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Given the difficult circumstances in today’s manufacturing environment, including labor shortages, material shortages, inflation and a lingering pandemic, it’s more important than ever for meat processors to run lean operations. Processors and slaughterhouses can achieve that goal with machines that perform simultaneous fat analysis and x-ray inspection.
Eagle Product Inspection has developed proprietary technologies designed to increase the probability for detection using algorithms that meet critical business needs. “With just one machine, processors can measure chemical lean, calculate levels of moisture and detect contaminants. Instead of sending product out for laboratory testing, you can get several accurate results in real time,” said Christy Draus, Marketing Manager for Eagle Product Inspection. “This reduces challenges that result in loss of production, lean giveaway and profitability.”
Among other solutions, Eagle offers the FA3 series of multifunctional x-ray machines, which provide highly accurate Chemical Lean (CL) and fat content for 100% throughput of meat. The systems use the latest third-generation refinement of Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) technology to achieve CL measurement to better than +/- 1 accuracy, the industry’s gold standard. By knowing the actual lean point of meat, processors can capitalize on its real value and problems related to overly fat or overly lean batches.
Addressing costly fat variability, FA3 machines automatically find and remove contaminants like bones, glass, metal fragments, mineral stones and some plastic and rubber compounds while conducting key integrity checks such as mass measurement and moisture and protein content. Automatic calibration and validation also reduce downtime and make daily calibration tasks easy for operators.
The Eagle FA3 series includes the following machines:
- FA3/M for the inspection of fresh, chilled, frozen and hot-boned bulk meat, frozen or tempered “naked” meat blocks and unwrapped meat transported in plastic crates.
- FA3/C for the inspection of packaged meat products in cardboard cartons, plastic crates and vacuum-packed blocks, running at industry throughputs in excess of 2,400 packages per hour.
Eagle’s range of inline fat analysis and inspection systems can be used in a variety of meat facilities, including slaughterhouses and processing plants.