Fine meat or plant-based powder fractions and the method of manufacturing

Abstract

A method of making meat or plant-based powders comprises dicing a source material into individual pieces; cooling the pieces within an environment maintained at a temperature of -60 ⁰F or less and for at least 5 minutes to lower a temperature of the pieces; milling the frozen pieces between two parallel rollers rotating in opposite directions; and multi-stage screening of the milled material, wherein each stage of screening separates particles into overs retained on a screen and fines passing through the screen; each stage of screening after a first screen further separates the fines from a preceding screen using a screen having a mesh size smaller than the preceding screen, and the fines and / or the overs collected from one or more screens are used separately or combined to produce customizable meat or plant-based powders, and each of the fines and / or overs from a screen comprises a defined percentage of particle sizes down to at least 0.125 mm.

Description

[0001]FINE MEAT OR PLANT-BASED POWDER FRACTIONS AND THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 666,491, filed on July 1, 2024, the entire disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference for all purposes. SUMMARY Food powders commercially available in the market are generally produced using dehydration and heat processes with the probable addition of chemicals for shelf life and other desirable characteristics. The end product can therefore add unnatural flavors to food. It would be desirable to make a meat or plant-based powder maintaining the natural state of the raw ingredient material. Accordingly, this disclosure relates to a method of making all natural meat and plant- based powders comprised of only the naturally occurring ingredients, such as fat, lean, moisture, micronutrients, without employing processes such as, freeze drying, fat rendering with heat, dehydration, heat, moisture removal or addition and further without introducing antioxidants. The method of the disclosure can also produce such powders without requiring an antimicrobial step or process because the method does not introduce heat and / or moisture. The disclosed method maintains the nutritive value of the starting material, thereby allowing for all fresh, natural, and nutritive powders. The method of this disclosure also provides customizable powders which are made by combining one or more fractions of powders collected from one or more screening stages. The uniqueness of the disclosed process is defined by a combination of controls related to product composition and size homogenization, cryogenic freezing conditions and time, applied pressure (milling and multiple milling), and use of defined screening conditions in series to generate meat / plant powders with predictable applied functionalities, while preserving the nutritive benefits of the starting raw materials. Any step in the process that is eliminated or not controlled will have negative impact on resulting powder compositional and functional predictability. 1606-P72WO -1- This disclosure relates to a process and system that progressively reduces the sizes of meat or plant components from very large and variable-weight commodity inputs down to extremely fine and homogeneous frozen powders by carefully controlling physical conditions of a series of unit operations that include dicing, quiescent cryogenic freezing, product milling, vibratory screening, and secondary meat / plant particle sizing. By utilizing variable vibratory screen sizes to separate frozen meat / plant particle streams (primary separation), which produces overs and fines, and subsequently utilizing multiple sieves of diminishing size to generate defined particle size distributions (secondary fractionation) from such frozen meat / plant component streams, the process offers a wide range of unique food product development opportunities. These are based upon 1) meat component streams of various defined particle sizes contributing different functional properties and nutritional values for end-use consumer products; 2) ability to generate predictable end-use product behaviors (e.g., surface browning during cooking, spreadability characteristics, increased shelf-life) and sensory attributes (e.g., mouthfeel, flavor, moistness); and 3) utilization of defined blends of specific particle sizes and / or meat commodity types to yield unique nutritional, functional and sensory-enhanced food products. An embodiment of the invention includes a method of making fat-containing meat powders, comprising: dicing a fat-containing bulk material into homogeneous sized individualpieces; cooling the pieces within an environment maintained at a temperature of -and for at least 5 minutes to lower a temperature of the pieces; before the temperature of the pieces rises substantially, milling the frozen pieces between a pair of rollers producing milled material; and multi-stage screening of the milled material, wherein each stage of screening separates overs retained on a screen and fines passing through the screen; each stage of screening after a first screen further separates the fines from a preceding screen using a screen having a mesh size smaller than the preceding screen, wherein the fines and / or the overs collected from one or more screens are used separately or combined to produce customizable fat-containing meat powders, wherein each of the fines and / or overs from a screen comprises a defined percentage of particle sizes down to at least 0.125 mm. 1606-P72WO -2- In an embodiment, each of the overs or fines collected from a screen further includes particles greater than 0.6 mm. In an embodiment, each of the overs or fines collected from a screen further includes particles greater than 1.180 mm. In an embodiment, each of the overs or fines collected from a screen further includes particles greater than 2.360 mm. In an embodiment, the temperature of the pieces, milled material, overs, and fines is In an embodiment, the method further comprising milling the overs from the initial screening more than one time to increase the yield of particle sizes down to at least 0.125 mm In an embodiment, the fat-containing material can be meat cuts, boneless meat trimmings, uncured pork belly, or smoked pork belly. An embodiment includes a method of making fruit or vegetable (plant-based) powders, comprising: cooling fruit or vegetable pieces within an environment maintained at atemperature of - and for at least 5 minutes to lower a temperature of the pieces;before the temperature of the pieces rises substantially, milling the frozen pieces between a pair of rollers producing milled material; and multi-stage screening of the milled material, wherein each stage of screening separates overs retained on a screen and fines passing through the screen; each stage of screening after a first screen further separates the fines from a preceding screen using a screen having a mesh size smaller than the preceding screen, wherein the fines and / or the overs collected from one or more screens are used separately or combined to produce customizable fruit or vegetable powders, wherein each of the fines and / or overs from a screen comprises a defined percentage of particle sizes down to at least 0.125 mm. