Patent ID: 8172545

Claim:
A method of controlling the flow rate of a ground meat stream in making processed meat products comprising: weighing meat in a hopper upstream of a pump configured for generating a ground meat stream from meat in the hopper; pumping the meat from the hopper using the pump set at a base speed for a base time period after weighing the meat; weighing the meat remaining in the hopper after pumping the meat at the base speed for the base time period to determine a base flow rate; and pumping the meat from the hopper at a pump rate determined by a target flow rate and the base flow rate and the base speed when calibrating and at an adjusted pump rate determined by the target flow rate, the base flow rate, the base speed, and an actual flow rate when meat is not being added to the hopper, the adjusted pump rate being obtained by increasing the pump rate when the actual flow rate is less than the target flow rate and decreasing the pump rate when the actual flow rate is greater than the target flow rate.