Oven apparatus and method for cooking monolithic muscle meat food product that is not initially cooked

Abstract

The present invention relates to an oven apparatus and method for cooking a whole piece of muscle meat food product that is not initially cooked to obtain a cooked product having a lowest final core temperature. The oven apparatus includes an oven housing and a conveyor for conveying food products through the oven housing. A scanner device is disposed upstream of the oven housing, the scanner device for scanning uncooked food products, the scanner device configured to obtain food data. A controller is provided that uses data obtained from the scanner means to control the transfer speed and the oven atmosphere means to obtain cooked articles.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to an oven apparatus and method for cooking an initially uncooked whole muscle meat food product to obtain a cooked product having a minimum final core temperature.

[0002] In the food industry, it is well known to cook whole muscle meat products, such as poultry fillets as whole pieces, in oven housings. Obtaining a cooked product with a minimum final core temperature is crucial for food safety in the industrial food processing industry. For example, for poultry, a minimum core temperature of at least 80° C. is required. In practice, the core temperature is measured in a sample of the produced product using a needle probe.

[0003] As is well known, the performance of an oven housing is significantly affected by the thickness of the food product. The thickness of the food product may vary, for example, on an individual basis and / or from batch to batch. In the event that an undercooked food product or otherwise under-processed food product is detected as the food product exits the oven housing, this problem is typically addressed by a human manually adjusting the processing settings.

[0004] From EP2935056 a thermal processing and control system is known, which comprises a thermal processing station for receiving a food product carried on a conveyor system. A first scanning station is located upstream of the thermal processing station, which first scanning station is used to scan the food carried by the conveyor. The method comprises simulating the thermal processing system by taking into account the thickness of the food product entering the food processing station. In case the simulation results show that the measured temperature of the food product leaving the thermal processing station exceeds the desired temperature range, the control system adjusts the thermal processing system processing parameters, or suggests adjusting the processing parameters of the thermal processing system.

[0005] EP2935056 discloses using the maximum food product thickness obtained from a scanner device to control the conveying speed and oven climate to obtain a cooked product.

[0006] Because food products that are processed improperly or at too low a temperature present a safety risk, the controller includes a safety margin to ensure that all cooked products are obtained with a minimum final core temperature.

[0007] In the food industry, it is common to sample cooked products. When it is determined that they are not cooked properly, the group of products may be rejected.

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved oven apparatus and method, wherein a reduced safety margin is applied while ensuring that a cooked product is obtained with a minimum final core temperature, ie the food product is fully cooked.

[0009] This prevents overcooking of food products, dry and / or unsightly food products, and weight loss and thus effectively prevents loss of yield and is due to optimized use of the oven arrangement, e.g. resulting in lower oven temperatures and / or reduced oven times.

[0010] This object is achieved by an oven device for cooking an initially uncooked whole muscle meat food product to obtain a cooked product with a minimum final core temperature, the oven device comprising:

[0011] - an oven housing having an oven atmosphere device;

[0012] - a conveyor for receiving uncooked food products and conveying the food products at a conveying speed through the oven housing to obtain cooked food products;

[0013] - a scanner device, the scanner device being arranged upstream of the oven housing, the scanner device being used to scan uncooked food products, the scanner device being configured to acquire food product thickness data of the food products;

[0014] - a controller that uses the maximum food product thickness obtained from the scanner device to control the conveyor speed and the oven atmosphere device to obtain a cooked product;

[0015] Characterized in that the scanner device is further configured to obtain fiber orientation data of the whole muscle food product;

[0016] and wherein a prediction module is provided, the prediction module being adapted to be fed with both the food product thickness data and the fiber orientation data, and the prediction module being configured to predict the effective maximum food product thickness resulting from fiber denaturation occurring during an initial cooking phase in the oven based on the fiber orientation data and the food product thickness data;

[0017] And wherein the controller uses the effective maximum food product thickness obtained from the prediction module to control the conveying speed and the oven atmosphere device.

[0018] The object is also achieved by a method for cooking an initially uncooked whole muscle meat food product to obtain a cooked product having a final core temperature, the method comprising the following steps:

[0019] - scanning the uncooked food product upstream of the oven housing to obtain food product thickness data and fiber orientation data;

[0020] - based on the food product thickness data and the fiber orientation data, predicting the effective maximum food product thickness;

[0021] - Using this effective maximum food product thickness to control cooking parameters, such as cooking time and oven atmosphere, to obtain a food product with a minimum final core temperature.