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIGURE 1 is a flow diagram of a method of producing a powder according to one embodiment; 1606-P72WO -3- FIGURE 2 is a flow diagram of a multi-stage screening according to one embodiment; FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatical illustration of a mill in accordance with one embodiment; FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatical illustration of the mill of FIGURE 2; FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatical illustration of the mill of FIGURE 2; FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional diagrammatical illustration of the mill of FIGURE 2; and FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional diagrammatical illustration of the mill of FIGURE 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIGURE 1 is a schematic illustration of a method 100 of processing meat into a fine powder comprising of fat and proteins that can be used for end-use consumer edible products. The meat can be derived from any meat animal species, including, but not limited to pork, beef, lamb, mutton, chicken, and the like. Generally, the meat for processing is boneless. In one embodiment, the source materials 101 can comprise a combination of what is commonly known as 50's and 65's boneless beef trimmings, or any other suitable boneless beef material. The "50's" and "65's" representing the approximate lean content by weight and the remainder generally being fat. The source material can be leftover trimmings after harvesting primal cuts of beef, pork or other meat animal species. In one embodiment, the animal meat can be smoked pork bellies or uncured pork bellies, beef cuts, and the like or any combination of two or more meats. In other embodiments, the source material 101 can be any protein containing meat from sheep, goats, bison, deer, elk, and the like. In still other embodiments, the source material 101 can be any fruit or vegetable or a combination of any fruit and vegetable, or edible fungi or plant derived source (e.g., mushrooms, single-cell protein, algae). All materials of the system coming in contact with the meat are food grade materials, such as stainless steel and suitable polymers, such as nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, and the like. Furthermore, processing equipment may be housed in an air-conditioned enclosed building and kept at a temperature near to or below the freezing point of water. Also, instrumentation controls, such as temperature, fill level, pressure, flow, density, pH and mass 1606-P72WO -4- meters, is provided where necessary to provide status of and / or maintain control of the product through the components of the system. In the disclosure, boneless beef is used as a representative example in the method 100. However, it is to be understood that reference to beef in particular is only used to illustrate the method. Furthermore, the method can be used with smoked pork bellies and uncured pork, or any other meat, and the like, herein described. The type of material used can determine how the material is provided at the start of the method. For example, boneless beef can be loaded into a hopper. The hopper can include a vat dumper that may unload any quantity of beef, such as for example, the unloading of containers of approximately 2,000 lb of boneless beef trimmings. After loading, the beef is transferred to a dicer, step 102. Here, the dicer can refer to a commercial dicer capable of handling the quantities of beef described herein. The beef can be fed to the dicer, or the beef may be conveyed on a conveyor belt to the dicer. The dicer is designed with a series of parallel cutting knives or discs in both the horizontal and vertical direction, which can result in cube-like pieces of meat, for example, of about 1 to 2 inches in any dimension. While not limiting, the small pieces are reduced to approximately not more than about 1 inch wide and 2 inches long strips or 2-inch cubes. From the dicer, the diced pieces of beef are transferred via conveyor to a freezer for cooling, step 104. Here the loading of a freezer from the dicer via a conveyor is optional, any transfer of material into the freezer can be done manually or automatically. In one embodiment of the invention, a freezer is a commercially-sized "cooling tunnel." It should be understood that a cooling tunnel is used as a representative example of a suitable equipment used in the cooling step 104. Another suitable freezer may include a spiral freezer. The cooling tunnel used in the cooling step 104 generally includes a conveyor to carry the beef pieces through the freezer. However, it is possible to freeze the beef pieces batchwise. To achieve the temperatures of the disclosure, a freezer may use liquid nitrogen or carbondioxide to maintain an environment of - within the freezer. The speed of theconveyor is controlled to provide a residence time of the beef pieces within the freezer of atleast 5 minutes within the - environment to achieve a targeted meat cubetemperature. 1606-P72WO -5- According to this disclosure, the diced beef pieces are chilled to a temperature where the fat undergoes significant breakage and detachment from lean protein components creating a fine powder. In one embodiment, the temperature of the freezer is maintained at atemperature of - to - In other embodiments, the temperature of the cooling tunnelcan be less than -According to the disclosure, the temperature and residence time of the beef within the freezer can be adjusted to vary the amount of fine powder produced. In one embodiment, it is advantageous that the temperature of the beef pieces transferred to the freezer be about 32°F to 40°F, but preferably about 32°F. The temperature of the beef before the cooling tunnel may be controlled, in general, by adjusting the chilled storage temperature of source materials and / or the temperature of the room in which the beef is being diced. After the freezer, and before the temperature of the pieces rises substantially, the frozen pieces are milled to break apart the beef pieces in the milling step 106 producing milled material, a fraction of which includes fine particles of fat. Here, the condition "before the temperature of the pieces rises substantially," can mean a temperature increase of not more than 30 degrees Fahrenheit, or not more than 20 degrees Fahrenheit, or not more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The allowable temperature increase between the exit of the freezer and the hopper feeding the mill can be dependent on the temperature of the freezer, since a lower temperature in the freezer can allow for a greater temperature increase. To limit the temperature increase between the exit of the freezer to the mill, the mill can be placed generally immediately after the exit of the freezer, where the frozen beef pieces directly fall into the mill, and the one or more screens can be placed generally immediately after the mill. Additionally, or alternatively, the room in which the freezer and mill are housed can be kept at a low temperature to further limit the temperature increase between the exit of the freezer to the mill. Additionally, cryogenics and / or inert gases can be used to cool the mill rollers and the screens to reduce the temperature increase of the material while in the milling step 106 and the screening step 108. 