Feasibility of using cold-set binding with SmartShape technology and development of a process

The SmartShape™ technology enables meat primal cuts to be formed into cylindrical logs, which assists portioning of those cuts for food service or retail markets.  Primal cuts such as smaller beef Tenderloins are difficult to portion without considerable wastage and two Tenderloins are often bound together ‘top-to-tail' using a cold-set binder.  The ideal would be to form these into a consistent shape for portioning using the SmartShape machine.  Trials were undertaken to develop a process for cold-set binding and shaping beef primal cuts.

Initial trials were undertaken with muscle portions from beef Insides (M. semimembranosus and adductor femoris) to determine the conditions for application of the commercial binders, Pearl E and Activa KS-LS, prior to processing in the SmartShape™ machine.  The binders were sprinkled evenly onto the contact surfaces of the samples, wrapped in cling film and stored, chilled for periods of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 hours prior to processing in the SmartShape™.  Controls were included which had binder applied, but no SmartShape™ process applied.  The strength of the bond was measured by conducting adhesion tests using a Lloyd LRX tensile testing machine on raw and cooked samples, 18 to 24 hours after application of the binders.  Initial trials with Insides showed that Pearl E provided a stronger bond for both the raw and cooked samples with an adhesion strength approximately twice that of Activa KS-LS.  Meat pieces bound with Pearl E could be successfully processed in the SmartShape™ 30 minutes after application of the binder.  Extending the time more than 30 minutes did not change the strength of the bind for Pearl E.  For the Insides, samples prepared using Activa KS-LS appeared to have a stronger bond when shaping was applied 60 minutes after bind application, compared to 30 minutes.

From the initial trials, it was determined that for Pearl E, SmartShape™ processing could occur 30 minutes after application of the binder.  For Activa KS-LS, it was thought that SmartShape™ processing could occur 1 hour after application of the binder.  Thus with the Tenderloins, which had a more uneven surface, these selected times of Smartshape™ processing after binding application were tested.  Unfortunately, for Active LS-KS, there was no success in getting a bind between the Tenderloin pieces, except for unshaped control samples left for 18-24 hrs.  For Pearl E, Smartshape™ processing of the Tenderloins 30 minutes after application of the binder, and holding for 18-24 hours resulted in an acceptable bind, in both the raw and cooked product.  Thus a suitable procedure for preparing and shaping primal cuts is:

• coat both product surfaces to be bonded by evenly sprinkling with Pearl E at about 1 g/100 cm² of total join surface area.
• immediately place both surfaces together and wrap tightly in cling film.
• hold the product for a minimum of 30 minutes at refrigeration temperatures.
• process through the SmartShape machine.

If the product is not to be shaped until the following day, Activa KS-LS may also be a suitable binder as the bond is likely to be strong enough after 18 to 24 hours to withstand the forces during shaping.

The prototype machine used has a rubber compression tube that is 600 mm long.  The bottom 80 mm or so of the rubber is not usable due to the nature of the compression system.  Full beef Tenderloins are 500 mm or more long. Therefore for future machines, a rubber that is at least 750 mm long is recommended.

For further information, see these SmartShape^TM and SmartStretch^TM technology pages.

Click here to download a copy of the final report