Three Options - One Great Chilling Solution

The Stork Airchill systems are designed and custom-made specifically for every different customer and situation. Factors such as room availability, final temperature desired, and moisture retention levels expected are considered in the development of a system that will meet all the customer's requirements.

As opposed to other air chilling systems, the Stork systems are designed with the inner breast temperature of the bird in mind, instead of a surface or average bird temperature. Also, the Stork systems are designed specially to avoid freezing the birds, unlike other air chill systems available.

Down-Flow

In a multi-tier down-flow tunnel, products are conveyed through a chilled room on an overhead conveyor with chilled air being blown over the products from above (or from the side in a Cross-Flow system). As the products do not touch one another, there is little chance of cross-contamination. In addition, the overhead is laid out so that the products do not directly hang on top of one another and cannot therefore drip on products below. An important feature of the down-flow system is the small floor area required. This system can be incorporated with a series of chilled water sprayers (down-flow spray chilling) to prevent discoloration and dehydration (weight loss).

Infrachill

In this single-tiered system, the abdominal cavity and those portions with a thicker layer of meat such as the breast are chilled with a directed flow of air. To achieve this, air is distributed over the tunnel by means of specially developed stainless steel channels called "Multi-slot" modules. Thanks to the special openings, an accurately directed flow of air is generated. The chilling time obtained in this way is approximately 70% of the time required in a conventional down-flow tunnel. This has a positive effect on bacteriological quality in particular. This system allows cleaning from below or above.

Maturation Chilling

In-line multi-tiered maturation, chilling consists of two phases. During the first phase of approximately 30 minutes, very cold air is blown onto the carcasses. During the second phase, which lasts approximately 2 hours, carcasses are chilled further by relatively low velocity air at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. By moistening the product in stategic places, in the chilling line, the drying losses inherent to air chilling can be significantly reduced.