Meat+Poultry - September 2021 - 26

COVER STORY
part of production on designated shifts.
" The meat logs are shipped directly to
our retail division because they have their
own slicing operation inline, which is why we
don't slice for them, " said Dave Rife, the chief
manufacturing officer who oversees White
Castle's eight manufacturing facilities. About
40 employees work at the Zanesville plant. Rife
is the oldest of the fourth generation working
in the family-owned business, which includes
his cousin Lisa Ingram.
The company works with a network of beef
companies that ship frozen, 60-lb blocks to the
plant. Raw product is stored in a freezer before
the blocks go to an unboxing area and are
conveyed to the first of two grinding operations
using grinding and blending equipment
from Weiler.
" The yield is phenomenal, " Rife said of the
results of the double grinding and blending
process. " The primary grind is a larger grind
and the meat goes into the mixers in a process
that lasts about 15 minutes. "
Next, the product goes to the final grind,
using a much smaller plate, and it is extruded
using White Castle's customized, five-hole
horn, that is equipped to create the square logs
and the tell-tale holes that run the length of
every log.
At White Castle's new home
office in Columbus, Jamie
Richardson shows off the
proprietary meat horn used
to create the five holes
in every burger patty.
her great-grandfather brought to the business
and keeping it alive and making it relevant to
the challenges of today. "
FOOD FOCUSED
Approximately 80% of the products
manufactured at the 70,000-square-foot
Zanesville beef plant, which sits on a 10-acre
plat, are patties that are shipped to one of
White Castle's 362 restaurants. The other 20%
of beef processed at the facility are beef logs
that are shipped to the company's retail plants,
where they are sliced, and made into frozen,
microwaveable sliders sold in multiple box
sizes at a growing number of retail stores.
Whether sliced or unsliced, logs are typically
processed using three lines with one additional
line available for backup. Log boxing is also
26 MEAT+POULTRY | 09.21 | www.meatpoultry.com
" In the final grind, that's where the magic
happens, " said Al Swearingen, plant manager,
as the more finely ground beef is extruded
through White Castle's proprietary meat horn,
which creates the signature five holes that run
the length of every log and are part of every
patty. The idea to add the holes was suggested
in 1947 by an employee at what then was a
meat plant in Cincinnati. The practice was
adopted and implemented in 1951, as a means
of allowing patties to cook faster and reduce
the weight of each patty. The meat horn was
patented in 1954.
Like the patented beef horn, a log saw,
which was also custom-made by White Castle
engineers, cuts the logs into uniform, 37-inch
lengths before they are conveyed to a spiral
freezer prior to slicing. Swearingen said
that crust is formed when the logs' internal
temperature is chilled to 26˚F and an external
temperature of 0˚F.
" After about 20 minutes, we get a nice crust
on them for our slicing operation, " Rife said.
After the logs move to one of three
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