Ground Beef Production

Ground Beef: Introduction

  • Ground beef processing is fundamental for Empirical Success, ensuring high-quality and cost-effective products for food processors.
  • Focus on research and development to enhance product quality.
  • Products marketed under the Noble Valley Meat brand.

Production Metrics

  • A typical 22-hour production day:
    • Consumes over 3 million pounds of raw beef trimmings.
    • Produces over 700,000 pounds of finished ground beef products.
    • Generates approximately 1.9 million pounds of finished tallow.

Ground Beef Process Overview

  • Step 1: Blending of Beef Trimmings
  • Step 2: Raw Material Sorting
  • Step 3: Force Feeder - Introduces trimmings into the system.
  • Step 4: Desinewers - Remove sinew, tendon, and bone chips.
  • Step 5: Tempering Product
  • Step 6: Product Separation
  • Step 7: Mixing of Heavy Protein & Light Protein

Raw Material Sourcing

  • Sourced from 20 suppliers in the U.S. and Canada.
  • Average temperature: 34 to 40°F
  • Sorting by defects using conveyors
  • Primal-specific trimmings: Chuck, Round, Sirloin, CAB Chuck.

Equipment

  • Force Feeder: Pushes raw material through an orifice plate to size trimmings.
  • Desinewers: Removes unwanted materials.
  • 5X5 Surge Tank: Mixes product and maintains production flow.
  • Niros: Piston pumps that ensure consistent flow.
  • STDs: Heat product for tempering.
  • Jacketed Equipment: Designed to prevent solidifying at critical points.

Separation Process

  • Decanters: Horizontal centrifuges that separate heavy protein and light solids.
  • 500s: Vertical centrifuges that refine light solids further into light protein and oil.

Tallow Processing

  • Tallow System: Receives oil, processed via heating and vacuum to remove excess water.
  • Finished Tallow at 125°F with moisture content below 0.10%.
  • Uses include marbling enrichment and taco meat flavor enhancement.

Refrigerated Instantaneous Temperature Cycling (RITC)

  • Pasteurizes light proteins to eliminate pathogens without cooking.
  • Implementing PMO valves to ensure no cross-contamination.

pH Mixer and Final Product Processing

  • Heavy protein mixed with ammonia to boost pH for safety.
  • Products include 95% lean heavy protein, mixed with light protein before final processing.

Finishing Products

  • Three product types: blocks, frozen chips, strands.
  • All products packaged in 60 lb boxes.

Quality Control and Sanitation

  • Implements Clean In Place (CIP) method for equipment cleaning.
  • Types of CIP:
    • Full Plant Cleanup (FPCU): Chemical wash when plant is not operational.
    • Clean In Place (CIP): Regular washing and sanitizing during operations.

Communication

  • Essential for workflow and minimizing errors.
  • Utilizes iFix automation for real-time monitoring and control.

Plant Downtime Management

  • Preventive measures include maintenance scheduling and inspections to minimize equipment failure risks.
  • Logging maintenance to ensure operational reliability.

Staffing

  • Importance of personnel management across the processing stages for efficient production.