A review on the relation between grinding process and quality of ground meat

This review is providing an overview of the actual and past research in the field of ground meat. The forces that are acting in the meat grinder are well understood. The higher the forces that are acting on the meat while grinding, the stronger the disintegration of the meat cells after the process. These forces can be calculated as energy transfer in meat grinders using specific mechanical energy (SME). The amount of non-intact cells (ANIC) can be used to describe the extent of disintegrated cells. Different methods are available to rate the quality of ground meat, which is mainly influenced by the raw material and processing. Over the past decades of industrialization, the landscape of ground meat production has changed. However, the effects of the process adjustments on the quality of ground meat are not yet sufficiently described in the literature.