EU-funded project to identify fat levels in meat products

TRIMSCAN, a new EU-research project, aims to develop a tool that will allow meat processors to scan and identify fat levels in ground meat-based products.

The project will explore ways to use contactless technology for in-line fat analysis with accuracy better than 1.5%.

The practical tool is claimed to allow SME processors and slaughterhouses to reduce use of lean meat by at least 2%, and eliminate the need for sampling.

TRIMSCAN member Silvia Padovan said that in meat processing, the control of fat in meat trimmings is vitally important to ensure both homogeneity and quality of the final product.

Padovan said, "It is also desirable to reduce the lean meat over-use, to comply with legislation and meet customer specifications.

"Large fat variations produce substantial economic losses and a number of industrial problems."

Common quality issues include excessive salt content, poor texture, hard surface, appearance and odour and product spoilage, while industrial issues can include manual sampling, recipe adjustment, poor binding capacity and problems during product slicing.

Padovan said, "TRIMSCAN will substantially improve and simplify the production processes. It represents a real business opportunity for the SMEs of the sector."

Meat trimmings from pork or beef or both are used in processed products, including hamburgers and sausages.

Europe is one of the major meat producers in the world, with more than 16% of global meat production contributed by the EU.

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Image: TRIMSCAN aims to help SME meat processors become more competitive by using automatic in-line fat analysis in meat trimmings. Photo courtesy of Suat Eman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.