Joining together blocks of meat to form long piece for slicing into e.g. bacon, by contacting side surfaces of frozen or non frozen blocks

摘要

A side surface (3) on a first block (1) is contacted with a side surface (4) on a second block (2) and if both blocks are frozen then at least one of these side surfaces is wetted or if one block is frozen and the other block is not or if both blocks are not frozen then the two blocks are frozen whilst in contact with each other. A method for joining together at least two blocks (1, 3) of meat with one or more side surfaces in order to form a long piece of meat (5) comprises contacting at least one side surface on the first block with at least one side surface on the second block and if both blocks are frozen then at least one of these side surfaces is wetted or if one block is frozen and the other block is not or if both blocks are not frozen then the two blocks are frozen whilst in contact with each other. Independent claims are also included for the following: (a) method for shaping one or more blocks of meat with a length axis extending at right angles to one or two of the block side surfaces, comprises introducing the non-frozen block(s) into a mould and then freezing in order to form a block cross-section which is substantially uniform over the length of the block; (b) long piece of meat formed by either of these methods; and (c) method for producing sliced meat products from this long piece of meat.