Author
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YOUNG, LOUIS |
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Submitted to: International Congress of Meat Science and Technology Proceedings
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 7/7/2000 Publication Date: 8/1/2000 Citation: YOUNG, L.L. A STRATEGY FOR MINIMIZING PROPORTION OF OVER AND UNDER WEIGHTS IN MINIMUM WEIGHT PACKAGED CHICKEN BREAST FILLETS. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MEAT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PROCEEDINGS. 2000. Interpretive Summary: In order to guarantee that packaged foods contain at least the amount of food that is stated on the label, it is sometimes necessary to overfill the packages. This situation is costly to food processors, especially processors of high value products such as chicken breast fillets, because they are not paid for this overfillage. In this study, we have devised and tested an alternative packaging procedure which controls the overfilling of containers by carefully choosing the range of piece weights which are packaged together. Our study indicates that using this system, overfilling can be reduced from over 10% to less than 3%. Technical Abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the number of weight categories needed to minimize give away and under weight packages in minimum-weight-packaged chicken fillets. Packages nominally containing 1816 g were simulated using models containing various weights of fillets. Give away was calculated as the difference between the simulated and nominal package weights. Proportion of under weight packages was estimated from statistical simulations. Mean weight of the simulated packages was 2050.6 g for the two category models and decreased to 1828.5 g for the ten category models. Potential savings could be achieved by categorizing fillets by weight and packaging by piece count instead of by total bag weight |
