INCREASING DEMANDS ON AIR CHILLING FULLY MET WITH MAREL'S STATE-OF-THE-ART SYSTEMS

Supermarkets want longer shelf lives for their poultry products. Longer shelf life means chilling to lower core temperatures without, however, thin parts of the bird such as wings and neck skin being allowed to freeze. Creating exactly the right micro-climate around each product becomes ever more critical.

Speed and efficiency
In many markets, the poultry industry has become more concentrated with fewer processing plants handling more products. This is the result both of a drive towards greater production efficiency and advances in processing technology, which have made higher line speeds possible.

Marel is active in the development of air chilling systems, which address all key issues.

No drying out
One criticism of air chilling systems is that they can dry out products, adversely affecting yield, product presentation and even taste. It was for this reason that Marel developed its DownFlow+ technology, which impacts all three aspects. The technology consists of misting cabinets placed at specific points in the air chilling tunnel. Each misting cabinet can apply a thin film of moisture to all surfaces both external and internal or to one of them only, either external or internal. Cabinets can be switched on and off quickly and easily to give different finishes.

Maturation in line
The Marel Shock Maturation Chilling System chills and matures whole carcasses in-line. This is done to prevent tough breast fillet when breasts are de-boned.

The Maturation Shock Chill process happens in two stages. In the first shorter stage, whole carcasses are subjected to very cold air circulated at high velocities. This cools all surfaces to stop the growth of spoilage bacteria. Misting cabinets are used both to aid chilling and prevent carcasses from drying out. In the much longer second stage, less cold air is blown onto carcasses at lower velocities, the aim being to keep carcasses for as long as possible in the area of maximum enzyme activity.




Driving long conveyor systems
Today’s largest processing plants have lines capable of handling 15,000 products per hour. Given a three-hour dwell time in the Shock Maturation Chilling tunnel, this translates into almost 7 km of overhead conveyor and some 45,000 shackles.

It was precisely for this purpose that Marel developed its ATC system (Active Tension Control), the aim being to drive long lines super-reliably hour after hour.

Full product-by-product traceability
Both retail and fast-food chains are increasingly insisting that their suppliers offer full traceability. With the product automatically re-hung into and out of the air chill tunnel, Marel air chilling is fully in line. Each individual product can therefore be accurately tracked and traced through both primary and secondary processes.

Useful early warning
A SmartWeigher in-line product weigher and an IRIS vision grading system can be installed at the beginning of an air chill tunnel. Given that products can be in an air chill system for up to three hours, IRIS and SmartWeigher provide a very effective early warning system. If products are not as expected, knowing this situation well in advance allows management to act accordingly.

Always striving for the perfect balance
Air chilling technology will continue to develop. Marel will seek to perfect the balance between temperature and humidity, time and maturation and between energy use and space. Chilling times will shorten and the process will become ever more efficient, encouraging those processors and markets still chilling in water to make the move to air.

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