Patent ID: 8048461

Claim:
A process for injection of a refrigerated suspension of particles into food products comprising the steps of: loading a mixture of ingredients into a mixing silo; feeding said mixture under pressure into a first reduction mill, said first reduction mill having an array of reduction sets; shearing said mixture with said array of reduction sets within said first reduction mill to form a suspension; feeding said suspension into a storage silo, in which said suspension is held until injection into a food product; supplying said suspension from said storage silo to a plurality of injection devices configured to deliver said suspension into each food product at multiple points; and injecting said suspension at a controlled pressure into the food product, said pressure provided by one or more pressure supply devices, each pressure supply device being configured to independently supply said suspension to a given injection device, wherein the food product is placed proximate to a first injection device and said suspension is delivered by said injectors of said first injection device thereby penetrating the meat product at multiple locations; collecting within a return silo the excess suspension that is injected into but not retained by the food product; feeding said collected excess suspension under pressure into a secondary reduction mill having an array of reduction sets; shearing said collected excess suspension with said reduction sets within said secondary reduction mill; and discharging said sheared collected portion of suspension back into said suspension storage silo for reincorporation into said process.