A meat cutlet tenderizing machine having first and second sets of coacting roller cutters between which a meat cutlet is fed is disclosed. The coacting roller cutters of each set are arranged in parallel pairs with rotary tenderizing knives mounted in axially spaced relation on each roller cutter. The second set of roller cutters are vertically spaced with respect to the roller cutters of the first set to permit a meat cutlet to be engaged and perforated simultaneously by the rotary tenderizing knives of both first and second sets as the meat cutlet advances through the coacting roller cutter pairs.Get more news about Cuber Perforator Machine,you can vist our website!

The coacting roller cutters are driven by a chain and sprocket assembly in which the drive sprocket coupled to the roller cutters of the second set has a greater number of sprocket teeth than the drive sprocket coupled to the roller cutters of the first set thereby causing the rotary tenderizing knives of the second set to rotate at a faster rate relative to the rotary tenderizing knives of the first set. The meat cutlet is stretched and perforated simultaneously as it advances through the coacting roller cutter sets because of the differential rotation.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to food processing apparatus and in particular to a meat tenderizing machine having coacting roller cutters for tenderizing meat cutlets.
2. Description of the Prior Art Breaded veal and steak cutlets of the type typically served in restaurants and cafeterias comprise meat cutlets which have undergone tenderizing and breading operations prior to cooking. The tenderizing and breading may be carried out on the premises of the cafeteria or restaurant but in most establishments bulk quantities of the breaded cutlets are provided by a food processing vendor according to certain specifications regarding meat portion size and breading constituency. According to conventional methods, tenderizing of meat cutlets is carried out in a machine which has a pair of roller cutters provided with teeth or knives for severing the connective tissues and striations. The meat cutlet is fed between the roller cutters and after discharge from the cutters is turned 90° and is fed through the roller cutters again. This procedure may be repeated to achieve the desired degree of tenderizing. This manual operation is quite slow and requires the attention of an operator for the turning step. The effectiveness of bulk tenderizing operations involving multiple operators and multiple tenderizing units has been limited by the increasing capital expenditures for individually operated tenderizing machines and by rapidly increasing labor costs. Although a single meat tenderizing machine and operator may be economically competitive in a low volume operation, food processing vendors who supply bulk quantities of tenderized cutlets require automatic tenderizing equipment capable of high volume production with minimum supervision and maintenance.