Marshall, Minn. — A shiny sea of stainless steel grinders, mixers and presses, planted on a tile floor so clean one could dine from it, await entrepreneurs with novel meat-product inventions.

Completed a little over a year ago, AURI’s meat laboratory/pilot plant in Marshall is a 2,000-square-foot, fully equipped meat processing and packaging facility. It gives small meat processors the chance to try out product ideas before contracting with commercial processors or investing hundreds of thousands in plant equipment.

AURI expects its pilot plant investment to pay big dividends to the state’s economy through value-added meat products and food safety training. Lab scientists Darrell Bartholomew and Ted Gillett are helping design and perfect at least a dozen innovative products — from broccoli-stuffed chicken nuggets to ostrich hams.

Meat deliveries

On an August Friday, two AURI meat clients trek to the Marshall meat lab. “Papa George” Ghanem brings his beef and lamb gyro meat for scientists to compare with a pork gyro variety they’re helping him develop. Ghanem has been calling on AURI since 1992, when he started making Middle Eastern, Armenian and Greek style meats.

Bartholomew and Gillett are also working with Papa George to concoct precooked pork sausages with the gyro’s red-pepper zest and a six-month refrigerated shelf life without preservatives. By designing at AURI before scaling up, Ghanem says he can “develop manufacturing procedures for copacking.” AURI also helps analyze raw product specifications such as grade, leanness, freshness and storage temperature.

“We don’t want to compete with a commercial processor,” Gillett says. But developing and testing before going commercial can prevent financial disasters. “A small processor could easily put a quarter million dollars into equipment,” Bartholomew says. And commercial plants offering custom processing may not have the time or resources to spend on product development.

Ghanem explains how AURI has helped him “centralize the development effort and get a better handle on the technology.” As he speaks, Tom Koller arrives with boxes of meat patties to be dehydrated into dog burgers. Owner of specialty company “Minnesota Slim,” which sells buffalo, venison and elk to upscale restaurants and grocers, Koller is now test-marketing pet foods from fresh meat byproducts.

Pet food and glued steaks

Koller’s already marketed one pet food. “Curly Chews,” an alternative to rawhide made from buffalo tripe, was invented three years ago after he took his sick dog to a U of M vet. The vet suggested eliminating all pork, beef and chicken from the dog’s diet and feeding only meats such as venison, duck and lamb.

Noting that customers prefer human-style pet treats, Koller asked AURI scientists to help him design hot dog, burger and rib-shaped dog treats last year. Minnesota State Fair goers enthusiastically bought hundreds of pounds of the treats this year and last. Beside the fair and word-of-mouth sales, Koller is negotiating with a distributor to market his treats under a major pet brand.

No Name Steaks has enlisted AURI to test a patented method for turning meat trim into whole, juicy grilling steaks. The company trims top-grade meat when it cuts steaks into uniform shapes. Trim is usually ground into hamburger, but a recently patented Canadian product could preserve its market value. “Fibrimex” uses beef albumin to glue trimmed pieces together — essentially using the same natural process that clots blood and heals wounds. AURI tests have proven Fibrimex’s efficacy, paving the way for commercial use.

Miles for meat machines

Even if a meat entrepreneur has to travel hundreds of miles to the Marshall meat lab, the facility’s worth the trip. For starters, there are two walk-in coolers; one doubles as a curing room. Unlike the old-fashioned method of soaking hams in brine for a month before smoking, the equipment at the Marshall plant punctures meat, then uses vacuum pressure and speed to work the brine through. After six to eight hours in the smokehouse, the ham is ready — less than a day’s processing time.

In the main room stands a breading machine, currently churning out macadamia nut and cashew-coated chicken nuggets, a patty maker with various shaped plates, a grinder, and a large mixer that tumbles meat with salt to dissolve proteins and make meat sticky for sausage.

A large emulsifier, essentially a steel bowl with circling blades inside, purees meat for frankfurters and sausage. It’s nicknamed the “silent cutter” because it’s the noisiest machine in the plant, Gillett says. An emulsifier nearby accomplishes the same thing but in smaller batches that take longer. The larger, $180,000 emulsifier might be found in a medium-size plant, while the $17,000 version could be purchased by a start-up business. “We want to have different levels of equipment processors and entrepreneurs might use when going on their own,” Bartholomew says.

To complete the sausage process, a sausage-linker measures and pumps meat into casings. Again, two versions are available. The smaller makes old-fashioned wieners and meats that are priced after they’re weighed. The more expensive version gives per-pound uniformity; every hot dog can be exactly 5.25 inches long in an 8 link-per-pound package. “We can make 250 frankfurters in 30 seconds,” Gillett says.

In the finishing room, a rendering kettle cooks out fat, a peeler removes the cellulose casings from 200 franks in 8 to 10 seconds, and a smoke tree can hold a thousand pounds of meat on a series of trays. Real wood-chip or liquid smoke can be injected into the housing where meat is slowly dried — a delicate art requiring constant attention. “To get the red color, you have to carefully dry the surface first and control moisture,” Gillett says. Otherwise, sausages turn grayish, a distinct disadvantage for American consumers.

While the plant’s equipment is generally state-of-the-art, much is refurbished rather than new. AURI negotiated discounts with equipment supply companies in Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Kansas. “We did a lot of arm twisting to get the prices down,” Gillett says.

Safety? It’s covered

Besides product development assistance, AURI offers training in HACCP — Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points. Operators come and learn about points along the processing line where a mistake could cause contamination. Even when working with a contracted plant, a meat business is responsible for identifying proper cooking temperatures, dryness levels to prevent mold, and packaging requirements for safe food.

Bartholomew points to dried beef jerky as an example. “These are dry, but with our humid climate, they could pick up moisture and spoil, so airtight packaging is important.” He trains clients to identify and solve critical issues so their processing systems will meat federal standards. By January 25, 2000, all meat processing plants under USDA or USDA-equivalent inspection must have HACCP systems. Requirements have been phased in over the last two years, starting with the biggest processors.