Abstract: An apparatus for forming meat patties is described comprising a meat pump for forcing ground meat into a mold chamber having substantially parallel top and bottom walls and a side wall with an irregular outline. Provision is made for ejecting the formed patties from the mold and for pressing top and bottom surfaces corresponding to the top and bottom of the mold toward one another to expand the patty radially in all directions and to form compression fractures around its periphery. The resulting patties have an irregular shape and each is shaped somewhat differently while the weight of each patty is held within precisely predetermined limits, usually within .+-.2%.

Abstract: Meat patties of loose tender eating texture and natural irregular shape are produced by forming meat under pressure in a die cavity followed by pressing the top and bottom surfaces together to produce projections on the periphery and fracture lines near the edges while maintaining the weight of each patty precisely within predetermined limits.