1606-P72WO -6- According to the disclosure, one embodiment of a mill includes a pair of rollers. A representative example of a mill 300 is diagrammatically illustrated in FIGURES 3-7. In one embodiment, the mill 300 is particularly designed to produce fine powder. From the milling step 106, the milled material is separated via multi-stage screening, in step 108. Multi-stage screening, step 108, uses one or more screens having a different mesh size to separate the milled material. Use of a screen of a particular mesh size allows the fines 110 to pass through the screen and the overs 112 to be retained on the screen. Based on the mesh size, the fines and the overs have different particle distributions; the overs have an average particle size larger than the fines. While both the overs and the fines can include the smallest sized particles produced in the mill, the fines include a higher percentage of the smallest particle sizes. The fines collected from one screen can be further placed on another screen having a smaller mesh size than the immediately preceding screen. The subsequent screen further creates fines that pass through the screen and overs that are retained on the screen. However, regardless of the mesh size, each of the fines and / or overs from a screen comprises a defined percentage of particle sizes down to at least 0.125 mm. For creating the powders of the disclosure, any one or more of the fines and / or the overs from any one or more of the screens can be used singly, steps 114, 118, or in combination, step 116, to produce customizable fat-containing powders. In one embodiment, the overs from the initial screen can further be returned to the mill for a second milling step 106. Also, the twice milled overs from the initial screen can further be returned to the mill for a third, fourth, or more milling steps. Not being limited to just a second milling step. The screens used in multi-stage screening step 108 can include commercially available vibratory screens sized to accommodate the quantities of meat / plant-based food described herein. Screens can include wire mesh or plates with circular holes. FIGURE 2 is one embodiment to illustrate multi-stage screening including five screening stages 202, 204, 206, 208, and 210. It can be seen that each screening stage produces fines (212, 214, 216, 218, 220) and overs (222, 224, 226, 228, 230). The powder 232 ultimately produced can be any one of the fines 212, 214, 216, 218, 220 and overs 222, 224, 226, 228, 1606-P72WO -7- 230, or any combination of any one or more of the fines 212, 214, 216, 218, 220 and any one or more of the overs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230. It should be understood that there can be multiple powders produced, each powder having any one or more of the fines 212, 214, 216, 218, 220 and overs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230. For example, there can be as many powders as there are individual fines and overs. Generally, a powder can include a combination of some fines and overs. Each succeeding screening stage has a mesh size smaller than the screening stage preceding it. The first screening stage 202 has the largest mesh size, followed by the second screening stage 204, followed by the third screening stage 206, followed by the fourth screening stage 208, followed by the fifth screening stage 210, which has the smallest mesh size, which can be on the order of 0.125 mm. It is also worth noting that the fines from a preceding screening stage are screened further in the succeeding screening stage. The overs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230 can be used in one or more of the powders. In an embodiment, the overs 222 from the first screening stage are returned to the milling step 106. In addition, "overs" from any of the screening stages that precede a particularly desired "fines" size can further be returned to the mill for subsequent milling to increase the yield of "fines' for that particular screening step. Although FIGURE 2 shows five screening stages, the method can have fewer or more screening stages. The screening stages can use standardized mesh sizes. For example, any mesh size numbered 3 to 120 (holes per inch), inclusive of mesh numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 80, 100, and 120, which corresponds to hole sizes from 6.3 mm to 0.125 mm. In an embodiment, five screening stages can use mesh numbers 6, 8, 16, 30, and 120, corresponding to 3.350 mm, 2.360 mm, 1.180 mm, 0.600 mm, and 0.125 mm, respectively. However, any number of successively smaller mesh sizes can be used. A powder 232 is any one or more of the fines 212, 214, 216, 218, 220 and overs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230. Generally, a powder 232 is a combination of one or more fines and one or more overs. A powder can contain a percent of particles in the range of 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm. The selection of fines and overs may take the following into consideration, 1) the functional properties and nutritional values that the different particle sizes contribute to end- 1606-P72WO -8- use consumer products; 2) the ability to generate predictable end-use product behaviors (e.g., surface browning during cooking, spreadability characteristics, increased shelf-life) and sensory attributes (e.g., mouthfeel, flavor, moistness); and 3) the utilization of defined blends of specific particle sizes and / or meat / food commodity types to yield unique nutritional, functional and sensory-enhanced food products. In one embodiment, a powder comprises at least 8% by weight of particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm. The powder can be produced from 50 / 50 beef trim, uncured pork belly or smoked pork belly, or any other meat / food starting material. In one embodiment, a powder comprises at least 10% by weight of particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm. The powder can be produced from 50 / 50 beef trim, uncured pork belly or smoked pork belly. In one embodiment, a powder comprises at least from 8% by weight to 10% by weight of particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm. The powder can be produced from 50 / 50 beef trim, uncured pork belly or smoked pork belly. In an embodiment, the protein content of the particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm