Sliced ready-to-eat meat are provided by slicing ready-to-eat meat, disposing the meat into a flexible pouch with a modified atmosphere, and sealing the flexible pouch containing the meat. The flexible pouch is formed from material having: i) a thickness of from about 0.2 mils to about 2 mils; ii) an MVTR of about 1.2 g/100 in.sup.2/24 Hrs @ 100° F., 90% RH, 1 atm or less; iii) an 02 Gas Transmission Rate of about 0.8 cc/100 sqin/day or less at 1 atmosphere, 0% relative humidity and 73° F. or less; and iv) a clarity of about 80% or greater.

Implementations of the present invention extend to sanitary systems, methods, and devices configured to package food items with an even coating of an accurate amount of sanitizing agent, such as an antimicrobial agent. In one implementation, an exemplary system comprises a combination of air nozzles, anti-bacterial spray nozzles or spray headers, metering valves, and timers to achieve uniform distribution of an antimicrobial solution into a product package, and subsequently provide a uniform distribution of the antimicrobial solution to the food item.

The present disclosure provides a preservation method for room temperature logistics of fresh meat, e.g., pork, including the following steps: cutting a slaughtered pig into pieces while the pork is hot, and cooling to 0° C. to 4° C.; cooling again to −4° C. to −2° C. so that the meat pieces reach a chilled/slightly-frozen state; sub-packaging the chilled/slightly-frozen meat pieces; putting sub-packaging boxes with fresh meat pieces into an insulation foam box together with ice bags for packaging; and using a room temperature logistics vehicle for transportation and distribution, where, when in an ambient temperature is at least 24° C. (e.g., summer), transportation and distribution time is ≤36 h; and when the ambient temperature is less than 24° C. (e.g., spring, autumn, and winter), the transportation and distribution time is ≤72 h.

The disclosed apparatus, systems and methods relate to preparation, modified atmosphere and high pressure pasteurization steps for treatment of retail fresh protein preparations. Protein is prepared and subsequently packaged in a modified atmosphere lacking significant amounts of oxygen and then exposed to high-pressure pasteurization. During preparation the protein may be exposed to aqueous ozone further reducing the microbial load, extending shelf-life, and increasing product safety.

A process for processing animal protein product involves providing a meat product in a raw state having a core temperature of 32-34° F., slicing the meat product into a plurality of meat slices that are 1.0-9.0 mm thick, vacuum sealing a stack of the meat slices within a pouch with the meat slices of the stack stacked together in direct meat-to-meat contact, and cooking the vacuum sealed meat slices of the stack stacked together such that, during the cooking, the cut faces of the meat slices of the stack remain in contact with one another to essentially maintain the size and entire outer surface shape of the stack of meat slices to have the size and entire outer surface shape of the entirety of the meat forming the stack prior to the slicing.

A digital pressure canner and related methods of operation that provide for improved safety and consistency during a food canning process by reducing temperature over and undershoot. The digital pressure canner includes a digital control operating with inputs from digital sensors to accurately control the canning temperature during the canning process. By reducing over and undershoot of canning temperatures, foods within the pressure canner are maintained at temperatures sufficient to kill any bacteria or microorganisms for the entire canning cycle. In order to verify operation of the digital canner at sufficient canning temperatures, mechanical safety devices, for example, a pressure relief valve can be utilized in conjunction with digital controllers and sensors to provide audible and visual feedback to a user during the canning process.

Systems and methods of treating meat are provided. An example process extends the storage longevity of a meat, and the quality of the stored meat, by infusing an absorbent pad with a sodium chlorite solution, placing meat to be stored on the absorbent pad, sealing the meat and the absorbent pad in a vacuum-packing bag to produce vacuum-packed meat, and placing the vacuum-packed meat in a refrigeration unit at a temperature around −1.5 degrees Celsius. Example systems automate the example process with apparatus components. The concentration of the sodium chlorite solution vacuum-packed with the meat on an absorbent pad is formulated to greatly increase the refrigerated storage life of the meat, over conventional preservation, at a specific temperature range between −1.7 to 0.0 degrees Celsius, while maintaining freshness qualities of the meat in taste and smell, and color.

A package, system and method for packaging a fresh food product having an improved shelf-life. The system includes: one or more individual packages having a food product sealed therein, the packages are made from an oxygen permeable film having an oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of at least 10,000 cc (STP)/m.sup.2/day/1 atm at 23° C. at 0% relative humidity (RH) measured according to ASTM 3985. The individual packages are disposed in an interior space of a master pouch. The master pouch is made from a film having an oxygen barrier layer such that the OTR of the master pouch film is less than 20 cc (STP)/m.sup.2/day/1 atm at 23° C. at 0% RH measured according to ASTM 3985. The interior space of the master pouch includes a modified atmosphere having CO.sub.2 and has an oxygen concentration that is less than 0.1% by volume.

The method includes infusing oxygen scavenging elements within at least a portion of an interior surface layer of at least one first polymer layer of a pouch material, the pouch material including a gas impermeable layer connected to the at least one first polymer layer, enclosing a consumable item within the pouch material, and joining ends of the pouch material to form a sealed inner cavity, the sealed inner cavity containing the consumable item.

A process for processing animal protein product involves providing a meat product in a raw state having a core temperature of 32-34° F., slicing the meat product into a plurality of meat slices that are 1.0-9.0 mm thick, vacuum sealing a stack of the meat slices within a pouch with the meat slices of the stack stacked together in direct meat-to-meat contact, and cooking the vacuum sealed meat slices of the stack stacked together such that, during the cooking, the cut faces of the meat slices of the stack remain in contact with one another to essentially maintain the size and entire outer surface shape of the stack of meat slices to have the size and entire outer surface shape of the entirety of the meat forming the stack prior to the slicing.