Tempering poultry for ready meals: 15 minutes instead of 48 hours
A frozen ready-meal producer thawed chicken, turkey and rabbit for two days in a thawing room with steam. A NutriTemp Flex continuous microwave tunnel now tempers the meat in under 15 minutes and saves over €400,000 a year.
This case study is based on material from Sairem. Utily Solution is Sairem's exclusive sales and service partner in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Customer
An Italian producer of frozen ready meals for restaurants and canteens in several European countries. It employs around 200 people and processes about 20 tonnes of meat a day: chicken and turkey wings, whole rabbits, pork and beef. Products change frequently during the day.
Challenge
Meat blocks were thawed for 48 hours in a thawing room with steam injection. The meat lost juice, bacteria could grow on the surface and production had to be planned two days ahead. The customer needed to temper the meat from −15 °C to −1 °C for boning, slicing and cooking.
Other technologies were tested too. Hot air with fog was too slow, and radio frequency performed worse in this case and needed much more space.
Solution
The customer chose the Sairem TMW 75 continuous microwave tunnel, now NutriTemp Flex. Blocks travel on a belt and leave at −1 to −2 °C. Recipes in the control system allow quick changes from one product to another.
Results
- Under 15 minutes instead of 48 hours.
- 20 tonnes of meat a day, ready within minutes rather than two days.
- 3 % less drip loss, worth more than €400,000 a year in raw material for this customer.
- Production to order: meat is tempered only when it is needed.
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