is from about 4% by weight to about 7% by weight. The protein is from 50 / 50 beef trim. In an embodiment, the protein content of the particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm is from about 6% by weight to about 14% by weight. The protein is from uncured pork belly. In an embodiment, the protein content of the particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm is from about 7% by weight to about 12% by weight. The protein is from smoked pork belly. In an embodiment, the fat content of the particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm is from about 40% by weight to about 62% by weight. The fat is from 50 / 50 beef trim. In an embodiment, the fat content of the particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm is from about 22% by weight to about 35% by weight. The fat is from uncured pork belly. In an embodiment, the fat content of the particles from 0.125 mm to 0.6 mm is from about 16% by weight to about 27% by weight. The fat is from smoked pork belly. Referring to FIGURES 3-7, the mill 300 includes a pair of opposed rollers 302, 304, mounted parallel to each other. Each roller 302, 304 includes alternating teeth and valleys around the circumference, so that the teeth of one roller become engaged with the valleys of the opposite roller. Teeth and valleys extend in straight parallel lines across the length of each 1606-P72WO -9- roller. The length of rollers 302, 304 can vary based on designed capacity. Generally, the roller can be from one to several feet long, such as two, three, or four feet long, for example. When the teeth of roller 302 intermesh within the valleys of the opposite roller 304, there are gaps between the surfaces of the teeth with the surfaces of the corresponding valleys of the opposed roller 304, such that the faces and flanks of the teeth of the rollers do not touch. Each roller can be independently powered so that neither roller relies on contact between the teeth and valleys to cause rotation. The cross-sectional shape of the rollers 302, 304 is shown in FIGURE 6. Rollers 302, 304 have a generally cylindrical shape with longitudinal teeth 306. Adjacent teeth are separated by a valley 308, which is nearly double the width of a tooth 306. As illustrated in FIGURE 6, the rollers 302, 304 rotate in opposite directions with the teeth 306 of one roller fitting within the valleys 308 of the opposite roller, but, still leave the gap 322 between the teeth 306 and the valleys 308, and the flank or sides of teeth of one roller also do not touch the sides of the teeth of the opposite roller. Referring to FIGURE 6, the gap 322 between teeth on one roller and the valleys 308 on the opposite roller can be adjustable. The gap 322 between the opposed rollers 302, 304 can be narrowed to reduce the size of fat particles being produced. Conversely, widening the gap 322 between the rollers 302, 304 can produce larger particles. As examples, the gap 322 can be between about 1 / 32 inches to about 1 inch wide. In one embodiment, the radius 318 from the center of both rollers 302, 304 is about 5 inches, and the length of both rollers 302, 304 is about 36 inches. However, for rollers greater than about 36 inches in length, the radius of the roller is increased in relation to the increase in roller length to withstand radial loads from the weight of the roller and forces acting perpendicular to the rotational axis of the roller. In one embodiment, there are 15 teeth and 15 valleys on the circumference of each roller 302, 304. The number of teeth and valleys corresponds to the radius of the roller. Therefore, the number of teeth and valleys increases in relation to an increase in the radius of the roller. However, the number of teeth is always equal to the number of valleys, regardless of the roller radius. 1606-P72WO -10- The valleys 308 lie on a radius equal to radius 318 minus the teeth height. Additionally, the valleys have sides that are angled about 60 degrees. In one embodiment, the exterior surfaces of the rollers are designed without sharp corners or edges. For example, teeth 306 have a radius of 0.125 inches at the corners 310 and 312. Similarly, valleys 308 have a radius of 0.125 inches at the corners 314 and 316. In one embodiment, the mill 300 breaks apart the fat material from the meat pieces intovarious sizes. At specified temperatures, such as below -6 a fine powder comprising fat isproduced by the milling step 106. The fine powders produced from each screening is not just fat, but a combination of fat and lean of differing ratios. The milled product exits the mill 300 and can be collected in numerous ways. In one embodiment, the milled product may be deposited onto one or more vibratory sieves, step 108. A vibratory sieve is an apparatus that can separate particles of different sizes by allowing the smaller particles to pass through a mesh screen of a particular size, while the mesh screen does not allow the larger particles size to pass through. In step 108, a vibratory sieve may comprise a single screen or a plurality of stacked screens wherein the topmost screen is the first to receive product from the mill and has the largest hole sizes, and the lowest screen has the smallest hole sizes. Alternatively, instead of stacking screens, the screens may be arranged in series. The first screen in the series has the largest hole sizes, and the last screen has the smallest hole sizes. EXAMPLE 1. Particle Size Distributions of Meat Samples Samples used in this example were generated in a process described in association with FIGURE 1. The dicing step 102 generally produced cubes of approximately 1 inch. The cooling step 104 used a freezer temperature of - time in the freezer was 10 minutes or less. A total of 46 Whirl-Pak® bags of frozen meat fines and overs were manufactured. These were stored in a freezer at about -10 F and then transferred to a facility to perform particle sizing analysis. The frozen samples were generated from diced 50 / 50 beef trim, uncured pork belly and smoked pork belly raw materials using the meat processing system of FIGURE 1. For these manufacturing runs, a single-deck vibratory 1606-P72WO -11- screen apparatus fitted with screen mesh size series of 15, 10, 8, 5 or 3 mm was utilized to generate the fines and overs. After receipt at the facility, the samples were stored at about - Thirteen of thereceived meat powder (fines) samples were selected for particle size determination. The samples selected represented one sample of each starting raw material from screen sizes of 15, 10, 5 and 3 mm. Additionally, one sample described as double milling using a 10 mm screen was analyzed. This 50 / 50 beef trim sample was processed using a 10 mm vibratory screen. The particles collected on this screen ("overs" greater than 10 mm) were passed through the roller mill a second time and re-screened (10 mm). A RO-TAP® sieve shaker unit was used to shake frozen powders through a set of six sieves of sizes 3.350 mm, 2.360 mm, 1.180 mm, 0.600 mm, 0.125 mm, and 0 mm. Whirl-Pak® bags of the frozen samples were manually broken up while in the -20 Fwalk-in freezer by hand massaging of each bag to provide non-clumped powders. The RO- TAP® unit was set up immediately outside of the freezer (50 F) room and the bag of frozen powder sample was weighed on a digital scale and emptied into the top (3.350 mm) sieve. The RO-TAP® was set to 3 minutes of rotary shaking to afford sufficient separation of particles and upon completion of this time, the weight of product captured on the top surface of each progressively smaller sieve was recorded; this recovered weight was used to calculate the percentage that each sieve sub-fraction contributed to the original sample weight. This process was conducted as rapidly as possible to ensure that frozen particles did not thaw and clump before or during shaking. Meat fractions collected on each screen were placed into labeled small Whirl-Pak® bags and placed back into the -20 F freezer until they could be sent to a commercial laboratory for proximate composition analysis. 