Hit Your Injection Targets (Reiser -- 7 of 12) - 3

and year after year is the
goal," says Scott Steinman,
Application Specialist at Reiser,
which offers the Fomaco line
of injection systems for meat,
poultry and seafood.

ONE STEP AT A TIME:
EFFECTIVE INJECTION
TECHNIQUES
"Improve the process and
you'll improve the product,"
Steinman says. That's a simple
but accurate way to think
about how the quality and
consistency of meat, poultry
and seafood can be achieved
using processes like injection
and marination.
To improve the specific
injection process, certain hurdles
need to be addressed and
overcome. Many problems are
self-inflicted and can be easily
corrected once identified. Did
you mix the brine correctly? Did
you chill the brine and meat to
the correct temperatures? Did
you use the correct injector
settings? Did you load the meat
consistently onto the belt with
no overlaps? Did you handle the
product correctly throughout the
entire process? Did you check
for clogged needles. Are your
brine filters clean? Has your
injector been properly sanitized?
"Operationally, you need to
gain control over each of these
steps to ensure you get the best

injection results," says Steinman.
If a processor steps out of
bounds in any of those areas,
problems will arise quickly.
While these are common
challenges to injection in
processing environments,
issues often depend on the
operation and what's being
produced. "We try find out
what the processors' unique
challenges are, so we can
help them do their job better.
Depending on their challenges,
a certain injector or set up
may help them even more
to produce a better product
to hit their goals and yields,"
Steinman points out.

PINPOINTING EFFECTIVE
INJECTION: STEPS TO
PROCESS SUCCESS
How can processors ensure
that they are optimizing their
own injection process?
Steinman recommends starting
with an assessment of current
methods. "We really look at
every step in the process. By
doing an audit, we evaluate
the whole process, starting
at the beginning and going
through steps like the brine, the
addition of ingredients, mixing,
incoming water temperature,
temperature control and more.
We can then determine what
a processor needs to do to
improve those steps and create
operating processes to do it
correctly," Steinman explains.

Understanding the whole
process is critical to the
assessment. It's why
Reiser's experts have a deep
background in the industry, to
understand meat technology
and the functionality of the
process. "Every piece of meat
is different and every operation
is different, so you have to
know the process to support
the equipment," points out
Steinman.
According to Steinman, there
are several steps in which the
injection process should be
reviewed and assessed.
Raw materials: The first
step to overcoming challenges
is to look at raw materials.
To Steinman's point, every
piece of meat is different.
On a broader level, there are
different injection options for
various proteins, and needles
must match the type of protein
being injected, whether that's
a bone-in or boneless cut of
beef, pork or poultry.
Steinman cites other
variations in raw materials. "The
pH in meat can vary, and those
can be challenges that offset
yields," he notes.
There can even be variations
in the same cuts of meat,
depending on the source.
"On the raw material side,
a processor may have four
different suppliers and four
different harvest dates,"
Steinman points out.
Hit Your Injection Targets (Reiser -- 7 of 12)

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