Method of Separating Meat Components Via Centrifuge

A method of separating lean meat and fat from ground meat, comprising:

• (a) grinding boneless meat into ground meat;
• (b) introducing ground meat into a centrifuge;
• (c) introducing liquid and gaseous carbon dioxide into the centrifuge, wherein the density of the liquid carbon dioxide is between the density of two component fractions desired to be separated;
• (d) centrifugally spinning the mixture to form strata of respective components including lean meat, liquid carbon dioxide, fat, and gaseous carbon dioxide;
• (e) transferring the lean meat and fat strata toward opposing directions, while the stratum of gaseous carbon dioxide displaces liquid carbon dioxide to minimize the loss of liquid carbon dioxide with the lean meat and fat;
• and
• (f) extracting liquid carbon dioxide from the centrifuge, cooling the extracted carbon dioxide, and reintroducing the liquid carbon dioxide to the centrifuge.