Process and an apparatus adapted to carry out the process steps for producing sausage products, which includes the following steps: Comminuting raw meat with fat, adding seasoning, salt and further additives, mixing in order to produce a raw sausage mass, filling the raw sausage mass into sausage casings or boxes to form encased sausage, first warming and fermenting the formed encased sausage, second warming the encased sausage mass to a temperature of approximately 42° C., immediately subsequently cooling the cooked fermented sausage mass to −1° C. or below with vacuum being applied, and cutting of the dried and cooled encased sausage to obtain a cut and cooled sausage product.

Methods of reducing surface microbial contamination of a poultry carcass comprising subjecting the poultry carcass which has previously been scalded and de-feathered to hot water of between 50 C. and 95 C. for between 1 second and 120 seconds; and related apparatus.

A method and a device for separating shirred casing sticks, where a row R.sub.1 with a first number of consecutively disposed shined casing sticks in a shined casing stick storage is pushed in a first stroke cycle by a pusher along a sloped plane in the direction of a separation edge and one after the other over the separation edge and, once the last shined casing stick of the row has been pushed over the separation edge, the pusher moves back along the sloped plane and takes a row R.sub.2 with a second number of consecutively disposed shined casing sticks and pushes them in a further stroke cycle in the direction towards the separation edge, characterized in that a control device determines the filling level of shined casing sticks in the shined casing stick storage from the number of shined casing sticks pushed over the separation edge.

A method and a device for separating shirred casing sticks, where a row R.sub.1 with a first number of consecutively disposed shined casing sticks in a shined casing stick storage is pushed in a first stroke cycle by a pusher along a sloped plane in the direction of a separation edge and one after the other over the separation edge and, once the last shined casing stick of the row has been pushed over the separation edge, the pusher moves back along the sloped plane and takes a row R.sub.2 with a second number of consecutively disposed shined casing sticks and pushes them in a further stroke cycle in the direction towards the separation edge, characterized in that a control device determines the filling level of shined casing sticks in the shined casing stick storage from the number of shined casing sticks pushed over the separation edge.

In an embodiment, an apparatus for processing meat product and a method of using same is provided. A first station includes a scanner which scans features of a meat product. A second station side straps the meat product in accordance with information received from the scan of the features. The second station includes a support, and spaced-apart knifes disposed on opposite sides of the support. Each knife has an axis of rotation that is normal to the longitudinal axis of the support. A position of each knife relative to the support in a direction normal to the longitudinal axis can be varied. A controller is programmed to control movement of each knife in accordance with the information received from the scanner.

In an embodiment, an apparatus for processing meat product and a method of using same is provided. A first station includes a scanner which scans features of a meat product. A second station side straps the meat product in accordance with information received from the scan of the features. The second station includes a support, and spaced-apart knifes disposed on opposite sides of the support. Each knife has an axis of rotation that is normal to the longitudinal axis of the support. A position of each knife relative to the support in a direction normal to the longitudinal axis can be varied. A controller is programmed to control movement of each knife in accordance with the information received from the scanner.

An automated process assesses an amount of meat remaining on a trimmed animal carcass by generating image data of the carcass and processing the image data in a computer to calculate the amount of meat remaining on the carcass. The automated process can be carried out using an equation developed by counting pixels in an area of interest in images of a plurality of reference trimmed carcasses from which the remaining meat is thereafter scraped and weighed, to produce data points used to develop the equation which is then used to calculate the amount of meat remaining on a trimmed carcass as it proceeds down a processing line.

The present invention relates to a circulation box with an RFID chip, including an ID groove that is easy to waterproof and low in cost such that an RFID chip can be effectively inserted into the same, wherein in order to classify main transport lines, individual workbenches, products, and workers in a meat cuts processing factory, RFID chips are installed on circulation boxes so that the data can be managed integrally by matching with product IDs or worker IDs and, through the database management of the workers and the products on the basis of the RFID chips installed on the circulation boxes, it is possible to prevent data disruption caused by human management in various basic data during work and to control production per worker, thereby enabling quality control and hygiene management.

A carcass cutting system including a belt positioned below a conveyor such as to stabilise a carcass during imaging and/or cutting operations. An offset section of conveyor track in the region of the belt may be utilized to urge the carcass against the belt. Imagining may use an optical imaging system, an X-ray imaging system, a laser scanning camera, a time of flight camera or a Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry system. Imaging information may be used to calculate cutting paths and/or weight distribution of carcass portions. Cutting may be performed by a robotic cutter using a circular saw or a circular knife.

Some food pathogens are not well controlled by lethality treatments followed by refrigeration. A food processing facility according to this invention reduces the likelihood that food pathogens will be able to enter the food processing facility, or spread should they be able to enter. The food processing facility is divided into a plurality of area, with different areas having different allowed actions that can be taken on the food product, different rules and/or procedures for persons who are allowed entry, and/or different levels of cleanliness. The food processing facility includes a plurality of separate rooms for processing the food product, each including separate food processing machines, air handling systems, drain systems and/or often-used supplies and tools. Different air pressures within different areas limit the possible movement of airborne food pathogens. Sanitizing stations are placed between various ones of the different areas.