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Method for modifying ph within meat productsRelated Patent Categories: Food Or Edible Material: Processes, Compositions, And Products, Internal Application Of Nontransitory Fluent Material To Solid Edible By Injecting, Artificial Pore Formation Or External PressureMethod for modifying ph within meat products description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060141109, Method for modifying ph within meat products. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/379,761, filed Mar. 5, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. ______. The Applicant claims priority from this prior application under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120. The entire content of this prior application is also incorporated herein by this reference. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to meat processing systems in which fluids are injected into meat products. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for injecting pH modifying materials into meat products. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Meat processing operations include a wide variety of processing steps for preparing meat products for consumers. After slaughter, the animal carcass is cleaned, chilled, and then passed on to trimming operations in which large cuts of meat such as steaks, roasts, and filets are separated from the carcass. Special processing steps may be applied to the material left after the initial trimming operations to recover additional lean meat from the trimmings. [0004] It may be desirable in some meat processing operations to effect a change in the pH of the meat products by adding appropriate pH modifying processing aids. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,795 discloses a process for modifying the pH of meat products using pH modifying gases, particularly ammonia gas and carbon dioxide gas, for the purpose of reducing microbe counts in the meat products. The pH modification disclosed in this patent is accomplished by placing the pH modifying gas in contact with the surface of the meat product at a pressure above the vapor pressure of the gas at the temperature of the meat product. [0005] The process described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,795 may be applied to finely comminuted meat such as ground beef or to more coarsely comminuted meat such as steaks, roasts, or filets. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,387,426 and 6,142,067 both disclose other processes for applying a pH increasing materials to meat. The process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,426 is suited particularly for treating larger cuts of meat, while the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,067 is suited only for treating finely comminuted meat such as ground beef. [0006] The prior pH treatments described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,871,795, 6,142,067, and 6,387,426 apply the pH modifying agent at the surface of the material being treated. For example, the treatments disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,871,795 and 6,142,067 for finely comminuted or ground meat products apply the pH modifying material to the surface of the individual pieces of comminuted meat. The processes then increase the pressure on the meat product and pH increasing material and/or further comminute the meat product to distribute the pH modifying material. For larger or more coarsely comminuted cuts of meat such as steaks, roasts, or filets, the prior pH modification process shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,426 applies the pH modifying material to the surface of the meat and then drives the pH modifying material into the meat by increasing the pressure on the meat. [0007] The systems and methods set out in the above-described patents are effective for modifying the pH at the surface of the meat product and somewhat below the surface. Surface pH modification was emphasized because microbes are generally only present at the surface of the meat, and the purpose of the pH modification was mostly to reduce microbe counts. The prior pH modifying systems were generally not as effective at modifying the pH of the meat product beyond a thin surface layer on each respective piece of meat. Thus, the interior areas of larger cuts of meat such as steaks, roasts, filets, and larger carcass portions remain generally unaffected by the prior art pH treatments. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] The present invention encompasses methods for injecting or forcing an ammonia-based pH modifying material into the interior of a meat product. Adding the ammonia-based pH modifying material into the interior of the meat product preferably raises the pH at one or more points within the interior of the meat product to a pH above approximately 6.0. As used in this disclosure in the accompanying claims, an ammonia-based pH modifying material may be any material that, when added to a meat product, results in an ammonium hydroxide solution in the meat product. One preferred ammonia-based pH modifying material comprises aqueous ammonia (ammonium hydroxide solution). In the case of ammonium hydroxide solution, the desired solution is produced within the interior of the meat product directly as the ammonia-based pH modifying material is added. Another preferred ammonia-based pH modifying material comprises a gas including some ammonia gas fraction. In the case of ammonia gas, the desired ammonium hydroxide solution is produced in the meat product as the ammonia gas goes into solution in moisture associated with the meat product. [0009] In some forms of the invention, a buffering material may be injected into the interior of the meat product either before, during, or after injecting the ammonia-based pH modifying material. Such a buffering material may be particularly useful when the pH modifying material comprises ammonia gas or a concentrated ammonium hydroxide solution. [0010] A meat product treatment method according to the invention preferably includes inserting an injection conduit or needle into a meat product so that an opening or other fluid communication structure associated with the injection conduit is positioned within the interior of the meat product. Once the injection conduit is properly positioned within the interior of the meat product, the desired ammonia-based pH modifying material may be forced through the injection conduit and into the interior of the meat product through the fluid communication structure. Alternatively to openings such as those in hypodermic needles, the fluid communication structure associated with the injection conduit may include one or more sections of porous and permeable material through which the desired ammonia-based pH modifying material may flow in response to a suitable driving pressure. [0011] Once the ammonia-based pH modifying material is injected into the interior of the meat product, the meat product may be physically manipulated to help distribute the pH modifying material within the meat product. This manipulation may comprise increasing the pressure on the surfaces of the meat product or tumbling or massaging the meat product in a suitable device. The insertion and removal of the injection conduits also provide some manipulation to the meat product. [0012] In addition to injecting the ammonia-based pH modifying material into the interior of a meat product, forms of the invention may also include the step of injecting a suitable pH decreasing material into the interior of the meat product. This pH decreasing material may be injected through the same injection conduit used to inject the ammonia-based pH modifying material, or may be injected through a separate fluid injection device comprising an additional injection conduit and fluid communication structure associated with the additional injection conduit. Regardless of the manner in which the pH decreasing material is injected, the preferred pH decreasing material includes carbon dioxide gas or a solution of carbon dioxide gas dissolved in water (carbonic acid solution). Also, it should be noted that in forms of the invention in which pH increasing and pH decreasing materials are to be injected, either material may be injected first followed by the remaining material. The pH increasing and pH decreasing materials may also be injected simultaneously through separate injection conduits. [0013] One preferred form of the invention includes controlling the temperature of the meat product during the step of forcing or injecting the ammonia-based pH modifying material into the interior of the meat product. In particular, the invention includes maintaining the temperature of the meat product during injection at a temperature just above or perhaps even below the initial freezing temperature of the meat product, that is the temperature at which ice crystals begin to form in the meat product. The method may further include using an ammonium hydroxide solution as the ammonia-based pH modifying material and maintaining the temperature of the solution just above or even at or below the initial freezing temperature of the meat product during the step of forcing or injecting the material into the interior of the meat product. This temperature control of the meat product and the ammonia-based pH modifying material at the time of the injection increases the ability of the meat to hold the pH modifying material. Temperatures below the initial freezing temperature of the meat also allow the pH modifying material to be held in the meat product without immediately going into solution in the moisture within the meat product. Rather, the ice crystals in the meat product and injected pH modifying material may remain in the meat product until the temperature of the meat product is increased to the temperature at which the ice crystals melt. Only at this time does the pH modifying material combine with the previously solidified water in the meat product to increase the pH within the interior of the meat product. [0014] A treatment system embodying the principles of the invention may include a temperature control arrangement to provide the preferred temperature control of the meat product and the pH modifying material being injected into the meat product. The temperature control arrangement may include a prechilling device to refrigerate the meat products to the desired temperature before entering the injection device. A post-injection chilling device may also be included in the treatment system for controlling the temperature of the meat product after the desired injection. In some forms of the invention the post-injection chilling device may be operated to reduce the temperature of the meat product further below the initial freezing temperature of the meat product after the step of forcing the ammonia-based pH modifying material into the interior of the meat product. [0015] The present invention effects a pH change within the interior of the meat product being treated. This pH change in the interior of the meat product may be performed without affecting the pH at the surface of the meat product. However, if a pH modification is desired at the surface of the meat product, additional processes such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,871,795 or 6,387,426 may be used in addition to the treatment according to the present invention. [0016] These and other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, considered along with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0017] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a treatment system for injecting ammonia-based pH increasing materials into the interior of a meat product according to the present invention. [0018] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of an injection apparatus that may be used to perform methods embodying the principles of the invention. [0019] FIG. 3 is an enlarged section view showing an end portion of an injection conduit that may be used in the apparatus shown in FIG. 2. Continue reading about Method for modifying ph within meat products... Full patent description for Method for modifying ph within meat products Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Method for modifying ph within meat products patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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