Abstract: A sausage filling apparatus comprises a conventional sausage filling machine operable to extrude sausage meat into a compressed length of tubular sausage casing retained over a support pipe through which the meat is fed under pressure. The filled casing passes to a sausage linking machine where the casing is twisted into individually-linked sausages. The invention provides a moveable deflector plate which is moveable into the path of the tubular sausage casing between the nozzle and the linking machine. This causes the sausage casing to follow a tortuous path between these two points, dispelling air present in the casing and leading to more consistent weight and an improved appearance in the final product.

Abstract: The invention comprises an apparatus for automatically removing fat from a meat carcass. A sensing station includes a row of needle probes which can be inserted into the carcass and which produce an electric signal at a fat/lean interface. The position of this interface relative to a support is recorded for each probe in a memory unit, and the carcass is then passed to a cutting section where it is drawn over a knife blade. The height of the knife blade is adjustable by a servo-motor controlled from the memory unit, and as the carcass is pulled over the knife, information from the memory unit is progressively released to adjust the knife so that the cut through the carcass follows the previously-sensed fat line.

Abstract: An apparatus for tenderizing meat by subjecting the meat fibres to compressive and impact forces, comprising a pair of driven rollers mounted in a frame, between which the meat is fed by a conveyor. The rollers are provided with elongate axial ribs, preferably of circular section, which alternate in the roller nip during rotation, and the rollers and the ribs are dimensioned such that the meat fibres are weakened without the meat becoming bruised. The invention is particularly applicable to the pre-treatment of ham immediately prior to brine injection.

Abstract: A stunning tongs for stunning animals prior to slaughter comprising a frame having a handle portion and a pair of stunning arms mounted thereon to permit relative movement between the arms, stunning electrode heads on the arms, a prime mover operable to effect rapid relative movement between the arms to impart a stunning blow on opposite sides of the animal's head, and an electronic stunning circuit operable in timed relation to the prime mover to pass an impulse of predetermined waveform frequency and voltage current for a predetermined time period between the stunning heads through the animal's head coterminous with the stunning blow. A manually actuable control switch is provided to supply actuating energy from an energy source simultaneously to the prime mover and the stunning circuit.