 Finely textured meat is produced by heating boneless beef trimmings to 107 – 109 ° F ( 42 – 43 ° C ) , removing the melted fat by centrifugal force using a centrifuge , and flash freezing the remaining product to 15 ° F ( − 9 ° C ) in 90 seconds in a roller press freezer , although the South Dakota Department of Agriculture has reported a lower processing temperature of about 100 ° F ( 38 ° C ) . The roller press freezer is a type of freezer that was invented in 1971 by BPI CEO Eldon Roth that can " freeze packages of meat in two minutes " and began to be used at Beef Products Inc. in 1981 . The lean finely textured beef is added to ground beef as a filler or to reduce the overall fat content of ground beef . In March 2012 about 70 percent of ground beef sold in U.S. supermarkets contained the product . Source areas for the product from cattle may include the most contaminated portions , such as near the hide . 
