Ground meat is the starting material for a host of products, including patties, sausages, meatballs, delicatessen meats, and chili. Even some whole-muscle facsimile products such as Philadelphia-style sandwich steaks and Salisbury steaks are made from ground meat.

The purpose of grinding is to improve product consistency and enhance the value and eating quality of low-value meat cuts, such as trim. To keep up with processor demands for better quality ground meat, grinder manufacturers are constantly improving the operation of their machines.

Scott Steinman, Processing Equipment Manager of Koch Equipment LLC, Kansas City, MO, says his technical team often faces issues of heat rise and product handling when dealing with grinders.

"Heat rise results from multiple grindings and situations in which a dull blade and plate (the grinder/cutter set) are not appropriately matched," Steinman explains. "When using a traditional grinder with a standard head, the product must go through the grinding process at least two times, which increases handling of the product. In addition, the cutter set must feature a good blade/plate match to achieve the highest possible product quality."

Koch also recently made improvements to its grinders. The Koch/MADO grinder has a patented transport feed and cutting system that features three augers: Two feed augers-constructed of high-density, polyoxymethylene plastic with a hardened stainless steel shaft-and a processing auger manufactured of the same materials. The smooth-surface feed augers work together to equally and gently distribute the product while avoiding metal-on-metal contact with the housing as they carry the product to the head of the grinder/cutting set, resulting in less pressure and friction on the product and thereby minimizing heat rise.

"This patented transport feeding and cutting system results in bright, clear particle definition, indicating that the cell structure of the meat remains intact," Steinman adds. "Combined with a unique patented design transfer housing, the product flows continuously into the processing auger with virtually no air pockets."

"The processing auger is engineered to drive (or operate) the knives and compress the product for cutting. The machine's three augers keep the meat flowing forward with less back pressure on the product and absolutely no backflow even after producing tons of product," Steinman explains. The polyoxymethylene plastic coupled with the stainless steel shaft also results in reduced bacteria and metal contaminates compared to older style augers made of cast iron, nickel, and silver plating.

The auger housing on common grinders features flights (grooves) ground into the housing in order to prevent product backflow. The auger housing on the Koch/MADO grinder is completely smooth. The necessary flights are cut out of a stainless steel pipe (the "basket"), which fits over the auger and into the completely smooth housing. The basket will not allow meat to travel backward due to pressure. Meat is always moving forward to eliminate air pockets and to reduce imbalances of the auger and housing. Fewer air pockets mean less wear and tear on the knives and plates. Because the auger and basket assembly are totally removable, the completely smooth housing is easily cleaned and sanitized, with no grooves to trap microbial buildup.

"These features combined have reduced processing time, improved particle definition, minimized machinery setup and sanitation, reduced bacteria counts, and produced a quality product with minimal temperature rise," Steinman emphasizes.

The Koch/MADO line represents current, leading-edge state-of-the-art meat grinders. Future modifications might include designs with totally enclosed structures to minimize exposure of product to outside elements, such as air and human touch as well as combination machines that will bring additional processing functions, Steinman says.

Excerpted with permission from Meat Processing, July 2005.
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