Accelerated processing of sheep/beef meat

Attempts over the years to speed up the slaughter and processing of meat have been limited by the impact on important meat quality traits, such as tenderness. There are numerous studies that have shown that if meat is prevented from shortening prior to rigor mortis then this will confer benefits by improving tenderness. These studies have given rise to Tenderstretch (pelvic suspension), Tendercut (skeletal separation), and Tenderbound (Pi-Vac Elasto-Pack system) systems. Both Tenderstretch and Tendercut are applied to whole carcases and are not suitable for hot-boned meat. By contrast Tenderbound is suitable for hot boned meat, but has had limited adoption commercially. In more recent times a novel technology, now called SmartStretch^TM/Smartshape^TM, was developed in New Zealand. This technology was also aimed at stretching hot boned meat, however there had been no scientific validation as to the potential benefits of using the technology and it was not ready for commercial application. As a consequence a large project was undertaken to validate the benefits of stretching hot-boned sheep meat pre-rigor. The project was extended to include hot-boned beef and to examine the benefits of shaping cold-boned sheep and beef primals. Initial R&D showed that the tenderness of hot-boned sheep topsides could be significantly improved by use of the SmartStretch^TM machine and this effect was confirmed in subsequent experiments with hot-boned sheep hindlegs. A series of experiments found that stretching hot-boned beef primals, such as the cuberoll and topside taken from cull cows, had little impact on meat quality. By contrast experimentation on young prime cattle showed that stretching hot-boned rostbiffs could reduce shear force, verifying the value of the technology. In addition to the tenderness benefits it appeared that SmartStretch^TM technology had no detrimental affects on meat colour. During the project the technology underwent several modifications in response to feedback from the project team and the durability of the rubber insert was dramatically improved. Commercial interest in the technology was gained by the conduct of a large number of demonstrations across Australia and 4 MLA Donor Company projects. From this aspect of the project the interest in using the technology to shape coldboned sheep and beef primals was very strong. It was demonstrated that primals like beef cuberolls could be shaped cold and would retain their shape once removed from the packaging. This interest lead Cargills Australia Beef to order a SmartStretch^TM/SmartShape^TM machine and the project team believes interest in the technology will increase and commercial application will grow.

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