Tools of the TRADE A sausage and value-added meat production equipment overview By Bruce Armstrong meat&poultry@sosland.com U nderstanding the basic operation of equipment used in processing fresh sausage and cured meats and an overview of injection equipment used to enhance cured and whole muscle products can give plant operators insight into how each step in the production process impacts the final product. The following is an overview of the processing equipment needed and their fundamental purpose in producing these foods. Fresh sausage equipment The grinder is the first and most critical piece of equipment for fresh sausage. Fresh sausage requires a bright 'bloom' to appeal to the customer's eye. The grinder will never improve the 'bloom,' although it can destroy it. A grinder must be in good operating condition. This means the worm and the grinder throat must match perfectly. The clearance must be minimal. The worm must be able to continuously feed the meat into the 34 I MEAT&POULTRY I April 2005 I knife and plate. One way to tell if the grinder is working properly is to observe the meat as it is fed into the grinder. Properly working grinders will move the meat out of the throat quickly and uniformly while a poorly operating grinder will roll the meat in the throat and not feed the meat to the knife and plate uniformly. To function properly, the plate and knife must be matched. This means the plate and knife are either brand new or are ground at the same time to match each other. One common method to check a knife and plate is to lay the knife on the plate. While looking at the contact area of the knife on the plate, there should be no space visible between the two pieces. The knife's edge must also be After a coarse grind, salt is added to beef trim to begin extracting proteins for the manufacture of sausage. (Source: Iowa State University) www.MEATPOULTRY.comhttp://www.MEATPOULTRY.com