Products, methods and apparatus for fresh meat processing and packaging

Abstract

Improved processing and packaging for perishable goods such as red meats providing a processing system wherein ambient air is excluded and suitable gases such as carbon dioxide are provided at a suitable pressure and in such a manner as to increase the quantity of the gases dissolved in the perishable goods. Then providing a base and placing the perishable goods over the base. A flexible web of plastic wrapping material (second web) is then applied over the base and the goods and air or gas evacuated therefrom and replaced with a suitable gas. The base includes a cup-shaped tray with a recess (first web), of plastics or other suitable material, with side walls extending upwardly to connect to a narrow horizontally disposed flange. The first web, goods and second web are located inside a depression in a third web of gas barrier material and there together placed into an enclosed evacuation chamber. A suitable gas is provided in the chamber in such a manner as to displace substantially all other gas and particularly atmospheric oxygen that may be present with the enclosed goods and web materials. The third web is then sealed so as to enclose the goods with first and second webs. that the pressure of the gas may be increased to a level above atmospheric pressure. Most preferably the quantity of gas dissolved into the goods will be increased. Most preferably the gas introduced into the chamber and the space will enhance preservation of the packaging goods when contacting the goods. The first web, second web and third web are sealed together thereby producing a hermetically sealed package with the goods and a gas filled space contained therein to provide a sealed package. The sealed package can be stored for any convenient period of time after which the third web is can be removed so as to allow ambient air to contact the goods. The invention further includes the method and apparatus for producing the processed goods and packaging.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of prior application Ser. No. 09 / 550,399, filed Apr. 14, 2000, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09 / 392,074, filed Sep. 8, 1999, which in turn is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 039,150, filed Mar. 13, 1998, now abandoned, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 040,556, filed Mar. 13, 1997. In addition, this Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. Nos. 60 / 129,595, filed Apr. 15, 1999; 60 / 141,569, filed Jun. 29, 1999; 60 / 144,400, filed Jul. 16, 1999; 60 / 148,227 filed Jul. 27, 1999; 60 / 149,938, filed Aug. 19, 1999; 60 / 152, 677, filed Sep. 7, 1999; 60 / 154,068, filed Sep. 14, 1999; 60 / 160,445, filed Oct. 19, 1999; and 60 / 175,372, filed Jan. 10, 2000.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to products, methods, apparatus, and the products made therefrom used for processing and pac...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0022] Methods and apparatus of the present invention are directed at saturating fresh meat with CO2 prior to packaging. In this situation, adequate CO2 can be dissolved in the tissue of the meat and to such a level that the meat can become a source of CO2 after packaging. This can be achieved by lowering the temperature of the meat to a minimum (typically about 29.5 degrees F.) and exposing it to relatively high pressure (ambient to 200 psi or more) CO2 gas. CO2 gas dissolves more readily at lower temperatures and therefore a part of the method is to expose the meat to high pressure CO2 at the lowest temperature above freezing and then retail package the meat in a tray, then over wrapped with a highly gas permeable web of material such as pPVC. If an extended shelf life of say not more than 10 days is adequate, then a barrier pouch master container may not be needed, the CO2 gas “entrained” in the meat tissue prior to packaging will gradually be released immediately after removal from a higher pressure to ambient and as the temperature elevates during delivery to the point of sale and this can be sufficient to inhibit bacterial growth and atmospheric oxygen in unlimited quantities is available to maintain the requisite “bloom”. In this way, shipping, packaging and display costs can be reduced substantially, while providing an extended shelf life which may be sufficient for some industry packers and supermarkets.

Problems solved by technology

Furthermore, the shape of all animals used for human consumption are of irregular and inconvenient profile.

Because of the diverse types of materials that are employed in the foregoing package, it is difficult to reprocess and recycle the post-consumer package.

Moreover, the cost associated with post-consumer recycling of multiple layer plastics material renders the process impractical and substantially not economically feasible.

Both tray and lid materials are typically substantially gas impermeable heat sealable composite structures and cannot be readily recycled.

Because of the diverse types of materials that are employed in the foregoing package, it is difficult to reprocess and recycle the “post-consumer” package.

Moreover, the cost associated with post-consumer recycling of multiple layer plastics material, such as the aforementioned, renders the process impractical and substantially not economically feasible.

A further limitation of packaging perishable goods such as fresh red meats in hermetically sealed gas barrier packages results from the need to enclose a relatively large volume of gas, and particularly carbon dioxide, within the package.

However, reduction in the volume of gases provided within a package can have a deleterious effect on shelf life of the perishable goods and red meat contained therein.

Typical methods used for production of ground meats and patties, that are substantially composed of fat, muscle tissue, protein and water, have remained unchanged for many decades and are inefficient when compared with other food production methods that are commonly applied in other industries.

These inefficiencies that result in large part from poor controls and questionable safety standards, often cause significant and unnecessary wastage of meat in addition to occasional loss of human life.

