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THE A R M Y ’ S N E W LOOK A T F A B R I C A T E D FROZEN M E A T S
A.
1. S A V I C H
The Military SubsAstence Supply Agency purchases approximately 500
million pounds of fYesh or frozen meat products annually. Since t h i s huge
amount of perishable product has t o be distributed t o innumerable points of
consumption, the research f o r ways and means t o cut down on space, time,
weight and mapower never ends. New concepts of warfare have necessitated
a r a d i c a l overhauling of supply patterns, and intensive study of t h e supply
item itself has been a primary concern. Thus, i n the area of frozen meats,
fabrication and portionized servings a r e superseding former methods and we
now propose ready-to-cook products prepared f o r the g r i l l o r oven f r o m the
frozen o r thawed s t a t e .
Fabrication and portionized servings o f f e r great l o g i s t i c advantages. They require: less storage space; l e s s shipping weight; and assure
b e t t e r u t i l i z a t i o n of meat cuts. In addition they a r e easier t o handle
and prepare, permit proper trim, and, above a l l , conserve manpower. A
fabricated frozen product requires no cutting, a minimum of handling, and
problems of shrinkage are eliminated. Institutions, hotels and restaurants
have become full.^ avare of the advantages of fabricated meats i n recent
years and have been purchasing them in considerable quantity. The meat industry i n response t o t h i s trend has trained plant personnel t o f a b r i c a t e
and portion cut meats, t o comply with t h e demands o f t h e consumer.
The mflitary i s no newcomer in t h i s area. The Bervices have
favored a complete ready-to-cook and portionized product since 1940. In
1940 and t h e immediate following years, however, t h e meat industry was not
geared t o produce t h i s product. In fact, it was not u n t i l 1947 and 1948,
that t h e Military i t s e l f surveyed the situation, t o determine whether o r
not the volume of fabricated product required by t h e Armed Forces could be
produced, p r i c e considered, It w a s found t h a t Industry as a whole lacked
experience or know how in t h e f i e l d . The exception, of course, was a small
group of H.R. & I. (hotel, restaurant, and i n s t i t u t i o n ) meat fabricators,
The services have studied the meat products i n t h e i r feeding
system and r e a l i z e t h a t kitchen personnel serve a dual role; they a r e compelled t o be butchers fa addition t o supervising t h e cooking and distribut i o n of food as well as over all manager of the kitchen.
In 1951 the need f o r resdy-to-cook foods was ezqhasized and it
was believed t h a t industry could process the product a t a reasonable cost.
A t t h i s time Beef Boneless 6-Way was developed as a purchase document.
Maintaining kitchen equipment and qualified personnel i s a pressing problem i n t h e services, The military i s constantly establishing small
a l e r t groups, such as radar posts, which means a convenient method of
issue i s a l s o essential. With the use of fabricated meats the required
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number of servings can be issued, and there is no need t o defrost an e n t i r e
50 pound box f o r processing. Consideration has been given t o buying 10
pound boxes of frozen rieats f o r these small groups of men. Also these small
sites have limited stoi-age space and compact packing means maximum u t i l i z a t i o n of space. This means maximum u t i l i z a t i o n of a l l meat c u t s w i t h emphasis
on acceptance, savings i n space, weight and manpower, and convenience, cost
considered.
The A i r Force has scheduled a program t o purchase only fabricated
and portionized meats withln the next two years. When a l l meats used are
available as fabricated and partionized servings, A i r Force meat cutting
plants w i l l be discontinued.
This b r i e f l y presents the past h i s t o r y of the military feeding
program and the current trend,
Let us now examine i n more d e t a i l t h e products proposed i n the
You w i l l note t h a t f o r each
product, we have kept a l e r t t o the need f o r savings, as mentioned above,
w i t h the cost taken into consideration. W
e must mention cost, because it
i s a governing factor. It may be desirable t o supply t o the user only the
choice cuts of meat, but the budget w i l l not permit t h i s type of arrangement. This i s reflected i n t h e fact that the e n t i r e carcass is processed
f o r boneless beef,
"Armyls New Look a t Fabricated Frozen Meats."
I would l i k e t o digress j u s t for a moment before going on and exp l a i n the type of boneless beef' t h a t we are currently buying. One is, w e
are buying a c t u a l l y on three m i l i t a r y specifAcations. We a r e buying a
prefabricated product which consists of seven categories f o r the Navy where
the complete carcass i s not utilized.
The second type is beef known as four-way, consisting of four
categories t h a t has three-fourths inch of fat trim on t h i s p a r t i c u l a r product. The surface f a t shall not exceed three-quarters of an inch.
The t h i r d type i s beef boned six ways which consists of six categories having a h a l f inch surf'ace trim.
Recently we have developed a new boneless beef specification
t h a t has not been production t e s t e d as yet and it w i l l consist of seven
categories and we w i l l no longer, o r it i s hoped we w i l l no longer use t h e
existing three specifications.
