Meat+Poultry - August 2020 - 111

at the vacuum filler touch screen control panel."
Developing smarter technology that not only
fulfills production requirements, but also ensures
product safety are also top priorities for equipment manufacturers.
"Equipment materials and Servo technology
has changed the game for production," said Paul
Kean, vice president of Risco USA Corp., South
Easton, Mass. "First, having detectability for foreign material has been the number one issue facing processors. Plastic material is not a suitable
solution in food plants and equipment must be
manufactured to ensure longevity but be suitable
for any potential issue that could occur in production. Second, Servo technology gives the control needed to produce high-quality product with
brow-raising yield improvements."

Removing the human intervention steps
within a formulation process allows
for more consistent final products."
Chris Linssen

EXCITING AND NEW
Chris Linssen, key account manager for Marel,
with US operations in Lenexa, Kan., noted controlling various fat-lean raw materials automatically
allow the company to formulate final ground
muscle products or batches quicker, resulting in
increased throughputs.
"Removing the human intervention steps
within a formulation process allows for more
consistent final products," he said. "Creating
an accurate final batch the first time prevents
time-consuming lean point corrections, adding
to production time.  Our software system controls the entire process, in addition to creating a
reporting database which can drive future purchasing decisions."
The company offers a Marel SensorX Magna,
an X-ray system which analyzes whole muscle

The SensorX Magna
from Marel can help
operators calculate the
fat versus lean ratio.

trim for contaminants (bone, metal) in addition
to a patented contaminant removal system.
"The Magna rejects a small portion of the contaminant while rejecting very little trim along
with it, approximately half of a pound per reject,"
Linssen said. "The Magna also analyzes the trim
for chemical lean point (fat versus lean), allowing the operator to accurately formulate to a
lean point without giving away lean. It is vitally
important to produce final products which are
within specification."
Stefan Neumann, meat specialist with Reiser,
headquartered in Canton, Mass., noted one of
the latest innovations is the continuous formulation system that analyzes fat and lean, and makes
adjustments in real time.
"This eliminates the need to make fat and lean
adjustments in the mixer, which in turn reduces
the mix time for each batch," he explained.
Another innovation is the availability of large
capacity bowl cutters which have given Resier
the option of low-pressure particle reduction and
being able to replace enterprise-style grinders.
"The automation system that Reiser offers
as a grinding line solution has a unique grinding system that uses amperage as a feed control
mechanism," Neumann said. "By monitoring the
amperage of the feed screw, the grinder delivers a constant pressure on the grinding knives
and plate. This provides more consistent product, reduces back flow of product, and improves
bone and cartilage removal."
For retail products, Reiser offers automated
systems that start with meat coming out of the
coolers and finished products on pallets ready to
go back into the cooler for distribution with limited human contact.
"This automation allows the processor to
check-weigh each portion prior to going into
packaging to assure the desired weight to
achieve the least possible giveaway and reduce
rework packaging, while documenting sell by
dates and lot numbers," Neumann said.
Kean noted Risco's latest patented portioning
systems allow clients the flexibility to produce
MEAT+ POULTRY 2020 GROUND BEEF TRENDS + TECHNOLOGY

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