On December 28, 1993, John B. Long of Sarasota, FL, received U.S. Patent No. 5,273,766 on Tenderizing Meat:

The meat is supported on the hemispherical wall of a water-filled tank, equidistant from an explosive charge. The explosive is detonated and the resulting shockwave apparently tenderizes the meat. Surprisingly, Long was not the first to use explosives to tenderize meat, in which quite literally seems like overkill. Godfrey, received U.S. Pat. No. 3,492,688, on February 3, 1970.

Although significant tenderization was documented using explosive-based technology according to Long ‘766, a number of technological limitations existed with this approach. The meat had to be packaged to avoid contact with the water potentially containing residue from the explosion. Vacuum packaging was preferred because the rapid pressures generated by the shock wave would otherwise cause bag failures, thus exposing the meat to the water in the vessel and to potential combustion products from the explosives. These high infrastructure costs inhibited the commercialization of a chemical explosive-based system. See, US20040097180.

Subsequently, Long improved the concept with a shock wave that was electrically generated with a capacitor discharge system. See, Long, U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,818.