Water Uptake by Poultry Carcasses During Cooling by Water Immersion
Water Uptake by Poultry Carcasses During Cooling by Water Immersion
Water Uptake by Poultry Carcasses During Cooling by Water Immersion
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Abstract
Poultry carcasses have to be chilled to reduce their temperatures from approximately 40 to 4 ◦ C, which will ensure safe products. Water immersion,
water spraying and air blast are the most common methods used for chilling poultry carcasses. In immersion chilling, carcasses are moved through
tanks containing a mixture of ice and water. The variables influencing water uptake by carcasses during immersion were investigated in this work.
To perform accurate experiments in industrial chillers is difficult and for this reason experiments were performed in a pilot chiller. Poultry carcasses
were taken directly from the processing line. The pilot chiller allowed some investigations on the influence of water stirring method and intensity,
temperature and hydrostatic pressure on the poultry carcasses water uptake. Also, a mathematical model for water absorption was proposed. The
results indicated that water temperature, hydrostatic pressure and water stirring conditions are determinant in the amount of water absorbed by
poultry carcasses during immersion cooling. This work generated knowledge and data in a domain with few data available in the literature.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction cool poultry carcasses is very common and there are restrictions
to the usage of immersion chilling [4].
Basic industrial processing of poultry is similar in some fac- Brazilian Agriculture Department [5] demands the usage of
tories, having the following common steps: slaughter, bleeding, at least two chiller tanks in the poultry cooling process. A first
hot water immersion, feather withdraw, viscera withdraw, wash- tank is necessary to wash the carcasses, where it is necessary to
ing and cooling [1]. The carcasses cooling step is very important use water at temperatures lower than 16 ◦ C that must be changed
to the preservation. Poultry carcasses have to be chilled to reduce at renovation rates not lower than 1.5 l per poultry carcass. In
there temperatures from approximately 40 to 4 ◦ C, which will a second tank, the cooling water must be under 4 ◦ C, and its
ensure safe products. During cooling, the higher temperature is renovation must be 1 l per carcass, at least. This tank is built
found in the chicken breast center, due to its slowest cooling in stainless steel and in their interior the poultry carcasses are
rate. Water immersion, water spraying and air blast are the three displaced by means of an endless screw, in counter-current with
most common methods used for chilling poultry carcasses. In the cooling water. During immersion, carcasses gain water that
immersion chilling, carcasses are moved through tanks contain- enters in the intercellular spaces created during the rigor mor-
ing chilled water or a mixture of ice and water [2]. This system tis [6]. In Brazil, water uptake by carcasses is controlled by
is used a lot in the USA and Brazil, two of the biggest poultry the factories and by the Brazilian Agriculture Department. This
producers in the world. control is performed directly in the industrial tanks, by mark-
USA poultry industry routinely uses rapid chilling because ing some pre-weighed carcasses and determining their water
the United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and gain during their cooling in the two chiller units. Brazilian law
Inspection Service demands that poultry is to be chilled below allows the maximum of 8% of water uptake during carcasses
4.4 ◦ C after 4 h post mortem [3]. In Europe the usage of cold air to cooling [5]. Data about water absorption in poultry carcasses
were reported by Young and Smith [4]. They reported that rel-
ative water absorptions by smaller carcasses were higher than
that of larger carcasses, and that the immersion time is the most
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 48 3331 9448; fax: +55 48 3331 9687. important variable associated with water uptake. James et al.
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.B. Laurindo). [2] suggested that immersion time and water agitation intensity
0255-2701/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cep.2006.05.020
B.A.M. Carciofi, J.B. Laurindo / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 444–450 445
were recorded at each 10 s and visualized through an interface Dividing Eq. (4) by the initial mass of poultry carcass, m0 , leads
connected to a PC. to Eq. (5):
dW
2.3. Influence of stirring method and temperature on = km A [Wm − W] (5)
dt
carcasses water uptake
where Wm is the maximum water fraction in the poultry carcass
(when t → ∞), defined as Wm = mAm /m0 and W is the instanta-
Six different experimental conditions were evaluated: water
neous water fraction in the poultry carcass (at time t), defined as
temperatures of 1 ± 1 and 15 ± 1 ◦ C, and three stirring levels: no
W = mA /m0 .
agitation (NA), water recirculation (WR, 8 m3 of water per hour)
It is very difficult to evaluate with precision and exactness
and injection of compressed air (IA, 2.4 m3 of air per hour).
of the carcass area, which varies with weight, sex, and with
others characteristics of poultry. In this way, the product km A
2.4. Influence of water stirring intensity on carcasses water was defined as a new parameter, called effective coefficient of
uptake water absorption (Km ), which includes the effect of the water
absorption surface (“mass transfer surface”).