2. Proximate Composition Determination of Fractionated Meat Powder Samples 13 original meat powder samples selected were labeled. A total of 65 sub-sample bags was generated (13 x 5 = 65). These bagged frozen sub-samples were packaged in insulated coolers with ice packs and mailed to a commercial analytical laboratory for determination of protein, fat, moisture, and ash (proximate composition) using the following AOAC-recognized analytical protocols: 1606-P72WO -12- Protein (Kjeldahl AOAC 981.10) Fat (Soxtec AOAC 991.36) Moisture (AOAC 950.46) Ash (AOAC 920.153) Upon receiving proximate compositional results, the data was compiled into a single spreadsheet based on original meat samples provided (based on different starting meat material and screen size used to manufacture the original meat powders), sub-sample fractions from each original sample, and finally the proximate composition of each sub-sample fraction. 3. Sub-sample Fraction Percentage of Original Samples Recovered from RO- TAP Sieves Table 1 depicts the fractional weight of recovered sub-samples (i.e., on the series of RO-TAP sieves) for each original meat powder sample that was generated using different sized vibratory screens for 50 / 50 beef trimmings as the starting material. Frozen shattered beef processed using 15 and 10 mm vibratory screens demonstrated 78% and 86% contribution by particles collected on the 3.350 mm RO-TAP® sieve, respectively (meaning that collected particles were equal to or greater than 3.350 mm in dimension). The remainder of the total weight of the original sample was approximately evenly distributed across the other four decreasing sieve sizes at 3-7% each. Beef portions generated using the two smallest vibratory screens (5 and 3 mm) predictably contained about 5% by weight of particles equal to greater than 3.350 mm. For the 5 mm and 3 mm vibratory screen samples, the 1.180 mm sieve collected 43% and 49% of the product weight, respectively. Of note for these two screen sizes, the particle size components by % weight are distributed in a different manner, with a higher percentage of particles of falling within the less than 3.350 to equal to or greater than 1.180 mm range (24%) for the 5 mm screen and within the less than 1.180 to equal to or greater than 0.600 mm range for the 3 mm screened product. For both smaller screen sizes, 12-15% of the collected product was found on the smallest 0.125 mm sieve, meaning that this product fraction would be made up of particles from less than 0.600 to equal to or greater than 0.125 mm in dimension. Virtually no material was recovered on the solid sieve (0 mm) for any of the samples tested in this entire study. 1606-P72WO -13- Table 1 (50 / 50 Beef Trim Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 15mm 10mm (Powder Fines) 10mm (Double Milled) 5mm 3mm90 2 3 4 6 In summary, when using the two largest vibratory screen sizes to process 50 / 50 beef trimmings, 60-85% by weight of the fines passing through these screens are of size of equal to or greater than 3.350 mm. As screening size is reduced to 5 mm or less, the dimensional make- up of the fines demonstrates particle sizes of less than 3.350 mm for 95% of collected material, including 12-15% contribution by the very smallest particle size cut-off of 0.125 mm. It is interesting to note from the one 50 / 50 beef trim sample that was double-milled using the 10 mm vibratory screen, that a significant particle size reduction across sieve sizes was observed. For this sample, the % weight contribution by equal to or greater than 3.350 mm particles decreased to 60%, while the product fraction collected on the 2.360 mm and 1.180 mm sieves increased to approximately 15%, which is a 3-fold increase in % weight compared to single- pass separation using the 10 mm vibratory screen. Table 2 depicts the fractional weight of recovered RO-TAP® sub-samples for each original meat powder sample that was generated using different sized vibratory screens for uncured pork bellies as the starting material. In general, similar results are observed compared to the previously discussed 50 / 50 beef trimmings. However, the uncured pork belly samples separated using the larger 15 mm and 10 mm screens showed reduced weight percentage of the 3.350 mm sieve material, particularly for the 10 mm screen sample (almost 30% less than the corresponding beef trim sample). The uncured pork belly % weight fractions from the 10 mm screen using the 2.360 to 0.125 mm RO-TAP® sieves correspondingly increased, reaching 18-20% for the 2.360 mm and 1.180 mm sub-samples, respectively. Like for the 50 / 50 beef trim samples, the contributing weight percentages of products using the 5 mm and 3 mm vibratory 1606-P72WO -14- screens were distributed across the various sieve sizes, but the sub-samples collected by the 1.180 mm sieve predominated with 40% and 48% overall contribution by weight. Table 2 (Uncured Pork Belly Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 15mm 10mm (Powder Fines) 5mm 3mm7 4 2 7 0 Table 3 depicts the fractional weight of recovered RO-TAP® sub-samples for each original meat powder sample that was generated using different sized vibratory screens for smoked pork bellies as the starting material. The different fraction by weight breakdown based upon recovered particle sizes using the decreasing sieve series for smoked pork bellies shows similar results seen for the uncured pork bellies (Table 2). Table 3 (Smoked Pork Belly Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 15mm 10mm (Powder Fines) 5mm 3mm6 5 0 1 7 4. Proximate Composition of Meat Powder Fractions for Processed Meat Types using Different Vibratory Screen Sizes Within each meat commodity input type, differences in percent protein content of particle size fractions (collected on different sieves) of the meat powder streams generated 1606-P72WO -15- with different sized vibratory screens were observed. For 50 / 50 beef trim powders (Table 4), protein percentage of