Patent ID: 8916222

Claim:
A method for producing shaped meat portions, the method comprising the steps of sequentially: introducing pieces of whole natural meat into a processing line; determining respective weights of said introduced pieces; combining a first set of those introduced pieces which do not reach said desired weight into a cluster of meat pieces that has said desired weight; selecting a second set of those introduced pieces each having a weight which corresponds to said desired weight; cutting down at least one piece of a third set of those introduced pieces having a weight which exceeds said desired weight such that the pieces of said third set each have said desired weight; freezing said cluster of the first set of meat pieces, one piece of said second set of meat pieces having said desired weight, or one piece of said third set of meat pieces having cut down to said desired weight to form a frozen meat portion having said desired weight; preshaping said frozen meat portion in a freezing mold such that it can be set in a cavity of a shaping device without extending past edges of the cavity; deep freezing said preshaped frozen meat portion; inserting said preshaped deep-frozen meat portin into the cavity of the shaping device; and shaping by the shaping device in the shaping cavity by either pressing or punching said preshaped deep frozen meat portion in a controlled manner and under action of pressure so as to form a shaped deep-frozen meat portion having a three-dimensional shape like that of the shaping cavity; and removing from said shaping cavity said shaped deep-frozen meat portion having a predefined weight and the predefined three-dimensional shape.