Immediate Return on Investment

The MEPACO - Enhancers PMA inline near infrared fat analyzer can pay for itself within 120 days.

Meat-processing companies are under unyielding pressure to cut operating costs and simultaneously increase throughput, while maintaining high standards for quality and safety. To meet this mandate, the MEPACO - Enhancers PMA continuous inline NIR fat analyzer offers a new approach to the formulation process that offers dramatic, immediate, and long-term cost savings, quality enhancement, and safety improvement opportunities.

Reduction of lean meat giveaway

Processors using manual, less precise, fat analysis equipment often add as much as 3 percent more lean meat than is necessary to ensure their products meet ingredient specifications. The MEPACO - Enhancers inline PMA guarantees 1 percent accuracy in fat content measurement, enabling processors to significantly decrease lean meat giveaway while simultaneously maintaining peace-of-mind that finished products will meet recipe requirements and will pass USDA inspections.

In addition, the ability to precisely measure the fat content in lean meat enables processors to confirm that their suppliers are providing ingredients that meet fat-to-lean specifications.

Increased throughput

An estimated 90 percent of processors manage fat analysis manually, requiring multiple line stoppages throughout the day. In addition, product that is not within acceptable variances must be re-blended, sometimes multiple times, which can dramatically reduce throughput and damage product. The evolution of an inline, no-touch fat analysis process enables processors to obtain accurate measurements without stopping the line, providing production increases up to 20 to 30 percent. Even frozen meat can be analyzed without going through a separate process, creating additional production efficiencies.

Improved quality

With complete control over formulation, processors are now able to make on-the-spot adjustments before meat enters the blender. As a result, the integrity of your product is never compromised. The need for additional blending that can cause fat to smear or degrade product definition is eliminated. Furthermore, you increase consistency and repeatability from batch to batch with the ability to store recipes.

Product safety

Regulatory guidelines are expected to become increasingly more stringent in the near future. The MEPACO - Enhancers inline PMA helps processors improve product safety in several ways. For starters, inline near-infrared technology does not require additional handling of meat products or processing in enclosed chambers, eliminating operator and apparatus touch points that can cause sanitation risks. A control system automatically records date, time, shift, and batch data, with the ability to track both ingredient and finished product information that is integral to any processor’s HACCP plan.

Simplified operations

Technology that is difficult to use or integrate within existing equipment can create residual costs such as sophisticated technical labor or modifications to existing line configurations. The MEPACO - Enhancers PMA is designed to simplify operational use and does not require a high-level of expertise. Its small footprint and flexible design need just four linear feet of floor space and couple easily with existing equipment on most lines.

Proven technology and durability

Near-infrared fat analysis has been used in the food industry for years and has proven to be an accurate and dependable means to analyze fat content. The MEPACO - Enhancers PMA is built to last and has been field tested to endure the demanding conditions of a meat processing plant.

An in-plant production scale trial system is available, which easily fits into most plant formulation systems with a minimum of disruption, to be able to prove process results. NP

For more information, call (920) 356-9900, fax (920) 887-0206, e-mail info@mepaco.net, or visit www.mepaco.net