Congruity of Forces
The process of brine injection is a vital step in the manufacturing of boneless hams. For that reason, a needle injector is used to pump brine into the muscle. Maintaining accuracy and consistency are keys to producing a profitable product. There are several items to keep in mind when injecting brine into boneless hams.
Accurate pumping
The key to accurate pumping is not to allow pressure variation while injecting. Unsteady brine pressure can occur as the needles come down and enter the ham.
"If processors see a big drop and big recovery, it means that part of the ham has been injected at high pressure and part has been injected at low pressure," an executive for an injection machine company says. "[If this occurs,] processors will have a different flavor profile in the same piece of meat. Someone will think the ham is too salty and someone else will think the same product is undercured."
The way to avoid this, the executive notes, is to see that the employee responsible is continually monitoring the gauge, and that a quality control person tests each batch as it comes out of the injector. Processors also need to look at needle patterns, as well. How many needles the injector has plays a role in how the brine is distributed, an executive of an injection machine manufacturer says.
The speed in which the needles are traveling through the meat is also vital. The slower the needle-head speed, the higher the percentage of pump.
"It doesn't matter what processors set that [of needle-head speed] at," he maintains. "If a machine is set for 20 strokes a minute, processors have to be sure it is always 20 strokes a minute.
"It is consistency," he adds. "Processors need to make sure brine pressure is consistent and the needle-head speed is steady. If those two points are constant, the injection will be even and successful."
The product
One executive of a company manufacturing injectors points out that the product will always be a random element for brine injection.
"No matter how precise the machine is, if processors have a lot of variation in their raw material, they will be in trouble before they start," he says.
Meat temperature and brine temperature are also critical. The brine temperature should be at least 5 degrees F cooler than the ham temperature. If processors begin with a meat temperature of 40 degrees F and brine temperature of 35 degrees F, hams will have good retention and little drain.
If, however, as the day proceeds and brine temperature rises, there will be less-finished yield to the hams.
Dispersal of brine
Processors cannot be assured that brine is being injected evenly through the ham, an injector executive stresses. What processors can do, however, is employ a quality control person who constantly is checking finished product and the machinery. "Processors can take a piece of meat to the lab, section it, and run a salt analysis on it," he notes. "But by the time that's done, the line is screwed up. Processors have to rely on checkpoints and the [quality control] employee."
Equipment breakthroughs
Other than making routine improvements to injectors, injector manufacturers say there have been no "earth-shattering" breakthroughs on the machines.
The new generation of injectors do work with a higher number of needles, and have improved distribution at low pressure, one executive points out.