Troubleshooting Meat Processing Problems

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Troubleshooting Meat Processing Problems

• Animal Sciences 550
• Lynn Knipe

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Trouble Shooting Strategies

• Brainstorm causes
• ask line employees about procedures and recent
  changes
• New problem(s)?
• Try to find what has been changed when problem
  first occurred.

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• Be systematic
• Use flow chart, to
• evaluate each weak link in process
• Avoid changing multiple things and hoping for
  success.
• Change one thing at a time, to see impact of
  each change.

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Light Cured Color Comminuted Products

• low nitrite level or improper use of nitrite
  erythorbate
• use of alkaline phosphates pH
• rapid processing (lt40 minutes curing time)
• aerobic processing, no vacuum

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Light, Uneven Cured Color Whole Muscle Products

• improper use of nitrite erythorbate
• raw material color
• myoglobin content
• may need to sort muscles to maintain color
  consistency (reduce contrast) between muscles

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Uneven Cured Color Blood Spots
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Uncured Spots

• More common with whole muscle products
• Partially frozen muscles
• Plugged or broken injector needles
• Tumble and hold longer before cooking.

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Uncured Spot
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Blood Spots Splashing

• Surprise found inside when slicing or cutting
• consumer often the first to find.
• Excessive stress high stunning voltage at
  slaughter.
• lt15 sec. between stun and stick/bleeding

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Blood Splash in Pork
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Blood Spot in Ham
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Blood Spots in Turkey Breast
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Light Natural Smoke

• Low temperature and relative humidity during
  smoking.
• Short reddening time, for cured color
  development.

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Dull, Dark Muddy Smoke Color

• High relative humidity during smoking
• Dark streaks indicate condensation of moisture
  on surface during smoking.

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Contrasting Smoke Colors
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Iridescence

• Chemical problem?
• Inorganic phosphates in muscle and added.
• Physical problem?
• newly sharpened slicer blades
• cutting parallel to muscle fiber
• Eye of round
• found both raw or cooked

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Green Iridescence on Lean, Near Fat Layer
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Small Holes in Cut Surface of Whole Muscle
Products

• Injecting foaming brine
• High pump pressures
• Gas-forming bacteria, if smooth, tear-shaped
  holes.

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Large Voids in Cut Surface of Whole Muscle
Products

• Improper arrangement of muscles at stuffing.
• Trapped air within muscles.
• Insufficient tumbling.
• Large splits gas- forming m.os

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Void Where Star Fat was Removed
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Seam Separation due to Gas Forming Bacteria
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Excessive and/or Milky Purge

• Moisture released from marginal products, under
  high vacuum
• Fluctuating temperatures during packaged
  storage.
• Purge ideal growth medium for m.o.s

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Excessive, Milky Purge
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Cured Color in Uncured Products

• Nitrite/nitrates in
• water supply
• closed gas/charcoal grills
• fresh celery, other produce
• cross-contamination with cured products.

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Roast Beef Contaminated with Nitrite in Tumbler
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Swollen Vacuum Packages

• Gas-forming bacteria
• survived cooking
• stored at warm temperatures
• Vacuum mixing reduces problem with ground
  products.

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Poor Vaccum

• Fluctuating product storage temperatures
• Poor oxygen barrier films
• check OTR (oxygen transmission rate of films)

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Fatting Out of Comminuted Products

• Improper order of addition of ingredients
• Adding too much water or connective tissue.
• Over chopping
• Chopping too hot or too cold
• Rapid cooking

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Fat Caps
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Gelatin Pockets
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Wrinkled Products

• Understuffed products
• Overcooking at low relative humidities.

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Cork Screwing

• Twisted small diameter products.
• Swirling pattern in large diameter sausage.
• Improperly centered (bent) stuffing horn.
• Horn too small.
• Stringy (dull, loose grinder knives), high
  collagen emulsion.

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Cork-Screwed Frankfurters
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Surface Crystals

• Surface allowed to dry after cooking.
• Inorganic phosphates crystallizing out on
  surface.

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Phosphate Crystals on Ham Surface
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Phosphate Crystals on Ham Surface
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Soft Textured/Poor Cooking Yields

• Improper order of addition of materials
• Addition of too much water or collagen.
• Using PSE pork.
• Adding hard water.

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Wrinkled Products

• Understuffed products
• Overcooking at low relative humidities.

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Frozen Storage Damage to Cooked Products
Cooked Ham after Freezing/Thawing
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Cooked Bologna, containing MST, after
Freezing/Thawing
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