PROCESS FOR SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENT OF FAT CONTENT AND COLLECTION OF MICROBIAL STATUS SAMPLE FOR MEAT PRODUCTS

摘要

Provided are novel apparatus and methods for simultaneous determination of fat content of a product sample and collection of a test sample suitable for microbial status determination, comprising determining the specific gravity and fat content of the sample based on immersion in a liquid, and collection of retained immersion liquid form microbial testing. Certain embodiments comprise, sealing the product sample in a container in contact with sterile microbial sampling liquid, weighing the sealed container in air and in a liquid, and determining the fat content (% Fat) using a reference standard. In certain embodiments, specific gravity of the product sample (SGP) is determined (e.g., according to SGP = WP-AIR /(WP-AIR - WP-WATER)). Particular embodiments comprise removing a portion of the medium from the sealed container to provide a microbial test sample. Certain embodiments comprise returning the product sample back to the process stream from which it came.