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There are two types of streaks that can appear in pumped fresh meat. One type is referred to “tiger stripes”, and is an indistinct grouping of lines through the product the other type of streak is probably pink in color. There are many differences of opinion about what causes tiger stripes, however, some likely causes follow:

• • Needles becoming coated with protein during operation. As the needle moves through the meat it can pick up protein residue due to the presence of salt in the brine. A portion of the residue is forced into the meat by the needles, causing stripes. Needles need to be kept in good condition and cleaned to prevent protein buildup.

• • Another possibility is the water used to make the brine. Excessively hard water can cause streaking as the minerals in the water do not move through the meat. If you are not using softened or RO water in your brines, you should test your water for hardness.

If you are getting pink streaks in injected fresh meat products the cause is almost certainly due to the presence of nitrate in the brine. Nitrate or nitrites can be accidentally introduces into the product several ways:

• • Using the injector for cured products such as hams or bacons and not adequately cleaning before switching to a fresh meat product.

• • Mixing brines for fresh meat in the same container as a cured was mixed in without proper cleaning.

• • The presence of excessive nitrates in you water. RO water is preferable for most pumping applications as the vast majority of minerals and nitrates should be removed during the RO process.

• • The presence of soy proteins in your brine. Soy proteins can be an effective ingredient to improve the water holding capacity and cooking yields of products, however, in some instances, soy proteins can have a small amount of nitrate, which can cause pink streaking.

It is not uncommon for pump percentages to vary considerably between pieces, with pump percentages from 6 to 16% being found with a 10% target. Factors affecting the final pump percentage can be divided into three large categories: brine, meat, and equipment. Here is a quick review each:

• • Brine. Ingredients, the ingredient concentration, and brine temperature are all important factors affecting variation. Most brines contain salt and phosphate. The amount of each ingredient used can affect brine pickup. Brine temperature should be as low as possible. Warm brines will run out of a product.

• • Meat. Differences in meat can cause large variations in brine pickup. These differences include pH, composition, temperature, previous storage conditions, species, and cut. Meat with a low pH will not accept brine very well, PSE pork should not be pumped. Higher fat cuts will also not accept brine as well as leaner cuts, as protein is required to bind water. Do not expect the same brine pickup from bellies as hams at the same equipment settings. Warm meat will not accept brine well. Previously frozen meat will not pump the same as fresh meat, in addition, meat that has been stored for an extended period may have a different brine pickup than meat that is directly out of carcass chill. Also do not expect beef and pork to pickup the same amount of brine at the same injector settings. If you are going to pump beef and pork on the same machine you should run trials to determine the appropriate settings for each.

• • Equipment. Differences in equipment can be a frustrating cause of variation in pump percentages. Pump percentages are typically controlled three ways, by altering the injection pressure, needle dwell time in the product, and the speed the product moves through the injector. Differences in pressure can be do to loading, as meat moves through some injectors with a single pump and manifold the needles in the meat will have more resistance than needles that are not in the meat. As the brined moves more easily through the open needles, the needles in the meat will deliver less brine than anticipates. Some models of injector overcome this limitation with closer control of pressure to injector needles, however, this problem can also be minimized by making sure the injector is fully loaded so all the needles are in meat at all times. Injector needles that become clogged will also result in uneven distribution of brine; make sure that the filtering system of the pump is working properly to prevent this from happening.

 

There are essentially no differences in the actual mechanics and production of pumped, injected, basted, enhanced, and deep marinated meat, however, there may be labeling issues. The term “marinated” has a specific definition according to USDA as follows:

“MARINATED: To be labeled “marinated,” a product must use a marinade that is a mixture in which food is either soaked, massaged, tumbled, or injected in order to improve taste, tenderness, or other sensory attributes, such as color or juiciness. Time allotted in a marinade depends on many factors, including thickness and size of the meat and strength of the marinade. Marinade should be that amount necessary to affect the finished product, and limited to 10% pickup in red meat….”

