POULTRY CARCASSES CHILLED BY FORCED AIR, WATER IMMERSION AND COMBINATION OF FORCED AIR AND WATER IMMERSION

摘要

Conventional chilling methods such as forced air (FA) and water immersion (WI)rnare used in the industry to chill poultry carcasses from approximately 40 to 4C,rnwhich is essential to improve safety. Besides both processes, a combined methodrn(CO) of WI and FA has been reported in the literature. The objective of this investigationrnwas to compare the chilling of poultry carcasses by FA, WI and CO usingrnan experimental apparatus specially designed for this purpose. Time-temperaturernevolutions of pectoral muscle and carcass mass variations during the chilling processesrnwere determined under different chilling conditions, comprising differentrnair velocities and relative humidities (RH). The results showed that it is possible tornreduce the water loss (approximately 50%) and chilling time (reduction betweenrn14.5 and 1.5%) of FA process using CO process. Air velocity and RH ranges can bernvaried to take advantage of evaporative chilling and to reduce the carcasses waterrnloss.