Meat like pet food chunks

Abstract

The present invention relates in general to the field of pet food. In particular the present invention relates to a meat like chunk that can be incorporated into a complete pet food. One embodiment of the present invention is a method of using multiple scraped surface heat exchangers and a steam tunnel to produce a meat like chunk. Another embodiment is a composition of meat ingredients, dried egg product, egg whites, and pea protein that results in a meat like chunk having an improved appearance that closely resembles that of actual pieces of meat.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A meat like chunk, comprising:
 a processed slurry derived from meat obtained from animal muscle; and   a binding agent,   wherein the meat like chunk comprises both striations and fibrous structures, and has an irregular, random configuration.   
     
     
         2 . The meat like chunk of  claim 1 , further comprising an animal protein not derived from animal muscle. 
     
     
         3 . The meat like chunk of  claim 2 , wherein the animal protein is an egg product. 
     
     
         4 . The meat like chunk of  claim 1 , further comprising a vegetable protein. 
     
     
         5 . The meat like chunk of  claim 4 , wherein the vegetable protein is a pea protein. 
     
     
         6 . The meat like chunk of  claim 1 , further comprising a vitamin or mineral supplement. 
     
     
         7 . The meat like chunk of  claim 1 , wherein the binding agent is a starch. 
     
     
         8 . A wet pet food, comprising;
 a meat like chunk, comprising a processed slurry derived from meat obtained from animal muscle and a binding agent, wherein the meat like chunk comprises both striations and fibrous structures, and has an irregular, random configuration;   a gravy; and   an edible, visible inclusion.   
     
     
         9 . The wet pet food of  claim 8 , wherein the edible, visible inclusion comprises a plant product. 
     
     
         10 . The wet pet food of  claim 9 , wherein the plant product comprises one or more of the group consisting of tomatoes, apples, avocados, pears, peaches, cherries, apricots, plums, grapes, oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, cranberries, raspberries, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, muskmelon, honeydew melon, strawberries, banana, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, lentils, peppers, green peppers, and red peppers. 
     
     
         11 . A dry pet food, comprising:
 a meat like chunk, comprising a processed slurry derived from meat obtained from animal muscle and a binding agent, wherein the meat like chunk comprises both striations and fibrous structures, has an irregular, random configuration, and has a moisture content of 12% or less; and   a dry edible inclusion.   
     
     
         12 . The dry pet food of  claim 11 , wherein the dry edible inclusion comprises a kibble. 
     
     
         13 . The dry pet food of  claim 11 , wherein the dry edible inclusion comprises a dried plant product. 
     
     
         14 . The dry pet food of  claim 13 , wherein the dried plant product comprises one or more of the group consisting of dried green beans, dried carrots, dried apples and dried bananas. 
     
     
         15 . A meat like chunk, comprising:
 a processed slurry derived from meat obtained from animal muscle; and   a binding agent,   wherein the meat like chunk is produced by steps comprising:
 fragmenting a block of frozen meat obtained from the animal muscle to produce a plurality of meat fragments; 
 blending the plurality of meat fragments with a binding agent to form a meat slurry; 
 transforming, by heat treating but not cooking, the meat slurry using at least one scraped heat exchanger to produce a transformed meat emulsion that is not cooked; 
 transferring the transformed meat emulsion from the scraped heat exchanger; and 
 cooking the meat emulsion to produce the meat like chunk. 
   
     
     
         16 . The meat like chunk of  claim 15 , wherein cooking the meat emulsion comprises cooking the meat emulsion in a steam tunnel. 
     
     
         17 . The meat like chunk of  claim 15 , further comprising an animal protein not derived from animal muscle. 
     
     
         18 . The meat like chunk of  claim 15 , further comprising a vegetable protein. 
     
     
         19 . The meat like chunk of  claim 15 , further comprising a vitamin or mineral supplement. 
     
     
         20 . The meat like chunk of  claim 15 , wherein the binding agent is a starch.