Western Livestock Journal, May 1st, 2000
Chill Out! G&C Packing explores beef's future
by Dick Crow, WLJ Contributing Editor
The future of the beef processing business is already a reality for a small Colorado Springs, CO, meat processor. The initial success of carcass rinse and chill technology at G & C Packing could have a tremendous impact on the beef industry, worldwide.
Quality beef products have always been G & C's goal, since the company's inception by the Grindinger family in 1944. Frank Grindinger, a third-generation packer and owner of G &C, is, like everyone in the beef industry, always looking to improve the consistency of quality in beef, to better meet customers' expectations. Some years ago, he ran across a St. Paul, MN, firm, MPSC, Inc., inventors and purveyors of the patented rinsing and chilling slaughter process technology.
He bought a load of rinse and chilled beef carcasses from one of the early pilot program plants testing the technology. Grindinger ran cutting, shelf-life and taste tests, and was convinced that this was the route of the future for his more than 50-year-old meat processing business.
"The rinse and chill technology in our plant is a blood removal system that has undergone many years of testing, before receiving USDA's commercial trial approval. I had to be assured of that approval before continuing on with the system in our plant," said Grindinger.
The process, according to Grindinger, uses the cardiovascular system of the beef animal to rinse out the 40-60 percent of the animal's blood that isn't bled out in usual processing, while simultaneously lowering muscle pH and internal temperatures earlier, faster and consistently.
Pre-rigor muscles represent one of the best opportunities to control and improve quality in final meat products. Ideally, glycogen, a sugar found in muscle cells, is converted to lactic acid when the animal is slaughtered, lowering the pH. This pH response is the primary measurement of everything associated with meat quality: tenderness, color, shelf-life and purge.
In the real world, however, animals arrive for slaughter in varying states of stress, with varying levels of glycogen, and therefore the pH drop is anything but consistent. The rinse and chill solution is composed of 98 percent water, sugars and salts. The sugars are metabolized by the muscles on contact, recovering the animal's muscles from antemortem stress. The result is highly consistent meat quality.
Grindinger noted that the improvement in tenderness and palatability of the end meats, especially the chuck, is dramatic. He said G & C is producing steaks from shoulder clod and chuck roll that eat as well as top sirloin, some even being juicier. In addition, these steaks offer the chuck's naturally superior flavor. This upgrade in chuck products may be one of the technology's most important benefits, as marketing chuck is regularly a problem in the beef industry, especially in summer months when chuck often ends up as lower-valued ground beef.
Additionally, the process chills the animal from the inside out, with carcass temperatures as much as six to fifteen degrees cooler before going into the chill box. The viscera, or entrails from the carcasses, are 20-22 degrees cooler. These items have been of particular focus for cattle processors.
Studies at Michigan State University confirm the rinse and chill technology improves tenderness and flavor, among other things. Since then, MPSC, Inc., has shifted its focus to other areas, such as developing the engineering of the system, and conducting further research into the technology's impact on improving sanitation, palatability and marketing attributes of beef.
According to Grindinger, improving sanitation is of paramount importance to meat packers today. He notes that the rinse and chill technology produces the cleanest carcasses and work surfaces his crew has ever seen. A combination of factors produces these cleaner carcasses, including the thorough blood removal, temperature and pH reductions, and the rinse solution itself. The solution is antimicrobial in nature. The majority of contamination occurs at hide removal, but using the rinse and chill process, the antimicrobial solution is already present, coating the carcass surface when the hide is pulled. More research on the technology's impact on sanitation is being developed by Dr. Joellen Feirtag and Dr. Michael M. Pullen, of the University of
Minnesota.
Why did Grindinger wait so long before investing in MPSC's rinse and chill technology? Grindinger said the whole idea was so new, before committing himself and his business to such a large investment, he wanted to find out all he could about the technology. A significant amount of misinformation was floating about, obscuring the real story. But finally, as a federally inspected meat processor, he noted there were changes taking place in the way USDA was inspecting meat processors, and this convinced him to go ahead with the rinse and chill process.
"Rinse and chill fits perfectly into the USDA HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) program of catching health problems before the product leaves the plant. Today, USDA is saying, `tell us how you are going to keep your meat processing business clean and safe for the consuming public,' and they were going to police you on that basis," Grindinger said.
