Kraft Foods Global Brands LLC

Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC

Krafts Foods, Inc.

Maurine Anne MacBride

Paul Gerard Morin

Lynda Cabrales

Jeremy Alan Thuerk

Orestes Rivero

Adalys Rivero, Legal Representative

Theodore N Janulis

Amy Lynn Nehls

Scott A Brackebusch

A continuous method and system for processing whole muscle meat employs a mixer housing having a pair of parallel rotating shafts located therein. The parallel rotating shafts have a plurality of mixing elements thereon, such as frustoconical elements, blocking elements, or ellipsoid elements. The mixer housing has an input end to receive the meat ingredients, such as meat pieces, salt solution, water, preservatives, and other additives such as spices. The mixer housing has an output, which is separated a distance from the input, such that the output discharges the whole muscle meat product. As the ingredients including the meat move from the input to the output along the shafts, the mixing elements work the meat with the other ingredients thereby increasing ingredient incorporation including diffusion of the salt solution into the whole muscle meat pieces.

Method and apparatus for continuous processing of whole muscle meat products

Processing elements for mixing meat products

Meat products are chilled to the extent that water present therein is frozen in order to facilitate slicing, subsequent processing, packaging or other handling of the meat products. The chilling is carried out in sequential steps. The first chilling step contacts the product with a brine of sodium chloride at a temperature below the freezing point of water. The resulting prechilled food product is subjected to a second chilling step with a calcium chloride brine which is at a lower temperature than the sodium chloride brine and which further reduces the core temperature of the food product to well below the freezing point of water.

Chilling of meat products

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Oregon, WI, United States of America

Maurine Anne MacBride