Disclosed herein are systems for tenderizing meat samples using High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) comprising one or more transducer arrays. Further disclosed are methods and uses of the systems to tenderize meat samples.

The present invention relates to a process for continuous of drying or removing the water phase from wet material, such as organic material and for regulating or controlling the drying mechanisms using heating and drying components in a mechanic set up for drying material. The steam generated in the pre-dryer in the process is sufficient to sustain the energy need of the system as the different components of a meal factory are set up as a closed system.

Method and device for freezing food items in a gradual process, where the food items are first put through under-cooling before the food items are placed in a container or receptacle for freezing. The method and device are particularly suitable for freezing freshly slaughtered and bled fish for later processing.

The invention provides a fish processing device for cleaning blood and blood vessels from the spine of a fish, e.g. a salmon, after the visceral has been removed. A jet nozzle for spraying pressurized liquid and a movable suction device with a vacuum nozzle for entering the abdominal cavity of the fish serve in combination to clean the spine of the fish for blood and blood vessels. A controller controls an actuator for moving the vacuum nozzle to enter the abdominal cavity of the fish, and it is then moved in a first direction relative to the transport direction, until the first vacuum nozzle reaches an end of the abdominal cavity of said fish while sucking blood and blood vessels from the abdominal cavity along the spine of said fish. This is repeated by moving the vacuum nozzle in the opposite direction until reaching an opposite end of the abdominal cavity of said fish, where the vacuum nozzle exits the abdominal cavity. Preferably, the fish is continuously transported along with this cleaning process. Some embodiments comprise a second set of jet nozzle and suction device mounted downstream of the fish transport direction to allow even further cleaning of blood and blood vessels along the spine of the fish.

A cutting board and storage assembly being mountable in a boat for filleting fish on the boat includes a box that is mountable in a boat thereby facilitating the box to store objects for fishing. A knife sharpener is coupled to and is positioned within the box to sharpen a knife. A holder is coupled to the outer wall of the box to engage the blade of the knife for storing the knife. A lid is hingedly coupled to the box for closing the box and the lid has a top surface. The top surface defines a cutting board when the lid is closed and a fish, other object, can positioned on the cutting board for filleting or otherwise cutting.

Seafood products are made from squid by cleaning a squid by removing arms and tentacles from the squid; removing visceral content from the squid; steam cooking the squid; reducing the moisture content of the squid to between 40% by weight and 72% by weight; and shredding the squid after the step of reducing the moisture content. The shredded squid can be treated with marinades for flavor enhancement to create a variety of world cuisine tastes. The product is ready to serve without further cooking.

A fish feed-in device (1) for feeding fish (9) to a fish processing device (7) comprises a delivery conveying means (3) which is equipped with a controllable positioning drive (35) and a controllable conveying drive (36). The delivery conveying means (3) can be moved by the controllable positioning drive (35) into a first state (301) released by the fish (9) in a deposit space (11), into a second state (302) for grasping, centered holding and conveying of the fish (9) accessing said fish in the deposit space (11) and, in cooperation with the controllable conveying drive (36), into a third state (303) which releases the fish (9) after conveying at a fish delivery point (42) which is defined by a controlled delivery time with associated controlled fish delivery speed.

Moisture is retained in cooked or thawed food by adding to the food an aqueous suspension of animal muscle protein obtained from animal muscle tissue. The aqueous suspension is obtained by mixing comminuted animal muscle tissue with a food grade base to form an aqueous basic solution of animal muscle protein. The basic solution is mixed with a food grade acid to precipitate the protein in an aqueous composition. The precipitated protein then is comminuted to form an aqueous suspension of comminuted animal muscle protein.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for optical inspection of the opened abdominal cavity (10) of gutted fish (11), comprising a conveying device (12) configured for conveying the fish (11) along a processing line in the longitudinal direction, pivotable ventral flaps holding elements (17) configured for holding open the abdominal cavity (10) of the fish, at least one optical imaging system (21, 22, 23) arranged along the processing line, said optical imaging system being designed and configured to take at least one sequence of images of abdominal cavity regions of one of the fish (11) in each case, said sequence comprising a plurality of single images, at least one illumination device (24, 25) configured for illuminating the abdominal cavity regions in each case with light of a predetermined spectral composition, in each case at the times the single images are taken, an evaluation unit (26) configured to evaluate the image sequence according to prescribed quality parameters, said evaluation unit being designed to activate an ejection device to remove the relevant fish (11) from the processing line by ejecting it, should the evaluation reveal any deviation from the prescribed quality parameters. The invention further relates to a corresponding method.

A method and an apparatus for bringing fish to an under-cooled state by a sub-chilling process before processing, which prolongs rigor and allows processing of the fish in rigor providing better quality fish products.