grinding the portions of frozen meat. This device is not suitable for production of minced meat of fresh raw material.

In the food production plant, minced meat is cooled down, frozen or deep-frozen.

In the industrial conditions, meat mincing process is performed while maintaining appropriate hygiene and adequate temperatures maintaining a so called "cooling continuity" that enables the extension of the semi-product shelf life and allows to determine the length of the shelf-life.

Current market conditions establish a big demand for giving customers a possibility of selecting appropriate fresh meat portion that is then minced in their presence. Therefore, we need to establish technical and technological conditions in compliance with the requirements of standards that would enable fresh meat mincing directly at a sales point. At the current stage of technology, the above meat mincing process in a sales point, particularly in the presence of customers, is practically impossible. Conditions in different sales points differ significantly from industrial conditions. The retail sales point facilities feature differentiated temperatures over 12°C that exceed the requirements for industrial production. Moreover, in comparison with the industrial conditions, the hygiene of the sales facilities with large numbers of people is considered adverse.

The objective of this invention was to develop a process and design of the appliance that would enable a fresh meat mincing process directly in sales points in compliance with microbial and hygiene requirements.

The solution to the above drawbacks requires application of appropriate technological parameters and technical means that would eliminate or minimise bacteria reproduction during meat preprocessing, its transportation and mainly meat mincing process.

The meat mincing process according to the invention consist in preprocessing of fresh meat in a processing plant in compliance with the veterinary regulations; the meat is subsequently cooled down to the temperature of 0÷2 °C . The meat intended for mincing is portioned and vacuum-packed preferably in transparent foil. Then, the raw material is transported from the processing plant to a sales point at the temperature of 0÷5 °C.

At the sales point, the meat is stored at Q÷4 °C. After a meat portion has been selected by a customer, the vacuum-package foil is removed and the meat is subsequently minced with minimum contact of the product with surroundings. The meat mincing process is performed in the machine the main unit of which is cooled down to -2÷4 °C . After mincing operation is completed, the feeder and outlet of the meat mincer are thermally insulated and the appliance is continuously cooled down. The slot of the feeder and outlet are thermally insulated by caps made of thermally-insulating material to maintain low temperature of the meat mincer main unit during intervals between mincing of specific meat portions. Minced meat is tightly packed.

The above assignment has been met by the invention in the way that the meat mincing appliance is furnished with cooling coil located on the outer surfaces of the feeder and processing unit and the top surface is equipped with an opening door. The outlet is furnished with removable thermally-insulating hood.

Moreover, the cooling coil is protected by thermal insulation in the form of thermally insulating filling.

The subject of this invention is presented in exemplary engineering solution in Figure that represents the cross-section of the appliance.

Food processing plants prepare meat in the portions of 0.5 kg to 5 kg of meat that is vacuum-packed preferably in transparent foil and cooled down to 0÷2 °C. The meat portions packaged and cooled down are transported via cooler vehicles at 0÷5 °C to sales points where they are stored in coolers or cooling cabinets at 0÷4 °C. After a customer has selected a meat portion, the packaging foil is removed and the meat is minced in the meat mincing appliance which is cooled down to -2÷4 °C. Despite the additional heat that is dissipated in the mincing process and the ambient temperature of 25 °C in the sales point, the temperature of the meat being minced does not exceed 5°C. The minced meat is packaged. After the meat mincing operation, the feeder and outlet are covered with caps made of thermally-insulating material. Due to the system of continuous cooling of the processing unit, a leftover meat in the appliance after the completion of the mincing operation is cooled down to -2÷4 °C in the appliance protected in this way. The bacteria reproduction process does not occur at this temperature. The process minimizes the contact of the meat portion with the surroundings and ensures that adequately low temperatures required by effective regulations are maintained in all technological process stages.

Moreover, this process enables to maintain adequately low temperatures inside the processing unit and the feeder of the appliance not only during the meat mincing operation, but also during the intervals between mincing specific meat portions.

The meat mincing appliance consists of the main frame 1 in the form of the cubicle box. The feeder 2 is installed in the top part of the main fame with the processing unit 3 underneath with the screw feeder 4. The processing unit 3 ends with the outlet 5. The motor 6 that is coupled with the axis of the screw feeder 4 by a transmitter 7 is located at the bottom part of the main frame. A cooling coil 8 is wound on outer surfaces of the feeder 2 and processing unit 3. The space where the cooling coil 8 is installed is filled with thermally- insulating material 9 with adjacent outer covering 10 made of stainless-steel or other material approved for contact with food. The top surface is an opening door 11 made of thermally-insulating material installed on hinges 12. The outlet 5 is furnished with a removable thermally-insulating hood 13.

Claims

[CLAIMS]

1. A process for production of minced meat consisting in meat preprocessing, mincing and packaging, characterized in that the meat to be minced is cooled down to the temperature of 0÷2 °C, transported to a sales point at the temperature of 0÷5 °C where it is stored at 0÷4°C, then minced in the meat mincing appliance that is continuously cooled down to the temperature of -2÷4 °C and after mincing operation is completed the outlet (5) and feeder (2) of the meat mincing appliance are thermally insulated.

2. A process as claimed in Claim 1 , characterized in that the meat to be minced is portioned and vacuum-packed preferably with transparent foil that is removed directly before the meat is intended to be minced.

3. An appliance for production of minced meat that consists of the main frame in the form of the cubicle box where the feeder is installed with the processing unit underneath that ends with the outlet and feeder screw driven by a drive via a transmission gear and a knife installed on the axis of the screw feeder with a screen bolted by a threaded ring characterized in that on the outer surface of the feeder (2) and processing until (3) is located the cooling coil (8) and on the top surface of the appilance against the inlet of the feeder (2) is located thermally-insulated opening door (11), whereas the outlet (5) is furnished with the thermally-insulated hood (13).

4. An appliance as claimed in Claim 3, characterized in the fact that the cooling coil (8) is thermally insulated by the filling in the form of the thermally-insulating material (9)