If you want to produce an uncured red meat product with greater than a 10% pickup, it cannot be labeled simply as “marinated” but, must at least have the amount of added liquid declared. Following is the USDA language for adding water-based solutions to red meat (the bolding has been added to highlight the important parts of the regulation:

“WATER BASE SOLUTIONS IN RED MEAT IN MEAT PRODUCTS: Solutions intended to impart flavor (not extend the product) may be added in any amount to uncooked, cured and uncooked, uncured red meat products including those that have been chunked, ground, wafer sliced, etc., and formed/shaped.

For products marinated (i.e., soaked, steeped, massaged, tumbled, or injected in order to improve taste, texture, tenderness, or other sensory attributes, such as color or juiciness) and identified as “marinated,” the solution added is limited to 10 %. The qualifying statement must include the percentage of solution contained in the product, e.g., “Marinated with up to 8% of a Solution of Water, Salt, and Sugar.”

For all products, the qualifying statement must be at least one-fourth the size of the largest letter in the product name. If the ingredients of the solution accompany the qualifier, they must appear in print at least one-eighth the size of the largest letter in the product name. For uncooked products, the percent added substances for the label statement is determined by subtracting the fresh (green) weight of the article from the weight of the finished (total) product, i.e., after injecting, marinating, etc., dividing by the weight of the fresh article, and multiplying by 100.

Emulsifications can be difficult to produce, and when they fail, the result can be a complete loss of product and a lot of potential rework. Therefore, planning, process control, and ingredient quality control are essential to the production of good emulsified products. Emulsions are made up of two phases, continuous and discontinuous, with the emulsion taking on the characteristics of the continuous phase. For meat emulsions, the continuous phase is made up of protein and the discontinuous phase is fat, therefore a meat emulsion should have the characteristics of meat. If for some reason, the emulsion becomes “inverted” and fat becomes the continuous phase protein become discontinuous, the emulsion will take on the characteristics of fat and will be similar to a stick of lard.

Three common causes of emulsion failure are:

1. Excessive chopping of the fatty ingredients
2. Too much collagen in the lean meat ingredients
3. Inadequate protein extraction

• • Excessive chopping of fatty ingredients. For fat to be the discontinuous phase, it must be surrounded by protein, essentially holding small particles of fat in a matrix of protein. Therefore, when chopping the fatty ingredients, size does matter. Larger fat particles have, in total, much less surface area than smaller. For example if you compare a basketball to 30 golf balls, both will fill about the same volume of space, but the golf balls will have much, much more surface. When the fat particles become too small there is not enough protein to coat the surface of the fat, allowing the fat to become the continuous phase, and causing the emulsion to fail. Reduce excessive chopping of fat requires that the fat portion of the emulsion be initially ground separately from the lean tissue and added to the chopper or emulsifier later during processing. In general the lean meat ingredients should be well ground and chopped before the fatter ingredients are added.

• • Too much collagen. Collagen is a connective tissue protein abundantly found in meat, and is in especially higher amounts in meat such as shanks, cheek meats, and organ meats. Collagen protein does not do a good job of coating fat particles. Collagen does not go “into solution” in a meat emulsion and does not work to stabilize the emulsion. Collagen is essentially just along for the ride in an emulsion, therefore if a large portion of the meat source is high in collagen it is easier for the fat particles to become the continuous phase. In general, the amount of high collagen meats, such as shank and cheek should be limited to 5-10% of any emulsion.

• • Inadequate protein extraction. In order for protein to be the continuous phase, and coat the fat particles, it must be solubized into a solution. The most important meat proteins, myosin and actin, are solublized, or able to coat fat and bind water when exposed to salt. In addition, some mechanical energy must be present to extract the proteins. If the level of salt is inadequate, the protein or lean source is not adequately chopped or ground prior to the addition of the fat source, or the protein has been otherwise altered due to previous cooking, such as rework, the proteins will be unable to adequately coat the fat particles, resulting in a failed emulsion. If you have emulsions that are failing and you have not excessively chopped the fat ingredients or added large amount of high collagen lean, check to make sure that the correct amount of salt has been added, and the lean portion has had adequate mixing and chopping time.