Speciality Meat Cutting Equipment
Speciality Meat Cutting Equipment – The meat processor’s invaluable cutting tools.
ButcherSA takes a look at the specialised equipment available for mincing and cutting fresh and frozen meat, and manufacturing value-added products in both plant processing and butchery environments.
Cutting Equipment
Frozen meats are cut with guillotines and rotating cutting machines typically as a first step in the preparation stage.
Guillotines are space-saving cutting devices able to be adjusted to give different thicknesses of meat cuts. There are two types: those with a horizontal working table (cutting blades move up and down) and those with a vertical cutting knife (cutting blades move sideways). Fully automatic guillotines are available for large-scale plants.
Blade-rotating cutting machines incorporate cutters, flakers and dicers. Cutters can produce a desired uniform size reduction of the frozen raw material (meat or fat) without smearing it. Flakers have beak-shaped cutting blades to chip or peel the frozen meat block into flakes. Dicing machines are used in the manufacture of cooked sausages for lending a disc-shaped form to different raw materials.
A meat saw is a very useful tool to cut a large amount of meat into smaller and more manageable pieces. There are a variety of different meat saws, with different functions and purposes for meat processing.
Three of the major different varieties are the meat slicer, table top saw, and meat band saw, all of which use saw-like blades to get the job done. Each plays an essential role in meat processing.
The most common and usually the most affordable meat saw is the meat slicer. Through a sawing motion controlled by the operator, a meat slicer can effectively cut a smaller slab of raw meat into slices of almost any size. The way the meat slicer works is by placing a slab of boneless processed meat onto a slide mechanism. Then the operator simply slides the meat back and forth, and a saw at the base of the device cuts the meat into designated slices of a length that you set before you begin slicing.
Mostly made of aluminium or stainless steel, there are many types of slicers to choose from, coming in compact and full-size versions. They can be categorised as commercial, heavy-duty, automatic, semi automatic and manual. Heavy-duty commercial slicers are recommended for high-volume slicing.
The slicer has a very sharp blade. Therefore, you have to exercise care while handling the machine. Some slicers have built-in sharpeners; in others, the blade has to be sharpened at regular intervals.
A chrome-plated blade is always a better choice than the conventional alternative, as the chrome-plated blade remains sharp for longer and there is less difficulty during the slicing process. Belts in the slicer make for ease of operation. Like other belts, these too must be replaced periodically.
The table top meat saw, which is basically the same type as those used on hardware projects, is used for breaking up very large segments of meat. These aren’t the average saw that you would see in a butcher shop, but are usually reserved for large meat processing plants.
These saws come in handy: because of their massive size, they are ideal to quickly saw apart large segments of meat for later processing.
Tabletop meat saws are designed for precision cutting, producing clean and straight cuts through bone and muscle tissue.
A more common meat saw for this type of duty at a smaller butcher shop is the meat band saw. A meat band saw is a more realistic option for the average butcher, and is much more affordable than a table top saw.
Designed basically just like a regular band saw, this is useful for the big jobs that can’t be done as easily with a regular hand knife. A band saw is functional for sawing through the tough muscle, sinew, and bone parts of the meat, and can really cut down on the amount of time it takes to get the job done.
On the surface, these meat saws look like your ordinary steel-cutting band saw, but are actually specifically designed for meat cutting. Blades are available for cutting meat exclusively. A special-purpose blade should never be used to cut material it was not designed to cut. Blade speed is also important and must be checked against the machine speed.
A larger slide tray, in addition to blood grooves in the stainless steel countertops, make for easy clean up after use.
Preparation Equipment
Bowl cutters, also called choppers or mincers, are used extensively within the meat industry to break up connective tissue and muscle tissue into small pieces, thereby mincing meat finely, and blending and emulsifying proteins. Bowl cutting is the answer for better product colour, appearance, bite, texture, quality and higher yields.
Cutters come in many types and sizes, and are commonly found in meat processing plants. They are essentially composed of a horizontally revolving metal bowl with a variable speed mounted on a horizontal axle rotating at high speed, and equipped with a set of curved, very sharp knives, usually dual speed.
The arrangement, number, shape and speed of the knives, which are guarded with a cover, contribute to the machine’s performance factors.
Cutters are often fitted with a special mechanism for emptying the bowl as well as a thermometer over the bowl which controls meat temperature during chopping. They can operate under vacuum, which contributes to a better colour of the meat and improves its water binding capacity.
For the butcher, meat mincers are available in hand-operated and electronic versions. The choice of which to use depends on the size of your operation.
One of the biggest benefits of using electronic meat grinders is that they can get the job done quickly and easily, as in just a short amount of time, you can process a huge amount of meat. Moreover, electric meat mincers are capable of processing different kinds of meat.
Electric mincers can also be adjusted according to how fine or how coarse you want the ground meat to be. This is especially helpful for people who have specific requirements when it comes to their ground meat. Another benefit is the mincers come with attachments which can be utilised for making sausages.