[0022] The oven apparatus and method of the present invention for cooking whole muscle meat food products has improved precision.

[0023] The present invention is based on the recognition that when cooking whole muscle meat food products, fibrosis and collagen contraction occur primarily during the initial cooking phase, resulting in significant changes in the dimensions of the food product. Thus, the final cooked product shape is linked to the raw, uncooked product shape by means of the muscle structure with its fiber orientation.

[0024] Experience has shown that the change in shape reaches a maximum at 30%-40% of the denaturation process, which is at the beginning of the cooking time, usually after 15%-40% of the cooking time. The food product then includes an outer layer of denatured meat, while most of the cooking work still needs to be done. This shape change depends on the fiber orientation, because the fibers usually shrink. For meat slices, this usually leads to a reduced overall length and width and an increased height. At this stage, a preliminary stable shape, or a shape close to the final product, of the food product is obtained, which is significantly different from the shape of the uncooked food product. In particular, the height of the preliminary stable shape is greater than the height of the uncooked product. During the subsequent cooking time, the preliminary stable shape (close to the final product shape) is substantially maintained in shape, while the food product undergoes a uniform shrinkage to obtain a cooked product.

[0025] Due to the unique fiber orientation of an individual product, there is no direct relationship between the food product thickness data obtained by the scanner device and the height of the food product in the preliminary stable shape. Therefore, a controller using a maximum food product thickness must include a safety margin to compensate for this indirect relationship.

[0026] The present invention provides a prediction module adapted to be fed both food product thickness data and fiber orientation data, and configured to predict the effective maximum food product thickness resulting from fiber denaturation occurring in an initial cooking stage based on the fiber orientation data and the food product thickness data.

[0027] By understanding the effect of fiber orientation on effective maximum food product thickness, it was further discovered that the effective maximum food product thickness is an important factor in modeling the final core temperature. Product shape, particularly the heat transfer distance toward the core as determined by thickness, is important to the final core temperature. Taking fiber orientation and effective maximum food product thickness into account results in improved accuracy. Thus, a reduced safety margin is required while ensuring that a cooked product with the lowest final core temperature is obtained.

[0028] The present invention is based on the recognition that fiber orientation is to be obtained. Therefore, food products suitable for being cooked in the oven device of the present invention must have a scannable fiber orientation. This is possible for raw food products, including frozen food products.

[0029] Muscle meats such as beef, pork, poultry and fish are suitable food products. It is also conceivable to cook bonded meat according to the method of the invention and in the oven device of the invention: the invention is based on the recognition that the fiber orientation is used to determine the effective maximum food product thickness. Therefore, the invention is applicable to food products in which the fiber orientation can be obtained, as well as bonded meat products having several zones.

[0030] In general, the present invention is not suitable for use with food products in which the fiber orientation is not visible, such as food products having a skin or coating, or food products that are pre-cooked.

[0031] The oven device comprises an oven housing having an oven atmosphere device. The oven housing may comprise one or more oven zones. In an embodiment, the oven housing is a so-called spiral oven, wherein the conveying path is a spiral path. Possibly, the oven device comprises a double spiral. The invention is also applicable to ovens with a tunnel housing.

[0032] Advantageously, the food product is cooked with conditioned air. Preferably, the oven device uses conditioned air to cook the food product. The oven atmosphere is set by parameters that influence the conditioned air. Preferably, the conditioned air flows through the oven housing in the form of an air stream with an air velocity. In an embodiment, the air conditioning device is arranged for regulating the flow of air, in particular for regulating the air temperature, moisture content and dew point temperature.

[0033] Thus, an exemplary oven atmosphere device is one that sets air flow, air temperature, moisture content, and dew point temperature.

[0034] The oven apparatus comprises a conveyor for receiving uncooked food products and conveying the food products through an oven housing at a conveying speed to obtain cooked food products. The conveyor conveys along a conveying path.

[0035] It is envisioned that the conveyor extends outside the oven housing and the scanner device scans uncooked food products on the conveyor. In an embodiment, a supply conveyor is provided near the conveyor to convey the products through the oven housing. The scanner device can scan the uncooked food products on the supply conveyor.

[0036] Controllers known in the art use the maximum food product thickness obtained from the scanner device to control the conveyor speed and oven atmosphere to obtain a cooked product.

