The grinding and stuffing process must handle variations in raw meat and poultry to achieve homogeneous and consistent quality products. For grinding, the challenges for processors have always been minimizing meat temperature rise and damage to both the lean and fat particles, as well as efficient bone and hard-particle elimination, says Lynn Knipe, extension processed meat specialist and associate professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University, in Columbus. Grinding uniformity and handling varying biological sources of raw materials, such as the natural variation in fat content and quality and moisture content, along with temperature, remain current challenges, says Jeff Sindelar, extension meat specialist and associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison.
For stuffing, challenges continue to be minimizing fat smearing on the surface of links and obtaining accurate portions, while processors are achieving higher volume output, Knipe says. Sindelar says minimizing smear and not overworking the batter are focuses of processors across the board. Challenges of portion control and not including more air in the product can be mitigated by a good vacuum system, he explains.