BLENDING GROUND BEEF TO CONTROL FAT CONTENT USING SIMULATED ON–LINE SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS
Simulation was used to demonstrate that on–line visible/near–infrared spectroscopic measurements of fat content 
in the streams of ground beef from grinders can be used effectively to achieve a target fat content in a final blender, eliminating 
the conventional intermediate blending step. Sample–to–sample measurements were simulated using an autoregressive 
moving average time series model while lot–to–lot, block–to–block, and measurement–to–actual variation was treated as 
random. More than 10,000 spectra from 31 blocks of frozen beef, in addition to historical processing plant data, were used 
to develop the model. Test conditions were for a nominal 15% fat stream to be blended with a nominal 50% fat stream to create 
final blends of 30%, 35%, and 40% fat. Three styles of control limits were tested for the model: constant limit, tapered limit, 
and funnel limit. These styles describe the fat content limits that control whether one or both streams will be added to the 
blender at a particular moment and how these limits change as the blender fills. The control styles that minimized the time 
to fill the blender were tapered, funnel, and tapered for 30%, 35%, and 40% fat content targets, respectively. For all three, 
the target fat content was achieved within a tolerance of .0.75% fat 99.7% of the time.