The new specification w i l l consist of two types. Type one w i l l
be proportionized boneless beef. That means all the steaks w i l l be proport i o n cut.
Type 2 w i l l be boneless beef seven categories not proportionPxed.
I n the event of emergencies it w i l l not be timed t o proportionize all t h e
steaks of type one. That i s our new approach.
Now w h a t I would l i k e t o mention here, going along with what we
heard yesterday, the production of a meat type meat carcass, t h i s i s ess e n t i a l t o the meat industry, For t h i s reason t h e m i l i t a r y i n d i r e c t l y i s
183.
requesting t h i s type of carcass, not i n the specification as such, but whet
i s happening i s t h i s , the Military Subsistence Supply Agency submits a not i c e of i n t e n t t o purchase t o t h e industry, In t h i s "nip" a l l t h e requirements a r e l i s t e d . In turn, the industry submits a bid, and if t h e bid happens t o be $68 per hundredweight, being the lowest bid, that p a r t i c u l a r
contractor w i l l be awarded the contract.
I n t u r n now he i s obligated t o produce one car of beef of approximately 40,000, o r whatever the contract c a l l s for. So what he i s
doing now, he has committed himself t o a price of producing t h i s beef a t
$68 per one hundredweight, not knowing w h a t h i s yield w i l l be. If he gets
a group of carcasses i n h i s cooler t h a t w i l l not yield 63 o r 65 per cent,
which has been calculated as an average yield with a half inch trim, then
he has problems,
I n time, i f the producer can't f'urnish the industry these type
of beef carcasses, we w i l l have eliminated some of h i s r i s k , l e t us say,
for. He has an unknown i n there so
which i n t u r n t h e government i s paywhen he bids he has t o put in a safety factor, Sometimes t h i s doesnlt always work. (Reads: "Now, g e t t i n g to 4-way beef, where you have threequarters inch surface f a t , with three-fourths inch surface fat, where we
donlt have t h i s product proportionized, etc D")
The following items are required f o r t h e A i r Force t o phase out
the current meat program:
1. Boneless Beef-Portionized
2. Boneless Pork Slices
3. Batrelcse Pork Loin Roast
4. Beef Liver Portion Cut
5. Boneless Fresh $am Roast
6. Chop Suey Meat (Diced)
7 * Boneless Veal Portionized
8. Boneless Lamb
When a l l of the above items a r e available as procurement items,
the user w i l l have a convenience item, easy t o caxve, uniform a s t o serving
size, and a product t h a t requires l i t t l e o r no cutting p r i o r t o prepara-
t ion.
The new items may be summed up as follows:
Boneless Beef
The using services are currently receiving 37 pounds of ground
meat with each 100 pounds of boneless beef purchased, They requested t h a t
t h i s amount of ground beef (37 percent) be reduced, and additional c u t s be
added t o the dry heat category. The anu3unt of 37 percent ground beef would
not be unreasonable provided t h a t beef was t h e o n l y ground product served.
The I n s t i t u t e has developed a processed flaked steak by processing
the trimmings t h a t a r e normrelly ground t o reduce the amount of ground meat
issued. The process flaked steak i s the seventh category an8 each procurement of boneless beef w i l l contain 10 percent flaked steaks. If proven
highly acceptable a larger portion of the trimmings may be flaked and
processed into steaks, Ir,troducing the flaked steak and making other
changes, w i l l increase the steal; category by 12 percent.
Slide -
Boneless Pork L0j.n Roasts and Slices
The preliminary draft of the proposed specification f o r boneless
pork roast and portionized s l i c e s has been completed, The roasts are made
from trirmned pork loins and have no more than 1/2 inch surface f a t . The
complete boneless l o i n i s used except f o r the tenderloin, The tenderloin
i s retained by the packer. The boneless loin roasts are formed, frozen fn
casings, and cooked from the f'rozen condition i n the casing. This roast
has approximately 3 t o 5 percent l e s s cooking loss when compared with
string t i e d uncovered roasts.
Pork s l i c e s are produced fromthe above boneless l o i n roast and
portion cut into 5 ounce servings. Each boneless s l i c e contains two chops
and i n each s l i c e there i s a center cut chop. The s l i c e s are uniform, and
may be prepared on the grill from a frozen o r thawed product.
The boneless roasts and s l i c e s will reduce the weight shipped
from 100 pounds of regular l o i n s t o approximately 70 t o 75 pounds of bonel e s s roast and chops. This type of savings represents r e a l dollars t o the
Government and i n addition eliminates time and -power
f o r portionizing
8t the dining h a l l level.
Slide.
Pork Roast and Pork Slice
Boneless Fresh %rk Ham Roast
The preliminary draft has been corqpleted f o r a boneless ham roast,
The casing does n o t lend i t s e l f t o t h i s type of
that i s string tied,
product.
