Patent ID: 8021709

Claim:
A method of separating muscle protein from connective tissue, the method comprising: (a) reducing the size of the muscle tissue which contains both muscle protein and connective tissue; (b) mixing the muscle tissue with an amount of water to create a first slurry; (c) pumping the first slurry through a first pipe and then through at least one constriction, thus causing the first slurry to accelerate in the direction of the flow of the first slurry such that a substantial fraction of the connective tissue will not tear and a substantial fraction of the muscle protein will tear; (d) separating the muscle protein from the connective tissue using a separation device; and (e) solubilizing the separated muscle protein in a second slurry by raising or lowering the pH of the second slurry to a point at which at least 75% of the separated muscle protein dissolves; wherein the completion of steps (a)-(e) results in a separated muscle protein of a sufficiently small size that it can be injected directly into intact muscle foods.