Defrosting
When processing starts with frozen legs, the primary concern is changing their characteristics as little as possible, both regarding their constituent substances and their appearance. At the same time, it is important to avoid conditions that favour the growth of bacterial flora.Frigomeccanica’s thawing system uses double effect heat transfer: sensible heat from air to product, and latent heat from air moisture condensation. Heat is transferred very quickly, in a very cost effective way and without altering the frozen product’s texture and organoleptic characteristics.
When compared with other systems (natural defrosting, water steam, water bath or microwave), Frigomeccanica’s proprietary thawing technology proves to be the most effective, the most energy efficient (hot water, electricity and humidification water), the one with the best yield both in terms of weight loss and product appearance, and the most environmentally friendly, with no need of generating water steam and with a minimum of polluted water to be treated..
Building on its fifty-years’ worldwide experience, Frigomeccanica has made available to the global market its air distribution know-how in designing and delivering thawing systems with a 10,000-50,000 kg load capacity, for all kinds of meat (beef, sheep, poultry, pork) in different
shapes (blocks, beef quarters or halves, fresh legs) it doesn’t mind the hanging system is used (rails or racks on the ground).
Frigomeccanica’s thawing system has the following advantages:
- Defrosted product exhibits the characteristics of the fresh raw material
- Extremely low shrinkage with minimum protein loss
- Preservation of original colour
- Control of product core and surface temperature to minimize bacterial load growth
- Short thawing times with low energy costs and very low water consumption.
The process is automatically managed by monitoring two parameters with just two probes, to measure:
- External surface temperature. Once the set point temperature is reached (e.g.: 5°C), ambient temperature gradually decreases while humidification continues.
- Core temperature. Once the set point temperatureis reached (e.g. : 0°C), heating and humidification are switched off. Then a refrigeration system ensures the stabilization of a homogeneous product temperature in a short time.
The various stages of the aging process are controlled by a programmable microprocessor which ensures the implementation of cycles tailored to the characteristics of the product.