fractions ranged from 4.6-10.2percent depending on vibratory screen size and specific sieve fraction analyzed. Powders generated using the 15 mm screen showed the highest protein level in the largest particle size fraction (3.350 mm sieve) at 10 percent, but dropping to 4.5-7 percent in the remaining sieve fractions. Using the other three screen sizes (10 mm, 5 mm, and 3 mm) to separate 50 / 50 beef trim powders, little differences were noted in protein concentration across the five sieve sizes, resulting in protein concentrations of 5-7.8 percent. When beef trim was double-milled and separated using the 10 mm vibratory screen, notably higher protein concentrations were realized (ranging from 8.2-10.7percent) for fractions collected on all sieves except the smallest 0.125 mm sieve. Table 4 (50 / 50 Beef Trim Protein Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 3350 mm 2360 mm 1180 mm 0600 0125 mm6 1 8 7 4 Table 5 shows protein percentages for different sieve fractions using different vibratory screen sizes to generate powders from uncured pork bellies. Protein concentrations ranged in all fractions tested ranged from 6.5-15.9 percent. Generally, slightly higher protein levels (13.4-15.9 percent) were seen with the uncured pork belly powders generated using the smallest 3 mm screen. Interestingly, a steady trend for protein level reduction across diminishing sieve size in the 15 mm-separated powder sample occurred, from 13.3-6.5 percent. Table 5 (Uncured Pork Belly Protein Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 1606-P72WO -16-3.350 mm 2.360 mm 1.180 mm 0.600 mm 0.125 mm5 4 2 9 Protein content of sieve fractions collected from smoked pork belly material (Table 6) was similar to that seen for uncured pork bellies, ranging from 7.4-17.2 percent. Smoked pork belly powders were slightly higher in protein compared to uncured pork bellies for the 15 and 10 mm vibratory screened powders for most sieve fractions. Table 6 (Smoked Pork Belly Protein Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) m 5 3 2 9 It is interesting to directly compare the proximate compositional results of different commodity input materials processed using different vibratory screen sizes. Comparing protein concentrations of the sieve fractions for the three starting materials (Tables 7a-d), 50 / 50 beef trim contained approximately half or less of the concentration of protein as the two pork belly sample types at each sieve size. Table 7a (15mm Screen) 1606-P72WO -17- ROTAP Material 1606-P72WO -18- Uncured 5 Table 7b (10mm Screen) ROTAP 1606-P72WO -19- Uncured 8 Table 7c (5mm Screen Size) ROTAP Mtril 1606-P72WO -20- Uncured 6 Table 7d (3 mm Screen Size) ROTAP 1606-P72WO -21- Uncured 6 B. FAT composition: The proximate fat compositions observed in different sieve fractions from 50 / 50 trim separated using different vibratory screen sizes are shown in Table 8. For single-milled trim powders, fat percentages ranged from 44-70 percent across all screen sizes and sieve fractions. Higher fat levels were observed in the 2.360 mm fractions for 15 mm and 10 mm screened trim compared to the 3.350 mm sieve, reaching 70 and 68 percent fat respectively. Fat 1606-P72WO -22- percentages for the 0.600 and 0.125 mm sieve samples generated using the small vibratory screens were up to 18 percent higher than seen in the 15 and 10 mm screened product. Table 8 (50 / 50 Beef Trim Fat Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 3.350 mm 2.360 mm 1.180 mm 0.600 mm 0.125 mm2 1 9 2 6 Fat percentages observed of sieve fractions from uncured pork bellies Table 9 demonstrated markedly lower values compared to 50 / 50 beef trim and ranged from 23-49 percent across screen and sieve sizes. The 3.350 mm and 2.360 mm sieves for 15 mm screens contained 49 and 45 percent fat, respectively, decreasing steadily to 24 percent fat for the 0.125 mm sieve. The smallest 3 mm screen resulted in all sieve fractions falling within a 29-30 percent fat range. Table 9 (Uncured Pork Belly Fat Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) m 2 1 5 4 1606-P72WO -23- Fat percentage for smoked pork belly sieve fractions Table 10 were different compared to uncured pork belly powders. Across all screen sizes and sieve fractions, fat level ranged from 16-41 percent. Highest relative fat levels of up to 20 percent difference were observed for the 0.600 mm and 0.125 mm sieve fractions of powders generated using the two smallest screen sizes. Decreasing the vibratory screen size from 10 mm to 5 mm large increases in fat percentage for the 0.600 mm and 0.125 mm sieve fractions. Table 10 (Smoked Pork Belly Fat Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 3.350 mm 2.360 mm 1.180 mm 0.600 mm 0.125 mm15mm 3621 3813 3421 1619 1661 10mm 4 5mm 4 3mm 2 Comparing the fat content of input material types separated using four screen sizes Tables 11a-11d, 50 / 50 beef trim contains much higher fat percentages for all sieve fractions across all screen sizes (fat levels ranging from 44-70 percent) compared to the two pork types. More fat level variability for 50 / 50 beef trim was seen in the 15 mm separated powders, with levels ranging from 50-70 percent across sieve size fractions. Generally, the two pork belly powder types were fairly similar in fat percentages across fraction sizes. Table 11a (15 mm Screen Size) ROTAP 1606-P72WO -24- Uncured 5 Table 11b (10mm Screen Size) 1606-P72WO -25- ROTAP Material 1606-P72WO -26- Uncured 1 Table 11c (5mm Screen Size) ROTAP Material 1606-P72WO -27- Uncured 2 Table 11d (3mm Screen Size) ROTAP Mtril 1606-P72WO -28- Uncured 5 C. MOISTURE composition: The moisture percentages for 50 / 50 beef trim powder fractions generated using different vibratory screen sizes are shown in Table 12. Small sieve fractions (0.600 mm and 0.125 mm) for the 15 mm and 10 mm screened product were 41-47 percent moisture compared to 29-37 percent for the powders produced by using the smaller screens (5mm and 3mm). Across screen sizes, the 2.360 mm and 1.180 mm sieve fractions were typically the lowest in moisture content (21-35 percent). Table 12 (50 / 50 Beef Trim Moisture Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) m 0 1606-P72WO -29- 10mm 30.08 27.07 29.95 33.98 43.20 9 3 1 Moisture content for uncured pork belly powder sieve fractions ranged from 36-69 percent, mostly influenced by screen size used in separation Table 13. Separation using the 15 mm vibratory screen yielded 3.350 mm and 2.360 mm sieve fractions with 38 and 36 percent moisture, respectively. For this screen size, fractions collected using the 1.180 mm and smaller sieves contained much higher moisture content (60-66 percent composition). The powder generated using the 10 mm screen demonstrated up to a 22 percent jump in moisture content between the 1.180 mm and 0.125 mm sieve fractions. Table 13 (Uncured Pork Belly Moisture Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 211 12 m9 6 1 9 A wide range of moisture levels were determined in smoked pork belly powders (37- 80 percent) as shown in Table 