INVENTOR SEEKS MEATY PROFITS.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

PANORAMA CITY - Like many an entrepreneur, Daniel Banayan thinks he's on the cusp of something big.

He's in the fat testing business, heading Data Support Co. Inc., which makes machines that allow supermarkets and wholesalers to test the leanness of their ground beef. He's landed the device, the HFT 2000, in several major grocery chains, including Gelson's, Costco and some East Coast Whole Foods, and its users sing its praises loudly. Banayan, and the early adopters of the machine, think it could become a leading product in the industry, if only he could get the word out.

But despite his efforts, he's still working from a small industrial warehouse in Panorama City, selling an average ten units per month.

``You know you've got a great product, and you don't see the advancement it deserves,'' he said. ``It's a challenge. I thought maybe I'm too technical, so I hired a guy with more of a car salesman personality. He got 30 people to evaluate it and no sales.''

Hope may be in sight for Banayan, however, as the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services' environmental health unit hopes to outfit its inspectors with four of the devices in February. Though a small order for the $2,400 machine, it gives Banayan sudden prominence as inspectors will begin showing up with the compact device to do their spot checks on meat retailers.

The HFT, roughly the size of a food processor, heats small meat samples with a halogen light, boiling out the water within. Based on the water-food ratio, it uses an algorithm Banayan devised to figure their fat content, then displays the percentage on a digital screen.

Under the Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law in the California Health and Safety Code, meat purveyors must be accurate in their labeling. According to Banayan, and proponents of the HFT, his machine provides the most accurate reading of how much fat resides in a slab of ground beef or pork, especially at extremely lean mixtures.

``If you can't tell accurately, you have to err on the side of more meat,'' said Dan Murphy, vice president of public affairs for the American Meat Institute. ``These aren't high-ticket items, so the margins are low. If you're giving away even fractions of a cent, that really adds up to a lot of your profit over time.''

Currently, the industry standard is kits made by Hobart Food Equipment. A suitcase-sized contraption employed by most meat processors and health services inspectors, it uses heat to boil out fat from a ground meat sample, which is then measured using a gradient. Terrance Powell, chief environmental health specialist for Health Services, says consumers' increasing hunger for leaner beef led him to the HFT, which he says measures more objectively than the Hobart machine.

``We did a workup of the two, and on the upper percentages of fat, the results are comparable,'' Powell said. ``When you get down to the lean meat, the HFT is better.''

With inspectors toting the small HFT, Banayan figures he'll get a quick boost as markets see the device. Powell has submitted paperwork and hopes to acquire them by the month's end.

``Right now, most people use the old method, since that's what the county's using,'' Banayan said. ``They want the same numbers (as the inspectors), but if I can get L.A. County, then everyone will switch over.''

Those who already have, such as wholesaler King Meat Co., seem quite satisfied. Andy Lofquist, King's vice president of operations, made the switch to ensure that he wouldn't be breaking the law or losing money with inaccurate readouts.

``The customer has to know what he's buying is what he's getting,'' said Lofquist from his Vernon office. ``There's two sides of it. We lose money if it's too lean, and we're cheating the customer if it's too fat.''

With the county soon taking delivery of its new machines, Banayan thinks his big break could be imminent. He wanted the exposure so badly, he considered giving the devices to the department free of charge, but instead waited through a lengthy purchasing process. Now, he'll wait a bit more to see if the windfall comes.

``You've just got to get the right person excited about it,'' he said. ``It's all the domino effect.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Daniel Banayan's machine takes out the moisture to measure fat content in meat.

(2) ``You've just got to get the right person excited about it,'' said inventor Daniel Banayan.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer