Meat tenderization and sterilization using axial planer shockwaves

摘要

A system and method to tenderize and sterilize meat provides for uninterrupted processing of batches of meat and avoids delays and possibility of contamination of the meat. A conveyer belt carries batches of meat through liquid in a container. First and second arrays of electro-mechanical transducers are disposed in the liquid. The first array of electro-mechanical transducers is arranged facing one side of the conveyer belt and batch of meat, and the second array of electromechanical transducers is arranged facing the other side of the conveyer belt and meat. The first and second arrays of electro-mechanical transducers are oriented and controlled to simultaneously project converging shock waves of energy to and into the batch of meat. Other batches of meat are placed on and picked up from the conveyer belt by feeder and pick-up conveyers to provide for continuous tenderizing and/or sterilizing without introducing contaminations.