A limitation of producing perishable goods such as fresh beef patties at the point of source animal slaughter results from shelf life limitations inherent with current packaging systems.

Beef patties are often produced at locations remote from the point of slaughter due to short shelf life.

With conventional packaging of meats and other perishable type goods, the shelf life is limited due to bacterial growth within the package.

After time, carbon dioxide can become substantially dissolved in the water and shelf life may be limited by this.

After time, discoloration due to formation of, for example, metmyoglobin on the outer surface of the red meat also reduces consumer appeal of the packaged goods.

When carbon dioxide dissolves into liquids and water, this can cause the package to collapse inwardly.

Collapsing causes the appearance of the package to be unacceptable to consumers and can also cause the package to rupture.

It has been found that when applying the second and third webs extruded in the manner as disclosed in Kocher to packaging as that disclosed in the inventor's own U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,282, a dull appearance of the second web can result with reduced clarity when compared with other webs of material that are produced in a single web such as plasticized PVC (pPVC).

Furthermore, after removal of the third web, from the re-laminated co-extrusion, by peeling, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,282, distortions and ripples can appear in the second web.

This occurs, partly, as a result of inadequate lateral tension provided in the second web when limited by the inherent limitations of co-extruding the second and third webs simultaneously.

This can, therefore, severely detract from the visual appearance of the package in the eyes of consumers.

A further limitation of packaging perishable goods such as fresh red meats in hermetically sealed gas barrier packages results from the need to enclose a relatively large volume of gases, and particularly carbon dioxide, within the package.

However, reduction in the volume of gasses contained within a package can have a deleterious effect on the shelf life of perishable goods and red meats contained therein.

Conventional modified atmosphere “case ready” retail packaged fresh red meats and other perishable type goods experience limited shelf life because of bacterial growth, such as aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, on the packaged goods; rancidity “off flavors” caused, in part, by oxidizing fats; and discoloration to visible meat surfaces.

However, some gasses such as carbon dioxide gas, for example, can quickly dissolve in substances such as oils and water contained in the goods.

After time, carbon dioxide can become substantially dissolved in water which may limit shelf life.

Furthermore, when oxygen is present and more particularly when a quantity of approximately 5,000 to 30,000 parts per million of oxygen is present in a gas within a package, discoloration due to formation of metmyoglobin on the visible surface of red meat, reduces consumer appeal of the packaged goods.

When carbon dioxide dissolves (into another substance) the combined volume of the residual substances is substantially reduced which can cause the package to collapse inwardly.

Collapsing causes the appearance of the package to be unacceptable to consumers and can also cause the package to rupture and render it unfit for use.

In compensating for such a deleterious event, several existing packaging systems require large volumes of gas to be packaged with the goods.

However, when large volumes of gas are provided, the resultant “bulky” condition does not provide for cost efficient shipping and distribution from the location of packaging to the point of retail sale of the packaged goods.

Oftentimes, this will lead to an overly large sized package introducing inefficiency into the process because of the wasted space.

High oxygen case ready packages are inefficient, in large part, due to the inherent need to include a quantity / volume of gas that is equal to, or greater than the volume of the package meat contents.

The “bloom” is caused by the natural color of oxymyoglobin and oxyhemoglobin that is present in freshly cut meat but when oxygen is present, after approximately 9 to 10 days discoloration such as browning due to increased levels of surface metmyoglobin, will occur, rendering the product unsaleable or requiring a reduction in price to sell to a consumer.

Furthermore, the excessive volume of the finished packages, results in excessive packaging material and shipping costs and display case space at retail outlets and also excessive costs incurred for disposal of additional cardboard etc. at the supermarket outlets.

Effective packaging materials for existing, extended shelf life, retail packaged, case ready perishable goods are often relatively expensive and the associated packaging processes are typically labor intensive.

When EPS and FP materials are used in low residual oxygen modified atmosphere packaging, such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 039,150, residual oxygen can diffuse and exchange from the cell structure, and become present as a free gas within the master container thereby elevating the level of oxygen present therein to a potentially undesirable level.

However, such a process of gas exchange is problematic and difficult to reliably maintain.

Therefore, in order to maintain the residual quantity of atmospheric oxygen at not more than 100 PPM, untreated expanded (foamed) polystyrene (EPS) or FP trays cannot be easily and efficiently used.

However, such a foaming agent gas, if not retained by other means in the cell structure, can quickly exchange with the ambient air during storage and the cells can become filled with air.

However, with case ready MAP systems, such EPS trays are now required to be shipped in trucks and other means of transport from the point of packaging, which may be located many hundreds of miles from the point of sale.

Abuse and damage can occur to the packaging during this shipping.

Such protective packaging is expensive, bulky and results in excessive shipping costs.

Furthermore, excessive packaging, as required for the sole purpose of protection during shipping, must be discarded at the supermarket thereby creating excessive waste disposal problems with the attendant costs to the environment.

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