[0037] The controller simulates the core temperature of the product leaving the oven housing based on the thickness of the food product. Based on this prediction of the core temperature, the conveying speed and the oven atmosphere are controlled, and in particular adjusted, to ensure that all products leaving the oven housing obtain the desired minimum final core temperature.

[0038] In fact, the conveyor speed determines the residence time of the product in the oven housing. Therefore, the conveyor speed indicates the cooking time. In the embodiment without a conveyor, the controller can control the cooking time.

[0039] The oven device comprises a scanner device, which is arranged upstream of the oven housing, and is used to scan the uncooked food product, and the scanner device is configured to obtain food product thickness data of the food product. The scanner device of the present invention is also configured to obtain fiber orientation data of the whole meat food product.

[0040] Preferably, the scanner device according to the invention comprises one or more laser scanners.Such laser scanners are usually applied to determine the thickness of an article.

[0041] The scanner device acquires both thickness and fiber alignment. It is conceivable that these data are acquired in a successive step, requiring a scanner to track the food product, or to track the storage and label of the food product. If scanning is performed in a subsequent step, it is conceivable that only the fiber orientation of the thickest product is acquired.

[0042] It is conceivable that not all uncooked food products are scanned, but only selected food products are scanned. In particular, it is conceivable that relatively thick food products are selected for scanning, because these food products may be products with an effective maximum food product thickness.

[0043] In an advantageous embodiment, the scanner device is further configured to simultaneously acquire food product thickness data for the food product and fiber orientation data for the whole meat food product.

[0044] In an embodiment, the scanner arrangement comprises a plurality of scanners for scanning uncooked food products.

[0045] In order to obtain fiber orientation data for whole meat food products, the scanner device includes an optical camera. It is known in the art that the optical scattering pattern recorded by transmission or backscattering, i.e. the spatial distribution of light reflection on the surface of the fiber product, contains information on the internal structure of the meat. The method visualizes the degree of fiber formation and fiber orientation. An extension of light scattering is diffuse wave spectroscopy, in which products with strong scattering can be measured. It is also conceivable that near infrared reflectometry is used to analyze the fiber orientation of raw meat.

[0046] In a preferred embodiment, the scanner device comprises a 3D laser scanner and an optical camera, such as the QC scanner commercially available under the name of MS2920 Quality Scanner by the applicant. Preferably, a laser triangulation 3D scanner is applied, using a laser beam and a camera to analyze the deformation of the laser beam on the object by means of triangulation calculations.

[0047] The scanner device is arranged upstream of the oven housing, for example at the upstream end of the conveying path along the conveyor. The upstream position of the oven housing allows sufficient control of the conveying speed and the oven atmosphere. Generally, the control of the oven atmosphere requires adjustment time, and therefore, it may be advantageous to arrange the scanner at a position further upstream, in view of sufficient control of the oven parameters.

[0048] In an embodiment, the scanner device is further configured to acquire the food product temperature before the food product enters the oven housing, which food product temperature is also fed to the prediction module to predict the effective maximum food product thickness. Additionally or alternatively, the scanner device is configured to acquire further food product data, such as heating history (frying, cooking) and (salt) treatment, which further food product data is fed to the prediction module to predict the effective maximum food product thickness.

[0049] According to the present invention, a prediction module is provided, which is adapted to be fed with both food product thickness data and fiber orientation data, and is configured to predict the effective maximum food product thickness resulting from fiber denaturation occurring during an initial cooking phase in an oven based on the fiber orientation data and the food product thickness data.

[0050] Using this effective maximum food product thickness, the controller can simulate a minimum final core temperature and can therefore control the conveyor speed and oven atmosphere settings to obtain a cooked product with a minimum final core temperature.

[0051] In practice, the computational power of the controller and prediction modules can be integrated.

[0052] In an embodiment, the prediction module predicts the effective maximum food product thickness only for the thickest food product. It is conceivable that the prediction of the effective maximum food product thickness is calculated only for the thickest food product, i.e. the fiber orientation is obtained for all products, but the fiber orientation is only used to predict the effective maximum food product thickness for the selected product. This is advantageous in terms of computing power.

[0053] The prediction module may include a database and / or an algorithm to predict the effective maximum food product thickness.

[0054] Advantageously, the prediction modules are product specific, wherein different modules are used for different food product types, such as poultry breast fillets, poultry legs, fish fillets, pork tenderloins, steaks, etc. Thus, not only the animal from which the meat originates is taken into account, but also the type of meat. In an embodiment, it is also conceivable that the slaughtering process used to obtain whole muscle meat is taken into account.

