No drying out
One criticism of air chilling systems is that they can dry out product, adversely affecting yield, product presentation and even taste. It was for this reason that Marel developed its DownFlow+ technology, which impacts on all three aspects. The technology consists of misting cabinets placed at specific points in the air chilling tunnel. Their position will vary from plant to plant and will depend on the products offered by the processor. 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. In the days before the system was launched, another Marel first, carcasses were either not matured at all sometimes resulting in tough fillet or were transferred into an off-line maturation store for periods of up to twelve hours.
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.
Not only is Shock Maturation Chilling fully in-line, saving a manual re-hang operation; it tenderizes breast meat in a much shorter period of time. In conjunction with RapidRigor in-line electric stimulation, installed immediately after plucking, this can be as little as three hours. RapidRigor uses pulses of electricity to remove any energy left in muscles postmortem.
