Meat + Poultry - November 2010 - 140

>IN THE PLANT

Exceldor poultry products

Mr. Cadoret went on to say, "We really
appreciate the expertise Marel Stork Poultry
Processing has in chilling products. The
company is really aware of chilling and the
effects of chilling on products. For Stork,
chilling is not just a necessity - it is a
science."
Rapid Rigor Electro-stimulation
After picking, carcasses are stimulated on-line
with regular pulses of electrical energy. This
stimulation removes residual energy from
the meat and speeds up rigor mortis. The
tenderizing effect of electro-stimulation is
equal to the tenderizing effect of a number of
hours of maturation storage off-line.
Maturation Chilling
A MaturationChill tunnel both chills and
tenderizes. For optimum tenderness, a
MaturationChill tunnel should follow a
RapidRigor electro-stimulation system
installed immediately after picking.
MaturationChill is a two-stage multi-tier
system and takes the place of a traditional
single air chilling process. In the first stage
of the maturation chilling process, very
cold air at high velocity quickly reduces
the temperature of all internal and external
surfaces of the carcass to stop bacteriological
growth. At the same time, all surfaces are
moistened to aid chilling and to prevent
weight loss.

maturation chilling can give the same
tenderizing effect as storage off-line in a
maturation chiller for up to ten hours. For the
processor, in-line maturation also has the
following benefits:
*
Enhanced yield - chilling off-line causes
a loss in yield as carcasses dry out
during prolonged storage. Chilling in-line
improves yield when cutting, deboning,
and further processing.
*
Labor savings - all birds to be cut and
deboned are transferred immediately
and automatically to the automatic
cut-up line. Therefore, costly double
handling is eliminated.
*
Space savings - there is no longer a
need for a separate chilled storage area,
where birds are matured off-line.
*
No loss of product weight - the
moistening techniques used during
maturation chilling reduce weight loss
by up to 0.5% when compared to a
conventional air chilling process.
*
Longer shelf life
*
Less product handling and a reduction
in hand-to-product contamination
*
Tracking and tracing - an in-line process
allows all carcasses to be tracked
accurately through all production
processes. The maturation chiller can
be reviewed at any time on the precise
number of birds of a given weight grade
at that time in the chiller.

In the second stage, birds are chilled slowly
using less cold air at lower velocities. The
aim of the slow, gentle chill is to keep the
temperature of the meat in the range where
maximum enzyme activity takes place for
as long as possible. This enzyme activity
tenderizes the meat even further. For a typical
broiler, total dwell time in the two-stage
process is approximately three hours.
Electro-stimulation and Maturation Chilling
Beneﬁts
Taken together, electro-stimulation and

Stuffed chicken breast

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Meat + Poultry - November 2010

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