Patent ID: 6929540

Claim:
A method for classifying a meat cut and trimming the fat therefrom comprising the steps of: conveying a meat cut along a split multi-belt conveyor having a plurality of proximately spaced conveyor belts extending in parallel along a path of conveyance having a plurality of uniform gaps there between; probing the meat cut with a probe assembly having a plurality of elongated laterally aligned probes operable to sense a fat to lean interface of the meat cut where each of said probes are aligned along one of the gaps; selectively driving the probe assembly with a drive effecting elevation and lowering of the probe assembly along a circular path for insertion and retraction of the probes; tipping the probe's tip forward along the path of conveyance with the conveyance of the meat cut during insertion in the meat cut; and sensing the fat to lean interface with the plurality of probes and outputting a plurality of signals from each probe characteristic of the fat to lean interface.