Grindinger feels that rinse and chill fits so well into the HACCP program because the process occurs immediately prior to the butchering of animals - establishing the earliest possible opportunity to improve sanitation. In erecting antimicrobial barriers, the earlier the better. Most importantly, the technology is used prior to hide removal. Grindinger explains that, ironically, the technology takes what has been traditionally one of the dirtiest and least important areas of the plant, and creates an efficacious new standard for cleanliness. The design and engineering that goes into the current implementation of the technology goes far beyond traditional meat plant design, utilizing 3A sanitary or dairy standard equipment, and radio frequency
identification for process control. The "fail safe" technology that MPSC, Inc. has developed guarantees the sterility of everything - the rinse solution, the application of the solution, the applicator and even the operator's hands and arms.
According to Grindinger, in March the University of Minnesota executed a scientific protocol for USDA, and among other tests collected micro samples to determine any impact on bacterial population. Both the rinse and chill and control carcasses were very clean. However, the data showed about half the number of bacteria on rinse and chill carcasses as compared to controls, and two to four times less bacteria in the variety meats. No generic E. coli was detectable on either rinse and chill or control carcasses; eight of 43 control carcasses were positive for coliforms, while all rinse and chill carcasses were negative for them. The report confirmed that E. coli was not a problem in the cattle inspected at G & C, whether using rinse and chill or not.
Still, Grindinger notes that it is better to interfere with microbial contamination earlier rather than later in the slaughter process.
As a practical businessman, what excites Grindinger the most about rinse and chill is its improvement in meat quality. Grindinger is not only enthusiastic about the cleanest carcasses he's ever seen as a result of the process, but he and his associates share a lot of pride in the evident improvement in quality of G & C's beef products.
"The beef I can now make available to our customers is the most attractive beef any of us have ever seen. This meat has the texture and complexion, if you will, that just shouts quality. The little bit of palatability research we've done ourselves, and with some of our customers, has been very positive. The downside is that the product is so good, it has a tendency to actually startle some people because of its superiority!"
J. Warner Ide, executive vice president of MPSC, Inc., occasionally videotapes interviews with the people working on the kill floor, to get their impressions on the rinse and chill technology and how it effects their jobs. Nearly all have said that rinse and chill animals process with far less effort, facilitating jobs such as skinning and dehiding, and in general makes knife strokes easier, especially notable in boning and fabrication.
USDA allowed one not-for-sale bison to be rinsed, and the improvement in processing was huge, according to the kill floor foreman. Workers also comment on how much cleaner and free of blood carcass and work surfaces are, which adds to the enjoyment of their work.
Currently only fed cattle are being put through the G & C rinse and chill program.However, Grindinger is really looking forward to the time he can rinse and chill cows, bulls and bison as well.
Prior to his investment in MPSC's rinsing and chilling technology, Grindinger had learned about two meat packing businesses in Victoria, Australia, that have now used the system on over 240,000 animals in the past year and a half. These plants slaughter primarily young, grass-fed animals for the domestic market. Both plant owners have had to significantly increase plant capacities, to keep up with consumer demand, and they credit the rinse and chill system.
Australian rinse and chill beef is sold in most of their major supermarket chains, and many smaller stores as well. The improvement in color and service-case shelf-life have really helped the Australian retailers.
Grindinger hopes that the Australian rinse and chill experience will take place in his market, as well. However, there is a question about how fast this experience may be in coming.
A major packer once said, "You can't place a price on ideas." He could have added that most innovation rarely begins with the major processors in the meat business. Kenneth Monfort and his father took over management of a beef processing plant in Greeley, CO, in the early sixties, after several Denver packers allegedly dropped out of their partnership. Not knowing any better, Ken Monfort came up with the idea of boxing beef, in place of swinging carcasses. The rest is history.
There appears to be little doubt that major packers have had the opportunity to examine the pluses and minuses of the MPSC, Inc., patented rinsing and chilling technology and have done little, as an industry to implement in one way or another. Despite its competitiveness, the beef industry's past indicates it has always been slow to change.
Still, rinse and chill may just be a major key to the beef industry's future.
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