This study was performed by promoting water agitation by In this work was considered that the Km decreases with the
injecting compressed air at different rates. The used conditions evolution of carcass water absorption, i.e., it is inversely propor-
were (a) without air injection (NA, no agitation), (b) 50% open tional to the amount of water absorbed by a carcass. Thus, this
valve (IA, injection of compressed air, 2.4 m3 of air per hour) and coefficient was written as a function of the constants K0 and β,
(c) 100% open valve (MIA, maximum injection of compressed as given by the following equation:
air, 4.8 m3 of air per hour). The WR and IA condition was eval-
uated for two different temperatures: 1 ± 1 and 15 ± 1 ◦ C. Km = km A = K0 eβW (6)
where Km unit is min−1 .
2.5. Influence of hydrostatic pressure on carcasses water From Eqs. (5) and (6):
uptake dW
= K0 eβW [Wm − W] (7)
dt
A cylindrical tank 1.645 m long and 0.535 m of diameter
was used to study the influence of hydrostatic pressure on the The problem to be solved is to determine the values of K0 and
carcasses water uptake. For that, two metallic supports were β that give the best fit of experimental data of carcasses water
used to keep samples immersed at different vertical positions, uptake, for given process conditions. In this way, Eq. (7) was
with water at 15 ◦ C. The vertical positions from the water sur- solved numerically, using a fourth order Runge–Kutta method
face were 0.180 m (level 1), 0.845 m (level 2) and 1.470 m [7]. For that, a computational program was implemented using
(level 3). Delphi 7.0® . The assumed values of K0 and β were the values
that provided the lower sum of residues for each set of exper-
imental data. The residues were calculated by the following
2.6. Mathematical model for water absorption
equation:
The water absorption evolution by a carcass during water residue = |numerical value − experimental value| (8)
immersion is equal the quantity that crosses the carcass surface,
Eq. (2): The model accuracy was evaluated through prediction error, cal-
culated by the following equation:
d numerical value − experimental value
(mass of water) = jA (2) prediction error = × 100
dt experimental value
where j is the flux through the carcass surface and A is the carcass (9)
surface area. The water flux is given by the following equation:
The time step used in the numeric resolution can influence the
j = km (potential difference) = km [mAm − mA ] (3) numeric convergence [7]. In this way, the numerical code was
tested using different time steps, reducing them to the parameters
where km is a proportionality parameter between the flux and (K0 and β) values and the cumulative error was stable.
the potential difference, similar to a mass transfer coefficient;
mAm the maximum water mass that can be absorbed by carcass 3. Results and discussion
(when t → ∞) and mA is the absorbed water mass by carcass (at
time t). Substitution of Eq. (3) in Eq. (2) gives the mass balance 3.1. Typical cooling curves of carcasses
in the carcass during water immersion as a function of its area
and its maximum water absorption capacity: Typical temperature–time evolutions of carcasses submitted
to immersion cooling under the condition IA-1 ◦ C are showed
dmA in Fig. 2. About 60 min were necessary to decrease the carcass
= km A[mAm − mA ] (4)
dt central temperature from 40 to about 4 ◦ C.
B.A.M. Carciofi, J.B. Laurindo / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 444–450 447
Fig. 2. Time–temperature evolutions of the center and of the surface (under the
Fig. 4. Weight gain (kg/kg) of poultry during the immersion time for no agitation
skin) of poultry carcasses submitted to immersion cooling in water at 1 ◦ C-IA.
(NA) at 15 ◦ C, injection of compressed air (IA) at 1 ◦ C, injection of compressed
The thin and bold lines represent two different carcasses.
air (IA) at 15 ◦ C and maximum injection of compressed air (MIA) at 15 ◦ C.
3.2. Influence of temperature and water stirring method on the condition without agitation (NA-15 ◦ C) with the condition
carcasses water uptake under agitation (IA-15 ◦ C), at the same temperature, it was found
that the water absorption was almost 100% higher for IA-15 ◦ C
The time evolution of water absorbed by carcasses is pre-
condition. A comparison among different intensities of air injec-
sented in Fig. 3, where each experimental data represents the
tion, at the same temperature, indicated that at the condition
average result for 15 carcasses. It can be observed that higher
MIA-15 ◦ C water absorption was superior in more than 50%
quantities of absorbed water were observed for the experimen-
than at the condition IA-15 ◦ C. As expected and already evi-
tal condition IA-15 ◦ C, while the lower absorption values were
denced in this work, temperature has a positive influence on
found for the condition NA-1 ◦ C. In general, higher tempera-
water absorption rate. On the other side, Fig. 4 shows that the
tures lead to higher carcasses water uptake. The same behavior
increase of water absorption with the temperature (difference
was found for water stirring, i.e., higher water agitation leads to
between the conditions IA-15 ◦ C and IA-1 ◦ C) was lower than
higher water absorption by carcasses. Experimental results indi-
the increase promoted by water agitation (difference between
cated that more than 50% of water absorption occurred during
the conditions NA-15 ◦ C and IA-15 ◦ C) or by the increase on
the first 10 min after carcasses immersion, for all experimental
the agitation intensity (difference between the conditions IA-
conditions investigated. After that, a decrease in the carcasses
15 ◦ C and MIA-15 ◦ C).
