Reducing yield loss in meat smoking: real world examples of salmon and bacon
26/6/2025
Product weight is always a prominent topic in our work with butchers and meat producers. Especially with large production volumes, a few percent weight can make a big difference to sales. In this blog, we share our expertise on weight loss in meat smoking and use two specific examples to show the benefits of ionization in smoking.
Yield loss is the difference between the raw weight of a piece of meat before smoking and the weight after the process. The weight loss occurs because the meat loses water.
Intentional yield loss: Intentional reduction for preservation or for a certain product consistency
Unintentional yield loss: Avoidable losses due to excessively long process times, inadequate process control or incorrect loading, which directly reduce the net yield
We have set up an online calculator here that can be used to quickly and easily determine the economic effects of a lower weight loss.
Two common types of weight measurement
Before-and-after weighing with calibrated scales Before each cycle, the entire trolley including raw materials is weighed, and again immediately after the process. The difference gives the percentage weight loss; the result is transferred to the batch records.
Inline sensor system with continuous weight recording Special hanging devices continuously record the mass of the products. The loss is continuously recorded and displayed in the log using a curve.
Smoking and drying have the greatest effect on yield loss
In the smoking process step, it is the combination of temperature and dwell time in the chamber that together have the greatest effect on weight loss.
Hot smoke (approx. 50 - 85 °C) has the greatest weight loss effect. The temperature is raised and water loss quickly sets in: the product begins to “sweat”. As the smoking step is usually preceded by a drying step, the circulating air has a low humidity at the beginning and quickly absorbs the water from the product. Usually, hot smoke is processed at higher air circulation speeds, which further promotes the transfer of water from the product to the air.
Cold smoke (15 - 25 °C), on the other hand, has less of an effect. The air in the chamber is significantly lower than with hot smoking, and the water diffuses only slowly from the product into the circulating air in the chamber. In addition, with lower fan speeds are used, which inhibits water and weight loss.
During the drying process step, the moisture is removed from the chamber. The warm and dry air can absorb a lot of moisture from the product, which leads to a large weight loss in the product.
Typical causes of unwanted weight loss
We regularly see problems with smoke color or weight loss in the meat industry. The typical causes of weight loss are usually
Too low humidity during the smoking phase, which allows the circulating air in the chamber to absorb more water
Surface drying too fast, which inhibits the water release and increases the total time in the chamber
Too high air circulation due to poorly adjusted fans or unfavorable trolley loading
Inaccurate readings due to poorly calibrated or unfavorably placed probes, which can lead to a whole range of subsequent problems
Too little smoke color, which leads to a manual extension of the smoking process and then more weight loss as a result
More meat mass through smoking with ionization
Smoking with ionized smoke significantly shortens the process time. This effect is particularly strong with long smoking processes and we regularly achieve a time reduction of 30 to 50 percent.
The product comes out of the chamber more quickly and is therefore exposed to the thermal processes and water loss for less time.
With Ionsmoke and the EB1 smokehouse controller, the smoking steps can be precisely controlled so that the product can be removed at the right time with the right color.
Example from Scotland: 1% more mass of salmon
This example shows salmon that has only been in the smokehouse for 4.5 hours instead of 6 thanks to ionized smoking. As a result, the product retains 1% more mass.
Example from Germany: 2% more mass of cooked bacon
When processing this cooked bacon, the entire process time was reduced from 7 to 5 hours using Ionsmoke, which means that the end product retains 2% more weight. The investment will be amortized after around six months, as 2% has a noticeable effect on sales with a large production volume.