# US 2019/0166894 A1 · Meat snack product and method of making

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- Number: US 2019/0166894 A1
- Document ID: US20190166894A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/272,317
- Filed: 2019-02-11
- Published: 2019-06-06
- Earliest claimed: 2016-05-31
- Assignees: Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp.
- Applicants: Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp.
- Inventors: Eric TENNANT; Jeffrey WARNER; Paul KAFER; David TAYLOR
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190166894A1

## CPC

- A23L 13/67: {Reformed meat products other than sausages}
- A23J 3/04: Animal proteins
- A23J 3/26: using extrusion or expansion
- A23L 13/03: {Coating with a layer; Stuffing, laminating, binding, or compressing of original meat pieces}
- A23L 13/20: from offal, e.g. rinds, skins, marrow, tripes, feet, ears or snouts (glands or bones as ingredients of processed meat A23L13/60)
- A23L 13/424: {Addition of non-meat animal protein material, e.g. blood, egg, dairy products, fish; Proteins from microorganisms, yeasts or fungi}
- A23L 13/428: {Addition of flavours, spices, colours, amino acids or their salts, peptides, vitamins, yeast extract or autolysate, nucleic acid or derivatives, organic acidifying agents or their salts or acidogens, sweeteners, e.g. sugars or sugar alcohols; Addition of alcohol-containing products}
- A23L 13/62: {Coating with a layer, stuffing or laminating}
- A23L 13/65: {Sausages}
- A23P 30/30: Puffing or expanding
- A23L 5/34: {using microwaves}
- A23L 5/36: {using irradiation with frequencies of more than 10 MHz}
- A23L 17/70: {Comminuted, e.g. emulsified, fish products; Processed products therefrom such as pastes, reformed or compressed products (A23L17/65, A23L17/10, A23L17/20, A23L17/40, A23L17/50 take precedence)}
- A23L 33/00: Modifying nutritive qualities of foods; Dietetic products; Preparation or treatment thereof
- A23L: FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF (preservation thereof A23B)
- A23J: PROTEIN COMPOSITIONS FOR FOODSTUFFS; WORKING-UP PROTEINS FOR FOODSTUFFS; PHOSPHATIDE COMPOSITIONS FOR FOODSTUFFS
- A23P: SHAPING OR WORKING OF FOODSTUFFS, NOT FULLY COVERED BY A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS

## Abstract

A cooked slice of a meat mass formed of a ground meat mixture and expanded pellets of cellular material provides a crispy, light meat snack product. In some embodiments, the pellets are rendered skin having a low pre-expansion moisture content. A method of making the meat snack product includes making a meat form by adding pellets of cellular material having a moisture content of less than 10% by weight to a ground meat mixture, batch cooking, chilling and slicing the meat form, and cooking the slices of the meat form to expand the pellets of cellular material to result in a crispy meat form slice.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A snack food product comprising a crisped slice of a ground meat mixture and expanded pellets of cellular material.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the expanded pellets of cellular material comprises rendered animal skin, the pellets having a pre-expanded moisture content of less than 10% by weight.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The snack food product of claim 2, the expanded pellets comprising rendered pork skin and having a pre-expanded moisture content in the range of about 5% to about 6% by weight.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1 comprising at least 80% by weight ground meat mixture.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the ground meat mixture has a fat content of about 25% to about 30% by weight.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the ground meat mixture comprises pork.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the snack food product is free of grain based filler.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the snack food product is gluten free.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the pellets of cellular material have a pre-expanded surface area of less than 10 cm2.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the pellets of cellular material have a pre-expanded thickness of about 0.125 in. (3.175 mm) or less.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the snack food product further comprises a non-meat filler.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The snack food product of claim 11, wherein the non-meat filler comprises wheat flour, corn flour, nut flour, bean flour or combinations thereof.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein the expanded pellets of cellular material are rendered animal skin and wherein the snack food product is free of non-meat filler.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The snack food product of claim 1, wherein a thickness of a pre-crisped slice ranges from 14 to 25 slices per inch.

### Claim 15

A snack food product comprising a crisped meat form slice comprising at least 80% by weight of a ground meat mixture and expanded pellets of rendered pork skin having a pre-expanded moisture content of about 5% to about 6% by weight.