Rapid chill process for poultry carcasses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10010088-B2
Application number	US-201514873784-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2015
Priority date	Oct 15, 2014
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

Poultry carcasses are chilled rapidly when exposed to a flow of gaseous air at a temperature in the range from about −50° C. to about −120° C. for a period of time in the range from about 1 s to about 60 s. The flow is directed over and into the body cavity of the carcasses. The carcasses are orientated in the flow such that the sternum of each carcass faces downstream. One advantage of the process is that the number of viable microorganisms present on the carcasses is reduced significantly while avoiding freeze-damage to the carcasses.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for rapidly chilling poultry carcasses to reduce the number of viable microorganisms present thereon, said process comprising:
conveying poultry carcasses through an insulated chill chamber for a period of time in the range from about 1 s to about 60 s;
circulating gaseous air that has been warmed by the carcasses from the chill chamber through a first duct to a heat exchanger;
cooling the air in the heat exchanger by indirect heat exchange with a liquid cryogen to create chilled air at a temperature in the range from about −50° C. to about −120° C.;
circulating the chilled air from the heat exchange through a second duct back to the chill chamber; and
flowing the chilled air over said carcasses and into the body cavity of said carcasses, wherein said carcasses are orientated such that the sternum of each carcass faces downstream with respect to the flow of the chilled air.

2. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said poultry carcasses are conveyed on a continuous shackle line that passes through said flow of said gaseous air.

3. A process according to claim 1 , wherein a first plurality of said poultry carcasses is conveyed on a first continuous shackle line through a first flow of said gaseous air, and a second plurality of said poultry carcasses is conveyed simultaneously and in parallel on a second continuous shackle line through a second flow of said gaseous air, said first and second flows of gaseous air being provided from a common duct located between said parallel shackle lines.

4. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said flow of gaseous air is in the form of a planar sheet.

5. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said temperature is lower than −75° C.

6. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said temperature is no lower than about −110° C.

7. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said temperature is about −100° C.

8. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said period of time is at least 15 s.

9. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said period of time is no more than about 55 s.

10. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said period of time is in the range from about 30 s to about 45 s.

11. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said carcasses are pre-chilled to an initial temperature in the range from about +7° C. to about −1° C. prior to exposure to said flow of gaseous air.

12. A process according to claim 1 , wherein after said exposure to said gaseous air, said carcasses are allowed to recover by natural warming.

13. A process according to claim 1 , wherein after said exposure to said gaseous air, said carcasses are allowed to equilibrate for a period of time of at least 5 mins before further processing.

14. A process according to claim 13 , wherein said equilibration time is no more than 30 mins.

15. A process according to claim 1 , wherein said flow of gaseous air has a flow rate from about 1500 m 3 /h to about 2500 m 3 /h.

16. Apparatus for rapidly chilling poultry carcasses to reduce the number of viable microorganisms thereon, said apparatus comprising:
an insulated chill chamber having an entry port and an exit port;
a continuous shackle line located within said chill chamber for conveying poultry carcasses from said entry port to said exit port;
a heat exchanger for cooling air by indirect heat exchange against a liquid cryogen;
at least one nozzle located parallel to said continuous shackle line for feeding a flow of cooled air into said chill chamber in the form of a planar sheet, said nozzle being arranged to direct said flow over said carcasses and into the body cavity of said carcasses on said shackle line;
a first duct for feeding cooled air from said heat exchanger to said nozzle(s);
a second duct for feeding warmed air from said chill chamber to said heat exchanger; and
a fan for circulating air from the chill chamber through the second duct, across the heat exchanger, and through the first duct to the chill chamber.

17. Apparatus according to claim 16 , comprising two continuous shackle lines in parallel and at least one nozzle having a rectangular aperture for each shackle line, said first duct being common to said at least one nozzle.

Assignees

• Air Prod & Chem

Inventors

• Trembley Jean-Philippe
• Ames Paul Mark

Classifications

• A23V2002/00

  Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs · CPC title

• A22B5/0076

  Chilling or lowering the temperature of carcasses · CPC title

• A22C21/00 Primary

  Processing poultry · CPC title

• F25D3/11

  with conveyors carrying articles to be cooled through the cooling space · CPC title

• A23B4/06

  Freezing; Subsequent thawing; Cooling · CPC title