[0055] In an embodiment, the scanner device according to the invention further comprises a (digital) optical recognition device which captures a series of images for food product recognition. The acquired data can be used to (automatically) provide a prediction module specific for a type of food product.

[0056] In an embodiment, the prediction module also considers oven atmosphere set points, such as temperature and / or dew point. Taking the oven atmosphere into account, the effective maximum food product thickness can be determined more accurately. It has been observed that the dew point has a significant impact on the overall change in shape, and the dew point has a significant impact on the speed of height increase, i.e. thickness increase, of meat, especially chicken fillets, and the speed of length and width reduction of meat. The higher the dew point, the faster and larger the shape change of chicken fillets.

[0057] The present invention is further explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0058] Figure 1 is a picture above of an uncooked whole muscle meat poultry fillet in which the fiber orientation is schematically depicted;

[0059] Figure 2 is a graph showing the relationship between the height change of chicken fillet and the heating time;

[0060] Figure 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the weight change of chicken fillet and the heating time;

[0061] Figure 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the change in length of a chicken fillet and the heating time;

[0062] Figure 5is a graph showing the relationship between the change in width of a chicken fillet and the heating time; Figure 6 Schematic representation of the height variation of two different slices of meat.

[0063] exist Figure 1 middle,

[0064] An uncooked whole muscle meat poultry fillet 1 is shown in top view. At the upper portion of the depicted fillet, the fibers are oriented generally across the width of the fillet, as indicated by line Fu. At the lower portion of the depicted fillet, the fibers are oriented generally across the length of the fillet, as indicated by line Fb.

[0065] This is a very rough summary of a poultry fillet. The depicted fiber orientations Fu and Fb are an oversimplified representation of the fibers. However, given that the (historical) function of the muscle was to enable flight, the muscle and fibers in the upper portion of the fillet do generally extend across the width of the fillet, while the fibers in the lower portion extend across the length.

[0066] The "upper part" mentioned above with fiber orientation Fu actually varies between 20% and 40% of the entire length of the slice. The "lower part" with fiber orientation Fb actually varies between 60% and 80% of the length of the slice.

[0067] The thickest part of the slice is at the upper part, which shrinks in width and is therefore convex in height, resulting in an increased thickness of the food product.

[0068] This is based on Figure 2-Figure 5 The data shown are derived from Figure 2-Figure 5 Graphs representing the relationship between the height, weight, length, width variation and heating time for a number of chicken fillets are shown, respectively. The experimental conditions were identical: the fillets were cooked in an oven housing at a temperature of 160°C, a dew point of 84°C and an air velocity of 2.8 m / s. The lowest final core temperature of the fillets was 80°C. This lowest final core temperature was reached after about 20 minutes of cooking in the oven housing. The data were obtained for eight numbers of fillets, the uncooked weight of which was 145-153 grams.

[0069] from Figure 2 It can be seen that during the initial cooking time, the height, i.e. the thickness of the food product, increases significantly, from ~22 mm to ~30 mm, an increase of almost 50%. This height increase occurs at the beginning of the cooking time. Most of the increase in height occurs in the first 4-5 minutes of the total cooking time of 20 minutes. After that, the height does not change much. Some shrinkage occurs, but the shrinkage is only on the order of 1 mm-2 mm, i.e., about 10%.

[0070] from Figure 3 It can be seen that the weight of the chicken fillet decreases during cooking. The decrease is essentially linear. This suggests that the initial change in shape during cooking is caused by fiber orientation rather than by water loss from the fillet.

[0071] from Figure 4 It can be seen that the length of the chicken fillet decreases during the cooking process. On average, most of the reduction in length occurs at the beginning of the cooking time, within the initial 4 minutes to 5 minutes of the total cooking time of 20 minutes. After that, the length is still decreasing. The results of the eight fillet samples do show a trend.

[0072] from Figure 5 It can be seen that the width of the chicken fillet decreases during the cooking process. The results for the eight fillet samples do show a trend.

[0073] The shrinkage behavior of the slices is significantly less uniform over the length and width of the slices than over the thickness.