14. However, only small to modest variations in moisture content were observed across all screen sizes for the 3.350 mm, 2.360 mm, and 1.180 mm sieve fractions (ranging from 37-52 percent). When looking at the small 0.600 mm and 0.125 mm fractions for all screen sizes, moisture content increased compared to the larger sieve sizes, 1606-P72WO -30- particularly for the samples generated using 15 mm and 10 mm screens (48 to 80 percent and 47-71 percent increase in final moisture levels, respectively. Table 14 (Smoked Pork Belly Moisture Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 3.350 mm 2.360 mm 1.180 mm 0.600 mm 0.125 mm9 1 3 5 Tables 15a-15d compares the moisture content of different sieve fractions from three input material types separated using four vibratory screen sizes. Moisture percentages were lower for 50 / 50 beef trim powders, ranging from 21-47 percent, compared to the two pork belly powder samples (ranging from 44-80 percent) across sieve size fractions. Pork belly powder moisture contents tended to be the highest for the smallest sieve fraction. Also, for both pork belly powder types, moisture content of all sieve fractions tended to be higher for powders generated using the small 5 mm and 3 mm vibratory screens. Table 15a (15mm Screen) ROTAP 1606-P72WO -31- 50 / 50 Beef 2 Table 15b (10mm Screen Size) ROTAP 1606-P72WO -32- 50 / 50 Beef 8 1606-P72WO -33- Table 15c (5mm Screen Size) ROTAP Material Moisture 1606-P72WO -34- 50 / 50 Beef 3 Table 15d (3 mm Screen Size) ROTAP Material Moisture 1606-P72WO -35- 50 / 50 Beef 0 D. ASH composition: The percent ash content of 50 / 50 beef trim powder sieve fractions across different vibratory screen sizes are show in Table 16. Although a bit variable, ash content ranged from 0.2-0.5 percent for all samples evaluated. For uncured pork belly powders, more compositional variability was evident across screen types and sieve fractions Table 17. The ash percentage range for all samples evaluated was 0.24-1.05 percent, with the lowest values associated with 15 mm screened powders at the three smallest sieve fraction sizes and the highest ash percentage values seen for 3 mm screened samples at all sieve sizes. Table 18 compares ash percentages for smoked pork belly powders, with a range of 1.0-2.6 percent noted (comparatively higher than uncured pork belly samples). Table 16 (50 / 50 Beef Trim Ash Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) m 9 2 1606-P72WO -36- 10mm Double Milled 0.45 0.44 0.47 0.45 N / A 8 6 Table 17 (Uncured Pork Belly Ash Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) 3.350 mm 2.360 mm 1.180 mm 0.600 mm 0.125 mm0 0 5 6 Table 18 (Smoked Pork Belly Ash Wt. % of Particles Across Screen Sizes) m 9 2 1 2 Tables 19a-9d shows a direct comparison of ash percentage of different sieve size fractions of the three meat powder types generated by different sized screens. The ash content of 50 / 50 beef trim for all sieve sizes and all screen sizes was less than 0.4 percent and virtually the same for all samples evaluated. The same can be said for uncured pork belly samples, with sieve fraction percentages of 0.5-0.8 for 15 mm, 10 mm, and 5 mm screened powders. The smallest 3 mm screened uncured pork powder demonstrated a 0.9-1.1 percent ash range. 1606-P72WO -37- Notably greater ash content was observed for smoked pork belly sieve samples from all screen sizes, ranging from 1.0-2.7 percent. Table 19a (15mm Screen Size) ROTAP Material 1606-P72WO -38- Smoked 9 Table 19b (10mm Screen Size) ROTAP Material 1606-P72WO -39- Smoked 9 Table 19c (5mm Screen Size) ROTAP Mt il 1606-P72WO -40- Smoked 1 Table 19d (3mm Screen Size) ROTAP 1606-P72WO -41- Smoked 7 CONCLUSIONS From 60% to 85% of the meat powder weights collected for all three commodity types using the two largest (15 and 10 mm) vibratory screens was associated with particle sizes 1606-P72WO -42- greater 3.350 mm. Smaller opening (5 mm and 3 mm) screens resulted in sub-sample fractional weight percentages dominated by small particle size ranges, with the highest weight percentages for all commodity types collected on the 1.180 mm sieve (40-48% of total powder weights). As demonstrated with a 10 mm screen used to separate frozen and milled 50 / 50 beef trim, the larger sized "overs" collected on the vibratory screen during the first pass of shattered meat stream from the roller mill can be passed through the mill a second time to increase the contributing weight percentages of smaller particle size sieve fractions (for 50 / 50 beef by approximately 25 percent), providing a means of optimizing yields of targeted fine sizes and possibly honing specific functional characteristics of end-products generated by the system. By using different combinations of vibratory screen sizes, plus the option for multiple- milling screened product streams to increase yields of finer particle sizes, the manufacturer is able to operate a system for generating frozen meat powders and meat overs with a high degree of controllability and an ability to customize end-use product applications. Uncured and smoked pork belly sieve fractions from powders collected with all vibratory screen sizes demonstrated a higher protein percentage (generally 7-10 percent) compared to 50 / 50 beef trim powders. As sieve sizes became smaller, the fractions collected showed slight reductions in percent protein composition. These results are used for controlling process economics, functional food manufacturing characteristics, and nutritive considerations for various food applications. The 50 / 50 beef trim demonstrated the highest fat percentages for all powder fractions collected on different sized sieves regardless of vibratory screen size used (50-68 percent fat composition). Both types of pork belly powder samples showed lower fat percentages (16-49 percent composition) across all screen sizes and sieve fractions collected. The two smallest sieve fractions (0.600 mm and 0.125 mm) resulted in smoked pork belly powders with fat percentages of 16-18 percent for 15 mm and 10 mm vibratory screened products and 25-36 percentage for 5 mm and 3 mm screened products. As fat greatly impacts sensory and functional properties of foods, along with nutritional and end-product shelf life impacts, these results allow customization of ingredients and blends for specific food product applications. 1606-P72WO -43- Notable differences across powders generated using different commodity types were observed in the percent moisture composition of sieve-generated fractions. Regardless of vibratory screen sizes used to manufacture the meat powders, moisture percent composition rose to the highest levels (50-80 percent) in the uncured and smoked pork belly fractions collected with 0.600 and 0.125 mm sieves. Understanding and manipulating moisture content of meat / food powder fractions for defined food applications can contribute to observed functional characteristics and stability of the end-products. While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 1606-P72WO -44-

