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Abstract

An apparatus and method for a non-destructive lean recovery operable for separating lean and fat animal tissue in sparse lean products, such as for example, meat trimmings. The method and apparatus exploits the fact that lean and fatty tissue have distinctly different specific gravities. The method and apparatus impacts the sparse lean material with a force, which breaks the lean material into small pieces of fat and lean material thereby separating the fat portions from the lean portions. The sparse lean material can be initially ground through a grind plate and the ground material can be suspended in a water bath and agitated with sufficient force to separate the fat from the lean material. As the forces are applied and the separation occurs, due to the different specific gravities of the lean and fat, the fat will tend to float to the surface of the water bath and the lean material will tend to sink in the water bath, thereby facilitating recovering the lean material portions.

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