Operation is simple. The meat is placed into the funnel, from where it travels into the rotating conveyor which minces and squashes the meat. At the tip of the screw conveyor, there is a small hole from where the meat is ejected.
There are a number of companies in South Africa suppling cutting equipment and accessories. These include Bizerba, BT Enterprises, Columbit, Crown National, Exim International, Freddy Hirsch and Renlaw to name but a few.
Bizerba – the market-leading supplier of solutions for weighing technology, slicers and price labelling devices, established its subsidiary in South Africa in 2014.
Bizerba offers both Industrial and Retail slicers that are manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic.
Bizerba meat processing equipment includes Mincers, Steak / Strip cutter, Sausage fillers, , Band Saws and Patty Formers.
Packaging incorporates Tray sealers, automatic wrappers , automatic labelers and vacuum machines
For more info click here…..
Crown National – For more than 110 years, we at Crown National have been serving the food industry, and have secured our place as a leading supplier of quality spices,food ingredients and equipment in Southern Africa.
Crown National supplies meat processing equipment and cutting, slicing and dicing equipment from a number of world class brand names.
We supply equipment accessories such as band saw blades, handsaws, mincer knives and plates, butcher knives and steels, filler nozzles, meat hooks and aluminium scoops.
We are the preferred distributors of a number of world-class equipment brand names such as:
• VEMAG industrial filling equipment,
• TALSA hydraulic sausage fillers and bowl cutters,
• INOTEC meat processing equipment,
• FORMATIC patty forming and food portioning equipment,
• HENKOVAC vacuum packaging and thermoforming equipment
• HOLAC dicing, grating and shredding equipment and SECTOMAT slicing and portioning equipment,
• LASKA meat cutters and mixers,
• GRASSELLI slicing and skinning equipment.
• RED ARROW smoking and browning equipment.
For more info click here …..
Exim International has an extensive collection of industrial and retail machinery for cutting and processing meat and MDM.
Our industrial butchery equipment range consists of flaker mincer combo machines, bowl cutters, mincers, mixers, flakers and dicers. We also offer equipment accessories and attachments such as mincer knives and plates.
Our retail range consists of a full range of bandsaws, slicers and patty machines. This is complemented by accessories and attachments like band saw blades, knives, meat hooks and machine spares.
For more info click here …..
Freddy Hirsch – Technical innovation and customer experience is at the heart of the Freddy Hirsch Group. Our team is dedicated to developing robust processing systems and quality products to deliver effective solutions to our customers.
We supply spice, food ingredients, casings, and equipment to the red meat and poultry processing industries – ensuring flavourful food every time.
Industrial Equipment
We’re the leading supplier of heavy-duty meat processing equipment including: vacuum blenders, emulsifiers, flakers and vacuum sealers in Southern Africa, representing some of the world’s finest industrial equipment brands.
Our national team of technicians provides pre- and post-sale support, ensuring that your equipment functions seamlessly.
Light Duty Equipment
Equipment includes slicers, bandsaws, mincers, tenderizers and strip cutters
Industrial Equipment
Equipment includes bowl cutters, grinders, flakers and emulsifiers
For more info click here ….
Renlaw – Established in 1985, Renlaw is Africa’s largest industrial blade and cutting tool manufacturer.
We are dedicated to the pursuit of ingenuity and sustainable technological development, as well as the traditional values of high quality and exceptional client service. Our goal is to offer the local market quality, cost-effective tooling to replace expensive imported parts.
Our sales branch in Johannesburg caters for the needs of our customers in Gauteng and surrounding areas, while our international clients are serviced from our head office in Cape Town.
Machine knives for the processing and packaging of meat products
Renlaw’s wide range of blades for the processing and packaging of meat products are made to fit your machine and meet the highest of quality standards.
Our industrial food-processing and packaging blades are available with a wide range of cutting geometries and cutting profiles to suit your application.
Our food-contact blades are designed and finished to ensure that your production runs to the highest hygiene standards.
Our range includes slicer blades, cubing blades, bowl chopper blades, tray sealer knives, mincer plates, sausage peeler blades, rib-strippers, rib-pullers, scraper blades, tenderising blades, derinding knives, membraning blades, crosscut knives, fish processing blades, poultry processing blades, red meat processing blades, filleting blades, sausage separator blades, grinder blades, toothed packaging blades, VFFS blades, biltong slicers, bone processing blades, debleeder blades, flaker blades, hock cutters, involute slicers, injector needles, hole plates, kebab blades and portioning blades as well as Baader, DC Norris, EFA, Freund, Grasselli, Holac, Treif, Ilpra, Jarvis, Multivac, Proseal, Sealpac, Stork, Marel, Biro, Hyde, Linco, Townsend Peeler, Ulma, Kramer and Grebe, Stephan, Seydelmann and Laska-compatible blades.
Renlaw’s meat-cutting blades offer an ideal combination of both wear- and corrosion-resistance to perform optimally in a demanding environment.
Our industrial knives, dicers and slicing blades are made from premium German stainless steels, machined, hardened and precision-ground to a razor-sharp edge.
For more info click here ….
