Tenderizing poultry meat through electrical stimulation
OwnerBertram B. Burnettinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for automatically electrically stimulating poultry carcasses in poultry processing plants in order to tenderize the poultry meat are disclosed. Carcasses suspended by shackles from a moving processing line are transported between two electrical conductive bars, which are positioned to apply the electrical stimulation across the breast of the suspended carcass. The carcasses are subjected to almost constant electrical stimulation for 8 to 13 seconds by the application of an intermediate level, 100% duty cycle, AC voltage for the period of stimulation.
Claims15
A method of electrically stimulating a poultry carcass to tenderize the poultry meat, comprising:
- applying an intermediate-level voltage across the breast of a poultry carcass for a predetermined time period, wherein the applied voltage supplies a substantially constant source of electrical energy to the carcass over said predetermined time period;
- wherein said substantially constant source of electrical energy has a duty cycle of about 100%.
An apparatus for automatically electrically stimulating poultry carcasses during the processing of such carcasses, comprising:
- means for transporting a plurality of poultry carcasses after slaughter along a predetermined processing path;
- means for supporting said poultry carcasses in a predetermined position from the transporting means;
- electrical energy means positioned along a portion of the transporting means in a contacting relationship with a portion of the poultry carcasses being transported for electrically stimulating the carcasses for a predetermined time period;
- said electrical energy means comprising:
- a substantially constant source of electrically connected to an intermediate-level voltage source;
- and
- a second conductive means electrically connected to ground, wherein said first and second conductive means are in a contact relationship with the portion of each poultry carcass that is moving along the transporting means substantially parallel to the first and second conductive means;
- wherein said first and second conductive means comprise first and second conductive bars positioned below the moving line in a contacting relationship with different parts of the breast of the poultry carcasses suspended from the shackle means attached to the moving line.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.