water absorption was observed. A discussion about the kinetics
of water absorption is presented with the mathematical model
results. 3.4. Influence of hydrostatic pressure on water uptake
3.3. Influence of water stirring intensity on carcasses water Experimental data of water uptake of carcasses placed at
uptake different water depths are presented in Fig. 5, where the pos-
itive influence of the hydrostatic pressure on the water uptake is
The air injection influenced positively the kinetics of water shown. It suggests that the water flux is governed by a hydrody-
absorption by the carcasses, as showed in Fig. 4. Comparing namic mechanism, i.e., higher pressure gradients promote higher
Fig. 3. Weight gain (kg/kg) of poultry during the immersion time, for different Fig. 5. Weight gain (kg/kg) of poultry during the immersion time for depths of
experimental conditions. 0.180, 0.845 and 1.470 m.
448 B.A.M. Carciofi, J.B. Laurindo / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 444–450
Fig. 6. (a) Figure adapted from Offer and Cousin [8], sketching the changes that occur in muscles post mortem. This sketch represents a section of muscle: (a1)
immediately after slaughter; (a2) some time post mortem; (a3) muscle in rigor mortis. (b) Physical model for water uptake mechanism by poultry carcasses: (b1)
first step of water absorption, controlled by the hydrodynamic mechanism; (b2) second step of water absorption, when the pores are partially filled by liquid.
fluxes through the meat pores (intercellular spaces) connected Fig. 6a2 and a3). In these conditions, the poultry carcasses can
to carcasses surfaces. The water absorption differences among absorb water quickly, until the pores (intercellular spaces) are
carcasses kept in different levels decreased with the immersion partially filled by liquid (Fig. 6b1). Ten to 15 min after immer-
time, suggesting the presence of two absorption stages. In a first sion (Fig. 6b2), a second step of water absorption takes place,
stage there is the fulfilling of pores close to the surface by the when the rate of water uptake decreases a lot, being controlled
hydrodynamic mechanism. After that water penetrates inside the by internal pseudo-diffusion of water in the muscle. The physi-
carcass by a pseudo-diffusive (slow) mechanism. cal model sketched in Fig. 6b was used to propose a predictive
According to literature [6,8,9] there are two kinds of inter- mathematical model for water absorption by carcasses submitted
cellular spaces in the muscle post mortem, as sketched in Fig. 6a to immersion cooling. In that model, the effective coefficient of
(adapted from Offer and Cousin [8]). In this Figure the three water absorption (Km ) was considered to decrease with carcass
fibers bunches are separated by the perimysium (bold traces) water absorption.
and the fibers are separated by the endomysium (thin traces).
The sketch represents a section of a muscle in three situations: 3.5. Simulation results
(a1) immediately after slaughter, when there are no intercellular
spaces in the muscle, (a2) some time post mortem, when the first The values of β and K0 , as well as the sum of residues obtained
intercellular spaces between the bunches of fibers and the per- from the comparison between predicted and observed results,
imysium appear, (a3) muscle in rigor mortis, when the spaces for different time steps, are presented in Table 1. The influ-
between the fibers in each bunch appear. Using the nuclear ence of time step on the numerical results indicated that the
magnetic resonance (NMR) technique to study the evolution numerical solution converged for time steps lower than 0.1 s.
of water diffusion coefficients in rabbit muscle, Foucat et al. [9] The values of β and K0 , determined using this time step, are
observed that these coefficients, parallel and perpendicular to presented in Table 2. The β values increased with the water
the fibers direction, increased post mortem. Moreover, the diffu-
sion anisotropy, defined by the ratio Dparallel /Dperpendicular , also Table 1
increased post mortem, indicating the increasing of intercellular Values of K0 , β and the sum of residues, for different time periods
spaces.
Time’s step (s) β (kgcarcass /kgwater ) K0 (min−1 ) Residues (×105 )
From these results and from the sketch in Fig. 6a, a physi-
1.00 −250.52 0.1708 1.2271
cal model was proposed to explain the water uptake by poultry
0.50 −266.04 0.2204 1.2520
carcasses during immersion cooling, which is summarized by 0.25 −267.84 0.2276 1.2586
Fig. 6b. Literature reports that poultry rigor mortis is achieved 0.20 −291.01 0.2875 1.1135
in about 20–30 min [10]. In this work, the investigated poultry 0.10 −291.19 0.2883 1.1134
carcasses were used about 45 min post mortem. In this way, it 0.05 −291.19 0.2883 1.1134
0.01 −291.19 0.2883 1.1134
was considered that these carcasses were immersed in the chiller
after the onset of rigor mortis (intercellular spaces sketched by Experimental data at 1 ◦ C, with water recirculation.
B.A.M. Carciofi, J.B. Laurindo / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 444–450 449
Greek letter
β experimental constant (kg/kg)
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