Conveyor module makes chicken processing hygienic

Companies that handle chicken to meet strict hygiene requirements and minimise the risk of contamination when handling and processing open foodstuffs can use ultra hygienic transfer (UHT).

Seen as disruptive technology for automated material handling processes, a conveyor module from Interroll reduces the number of meat particles that end up on existing conveyor systems after cutting by 85–90 per cent.

Combined with hygienic product design, which allows for particularly effective cleaning, this reduces the risk of germ contamination, and enables improved shelf life of chicken products and end-to-end quality control along operational processes.

The ultra hygienic transfer (UHT) was developed following extensive surveys of international customers and users in the food industry who value hygienically optimised automation solutions. It is based on the principles of hygienic product design and, as a modular product, has an equally robust and open design that is very easy to clean.

The conveyor module can be installed between the upstream cutting machines and the downstream conveyor belts as a stand-alone solution — without additional sensors — requiring only a power connection for the integrated drum motor.

Depending on requirements, wing or breast meat is transported in stainless steel screen baskets which, instead of chutes, pick up the meat individually in a circular conveyor process and then deposit it on an existing conveyor belt.

Corresponding measurements at test customers have shown that this solution reduces the number of meat particles usually produced in the flow of goods by 85–90 per cent and significantly reduces the germ load of the processed meat products compared to the chutes commonly used to date.

The separation of the conveyed goods offers — in addition to the significantly improved hygiene — another decisive advantage over traditional chutes: Instead of turning the breast caps or wings from piece goods to bulk goods at this process step, the UHT ensures that they could remain identifiable along the entire process chain — for example, through appropriate sensor technology in conjunction with goods management systems.

“The subsequently packaged end product, such as the breast cap, can then be assigned to the original product by appropriate solutions from our customers, the system integrators. This is an important prerequisite for enabling quality control along the entire supply and processing chain in the hygiene environment,” said Dr. Stephan Kronholz, who is responsible for new hygienic platform solutions at Interroll.

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