Beef Liver
!l?he f i n a l &aft f o r the Beef Liver Frozen Portion Sliced specification i s ready f o r publication. The military w i l l purchase skinned,
formed, portionized beef l f v e r s l i c e s weighing 4 ounces. This product i s
currently purchased under private label. The Navy, has emphasized the need
f o r a portionized l i v e r slice.
The military currently purchase semi-boneless and boneless veal.
These products require additional processing a t the dining h a l l , The
services have agreed t o serving two veal items, c u t l e t s and processed
flaked steaks i n l i e u of roasts, chops, diced and chopped veal, The two
products w i l l be processed from the e n t i r e veal carcaes and the c u t l e t s
and steaks shall weigh 5 ouncee.
1854
Chop Suey Meat
- --Pork and .--Veal
A specification has been completed f o r chop suey meat, Using
t h i s specification t h e services can purchase diced pork o r veal o r combinat i o n ready f o r cooking.
Slide
-
Chop Suey Meat
Boneless Lamb
Work on fabricated lamb i s scheduled f o r t h e first quarter of the
next f i s c a l year.
When these specifications a r e coqpleted the Armed Forces w i l l be
able t o procure a complete l i n e of ready-to-cook products t h a t w i l l save
time, space, weight and as an added bonus release kitchen help f o r more ess e n t i a l duties, It has been mentioned that the Armed Forces purchase 500
million pounds of f r e s h o r frozen meat products annually. I n view of t h i s
tremendous volume, it can readily be seen t h a t every device f o r improving
handling, storage, and issue w i l l save substantial sums of money, Our work,
we f e e l , i s a contribution not only t o economy but a l s o t o f i e l d efficiency.
CEAIRMM SULZBACEER: One
know something he w i l l give you the
you fellows want t o know m r e about
wards o r i n the h a l l and he w i l l be
he can.
thing about Al Savich, i f you want t o
answer in no unaertain terms. Maybe
what he said. You can t a l k t o him aftervery glad t o answer those questions if
Our laboratory did a coup1.e of pieces of work a few years ago on
the survival and growth of micro-organisms i n frozen meat and t h i s apparentl y created some i n t e r z s t here and there, and t h e people a t Cambridge f o l lowed along w i t h t h i s work. And they found that e i t h e r I was wrong o r I
was mistaken o r something. So t h i s resulted i n s o m correspondence between
D r . Ingram and myself. I kncw Dr. Ingram before, and I thus learned about
a man named Al Kitchell, who worked with Dr. Ingram and who was responsib l e f o r much of t h e work they were doing.
Well, a couple of years went by and I was unable t o g e t back t o
t h i s s o r t of work, much as I am interested i n it, and f think the Cambridge people d i d continue somewhat but again not quite a t the l e v e l they
would l i k e d t o have. And again last f a l l , o r towards the end of t h e summer, I can't remember what it was, I got a l e t t e r f r o m Dr. Ingram saying
t h i s chap Allan Kitchell was going t o the United States t o spend a l i t t l e
time, doing some work f o r t h e B r i t i s h Embassy here, and he wanted me t o
know about t h i s j u s t so I would be aware of h i s presence. And I wrote
back and said I hoped he would come t o B e l t s v i l l e as soon as he got here
and we would then, of course, become fast friends and possibly we might
our Joint interests.
be able t o do some Joint work t o
Well, vhen Dr. KitcheU. landed here, he found they had h i s work
w e l l cut out f o r him and he has been so busy t h a t a few months, l e s s than
186.
a few months ago, he was sick and should have spent two o r three weeks i n
a hospital, but instead he had t o go t o about three meetings i n two days.
So you can see he is a r e a l hard-working, earnest boy and I appreciate very much h i s willlngness t o take time out of a very busy schedule
t o come here and spend some t h e with usc I know t h a t there are very few
people who can t e l l you t h i s story of the significance of the growth of
micro-organisms i n low temperatures i n frozen foods. Allen n t c h e l l i s t h e
mean we vant t o hear from. Allen.
build-up.
rostrum.
I am not a t a l l sure I am happy with t h a t big
I have a l o t of l i f e , I assure you.
MR, KITCEELL:
Lots of people express misgivings about finding themselves on a
Indeed, I have had the same misgivings.
Let me say, M r e Chairman and gentlemen, how pleased I am t o be
here, I am not the busy man that B i l l makes out. I gladly accepted h i s
invitation t o t a l k because I spend most of my time going around l i s t e n i n g ,
And it gets a b i t d u l l and sometimes I feel l i k e jumping up and joining it.
In Washington I had a l l t h e data from the experiments we conducted, When I got back from a West Coast t r i p last Thursday I discovered
I had neither. So you w i l l have t o forgive the lack of i l l u s t r a t i v e material.
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