Claims

CLAIMS The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A method of making fat-containing meat powders, comprising: dicing a fat-containing material into individual pieces; cooling the pieces within an environment maintained at a temperature of -and for at least 5 minutes to lower a temperature of the pieces; before the temperature of the pieces rises substantially, milling the frozen pieces between a pair of rollers producing milled material; and multi-stage screening of the milled material, wherein each stage of screening separates overs retained on a screen and fines passing through the screen; each stage of screening after a first screen further separates the fines from a preceding screen using a screen having a mesh size smaller than the preceding screen, wherein the fines and / or the overs collected from one or more screens are used separately or combined to produce customizable fat-containing meat powders, wherein each of the fines and / or overs from a screen comprises a defined percentage of particle sizes down to at least 0.125 mm.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the overs or fines collected from a screen further includes particles greater than 0.600 mm.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the overs or fines collected from a screen further includes particles greater than 1.180 mm.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the overs or fines collected from a screen further includes particles greater than 2.360 mm.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature of the pieces, milled material, overs, and fines is prevented from rising above -2 C (28 ) during the milling and screening steps. 1606-P72WO -45-6. The method of claim 1, further comprising milling the overs from the initial screening more than one time to increase the yield of particle sizes down to at least 0.125 mm.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the fat-containing material includes beef cuts, boneless beef trimming, uncured pork belly, smoked pork belly, or other meat from an animal species.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method does not include a freeze drying step, a fat rendering step, a dehydration step, a heating step, a moisture removal or addition step, and a step for introducing antioxidants.

9. A method of making fruit or vegetable powders, or similar source material including but not limited to edible fungi, comprising: cooling fruit or vegetable pieces within an environment maintained at a temperature of- and for at least 5 minutes to lower a temperature of the pieces;before the temperature of the pieces rises substantially, milling the frozen pieces between a pair of rollers producing milled material; and multi-stage screening of the milled material, wherein each stage of screening separates overs retained on a screen and fines passing through the screen; each stage of screening after a first screen further separates the fines from a preceding screen using a screen having a mesh size smaller than the preceding screen, wherein the fines and / or the overs collected from one or more screens are used separately or combined to produce customizable fruit or vegetable powders, wherein each of the fines and / or overs from a screen comprises a defined percentage of particle sizes down to at least 0.125 mm.

10. A meat powder, comprising: at least 1% by weight of particles ranging in size from 0.125 mm to 0.600 mm, wherein the particles include fat and / or lean meat.

11. The meat powder of claim 10, made from beef trim, uncured pork bellies, smoked pork bellies, or any combination thereof. 1606-P72WO -46-12. The meat powder of claim 10, comprising greater than 40% by weight of particles ranging in size from 0.125 mm to 0.600 mm made from beef trim.

13. The meat powder of claim 12, comprising about 48% by weight of particles ranging in size from 0.125 mm to 0.600 mm.

14. The meat powder of claim 10, comprising greater than 25% by weight of particles ranging in size from 0.125 mm to 0.600 mm made from uncured pork bellies.

15. The meat powder of claim 14, comprising about 32% by weight of particles ranging in size from 0.125 mm to 0.600 mm.

16. The meat powder of claim 10, comprising greater than 50% by weight of particles ranging in size from 0.125 mm to 0.600 mm made from smoked pork bellies.

17. The meat powder of claim 16, comprising about 56% by weight of particles ranging in size from 0.125 mm to 0.600 mm.

18. A method of making a meat powder, comprising: selecting two or more of an overs or a fines or both, wherein the overs and the fines are individual fractions, each of the fractions being collected from screening, and combining the two or more of the overs or the fines or both to achieve a predetermined weight percent of particles of a size down to 0.125 mm, a predetermined weight percent of fat, a predetermined weight percent of lean, a predetermined weight percent of moisture, or a combination thereof. 1606-P72WO -47-

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