Systems and methods for providing food intervention and tenderization

A needleless spray nozzle system comprising:

• a needleless spray nozzle head that is configured to spray and inject injectate into a food product without requiring the needleless spray nozzle head to contact the food product;
• a recipient that is configured to receive the injectate that is injected by the needleless spray nozzle head and that is not retained within the food product;
• a multi-stage filtration system for filtering the non-retained injectate that is received within the recipient, the multi-stage filtration system comprising:
• a first stage of the multi-stage filtration system comprising a wedge wire rotary drum filter with a scraper having a pore size between 301 μm and about 500 μm;
• a second stage of the multi-stage filtration system comprising a first wedge wire filter having a pore size of between about 75 μm and 150 μm;
• and
• a flowmeter programmed to measure a flowrate of the non-retained injectate that is received within the recipient, wherein the flowrate of the non-retained injectate is used to determine a weight pickup of the food product;
• and
• a pump that is configured to recirculate an amount of the non-retained injectate from the recipient to the needleless spray nozzle head, wherein the amount is determined responsive to the determined weight pickup of the food product.

A needleless spray nozzle system comprising:

• a needleless spray nozzle head that is configured to spray and inject an injectate into a food product without requiring the needleless spray nozzle head to contact the food product;
• an injectate tank;
• a pump that is configured to pump the injectate from the injectate tank to and through the needleless spray nozzle head;
• an injection valve that is in fluid communication with the needleless spray nozzle head and that is configured to selectively open and close to respectively allow the injectate to flow through, and to prevent the injectate from flowing through, the needleless spray nozzle head;
• a pressure regulator valve;
• and
• a processor that is configured to predict when the injection valve is about to at least one of open or close and to preemptively actuate the pressure regulator valve by a predetermined amount of time prior to the injection valve at least one of opening and closing, such that the pressure regulator valve begins actuating prior to a time when the injection valve is at least one of opening and closing.

A needleless spray nozzle system comprising:

• a needleless spray nozzle head comprising multiple rows of spray nozzles, wherein the needleless spray nozzle head is configured to spray and inject an injectate into a food product without requiring the needleless spray nozzle head to contact the food product;
• a pump that is configured to pump the injectate to and through the needleless spray nozzle head, the injection pump having a first inlet and a first outlet;
• a pressure regulator valve having a second inlet and a second outlet;
• a first flowmeter disposed adjacent to and at or before the first inlet of the pump;
• a second flowmeter disposed adjacent to and at or after the second outlet of the pressure regulator valve;
• and
• a processor, wherein the processor is configured to derive a difference in readings from the first and second flowmeters to determine a cloggedness of the needleless spray nozzle head;
• and
• a food product transport configured to move the food product according to a predetermined food product movement pattern that includes moving the food product transport by a first distance followed by moving the food product transport by a second distance, wherein the second distance is different than the first distance, wherein at least one of the first distance and the second distance corresponds to a distance between the multiple rows of spray nozzles.

A needleless spray nozzle system comprising:

• a first row of needleless spray nozzles that is configured to spray and inject an injectate into a food product without requiring the first row of needleless spray nozzles to contact the food product;
• a second row of needleless spray nozzles that is configured to spray and inject the injectate into the food product without requiring the second row of needleless spray nozzles to contact the food product;
• a food product transport configured to move the food product according to a predetermined food product movement pattern including first movements and second movements, wherein each of the first movements is less than a distance between the first row of needleless spray nozzles and the second row of needleless spray nozzles, and each of the second movements is greater than a distance between the first row of needleless spray nozzles and the second row of needleless spray nozzles;
• a pump that is configured to pump the injectate to and through the first row of needleless spray nozzles and the second row of needleless spray nozzles;
• an injectate recipient that is configured to receive injectate that is sprayed through at least one of the first row of needleless spray nozzles and the second row of needleless spray nozzles and that is not retained in the food product;
• a pressure regulator valve;
• a drain line from the pressure regulator valve to the injectate recipient;
• a dwell time valve that is configured to open and close to respectively allow and prevent flow of the injectate through the first row of needleless spray nozzles and the second row of needleless spray nozzles;
• a flowmeter that is configured to track an amount of the injectate that flows from the pressure regulator valve, through the drain line, and to the injectate recipient;
• and
• a processor that is configured to dynamically modulate a speed of the pump based on a flowrate of the injectate through the drain line.