[0074] exist Figure 6 The upper part of shows two exemplary uncooked chicken fillets, which have the same food product thickness H0 and H'0. In the oven device of the prior art, the scanner obtains the same food product thickness data H0 and H'0 for the two fillets. In the prior art, since the data from the scanner is the same, the same height is fed to the controller, and the controller will control the conveying speed and oven atmosphere of the two fillets in the same way.

[0075] exist Figure 6 The lower part of the diagram schematically illustrates the effect of fiber orientation. The left slice bulges in a different way than the right slice. In particular, it can be seen that the effective maximum food product thickness of the left slice is lower than the effective maximum food product thickness of the right slice. According to the present invention, these different effective maximum food product thicknesses are fed to the controller. The controller uses the maximum effective food product thickness, i.e. 1.35H'0, to control the conveying speed and the oven atmosphere device.

Claims

1. An oven apparatus for cooking an initially uncooked whole muscle meat food product (1) to obtain a cooked product having a minimum final core temperature, the oven apparatus comprising: - an oven housing having an oven atmosphere device; - a conveyor for receiving uncooked food products and conveying them at a conveying speed through the oven housing to obtain the cooked food products; - a scanner device, the scanner device being arranged upstream of the oven housing, the scanner device being used to scan uncooked food products, the scanner device being configured to acquire food product thickness data of the food products; - a controller, said controller using the maximum food product thickness obtained from said scanner device to control the conveyor speed and the oven atmosphere device to obtain said cooked product; Characterized in that the scanner device is further configured to obtain fiber orientation data of the whole muscle food product; and wherein a prediction module is provided, the prediction module being adapted to be fed with both the food product thickness data and the fiber orientation data and configured to predict, based on the fiber orientation data and the food product thickness data, an effective maximum food product thickness resulting from fiber denaturation occurring during an initial cooking phase in the oven; And wherein the controller uses the effective maximum food product thickness obtained from the prediction module to control a conveying speed and an oven atmosphere device.

2. The oven device according to claim 1, wherein: The scanner device is further configured to simultaneously acquire food product thickness data of the food product and fiber orientation data of the whole meat food product.

3. An oven device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The scanner device comprises a 3D laser scanner and an optical camera, and wherein laser triangulation is applied to acquire the fiber orientation data.

4. An oven device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The scanner device is further configured to acquire a food product temperature before entering the oven housing, the food product temperature also being fed to the prediction module to predict the effective maximum food product thickness.

5. An oven device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The prediction module predicts the effective maximum food product thickness only for the thickest food product.

6. An oven device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The prediction module also takes into account oven atmosphere set points, such as temperature and / or dew point.

7. An oven device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The controlled oven atmosphere device can control air flow, air temperature, moisture content and / or dew point temperature.

8. An oven device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The scanner device scans the uncooked food products on the conveyor.

9. A method for cooking an initially uncooked whole muscle meat food product to obtain a cooked product having a minimum final core temperature, wherein: Preferably, using the oven device according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 8, the method comprises the following steps: - scanning the uncooked food product upstream of the oven housing to obtain food product thickness data and fiber orientation data, - predicting an effective maximum food product thickness based on said food product thickness data and said fiber orientation data, - using said effective maximum food product thickness to control cooking parameters, such as cooking time and oven atmosphere, to obtain a food product having said lowest final core temperature.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: Use an oven device, the oven device comprising: An oven housing, wherein the oven housing has an oven atmosphere device; - a conveyor for receiving uncooked food products and conveying them through the oven housing at a conveying speed to obtain the cooked food products; - a scanner device, the scanner device being arranged upstream of the oven housing, the scanner device being used to scan an uncooked food product, the scanner device being configured to acquire food product thickness data of the food product, and the scanner device being further configured to acquire fiber orientation data of the whole-meat food product; a prediction module adapted to be fed both the food product thickness data and the fiber orientation data and configured to predict, based on the fiber orientation data and the food product thickness data, an effective maximum food product thickness resulting from fiber denaturation occurring during an initial cooking phase in the oven; - a controller, said controller using said effective maximum food product thickness obtained from said prediction module to control a conveying speed and oven atmosphere means to obtain said cooked product; The method comprises the following steps: - scanning uncooked food products upstream of the oven housing to obtain food product thickness data and fiber orientation data and feeding these data to the prediction module; - predicting an effective maximum food product thickness based on said food product thickness data and said fiber orientation data; - a controller uses the effective maximum food product thickness to control the conveying speed and the oven atmosphere to obtain a food product having the final core temperature; - conveying the food product through the oven housing.

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