Rapid cooling of meat can be challenging. At Norsk Kylling's chicken factory in Trøndelag, they have, as the first in Norway, installed Linde's cooling system ACCU-CHILL® Lixshooter, which cools the minced meat evenly in the mixer with liquid nitrogen.
As Norsk Kylling AS is building a new factory at Orkanger, opening in 2021, two new mixers will be installed; A mixer for minced meat and a mixer in the sausage factory. Both mixers need the cooling system.
They were considering using CO2, but Kjell Arne Strauman, Area Sales Manager at Linde, suggested a solution with nitrogen as the best and most cost saving cooling method. - Nitrogen and CO2 are more or less used the same way in food production, Strauman explains. – However, liquid nitrogen can be delivered much faster from Linde’s plant at Tjeldbergodden, securing regular deliveries on time.
This is totally in line with the idea of Norsk Kylling’s new factory, which will focus on food from local producers. The factory receives chicken from 150 farms in the region.
Shortening the process
The Linde ACCU-CHILL® Lixshooter works independently of each other and can therefore evenly release liquid nitrogen into the meat. At Norsk Kylling’s plant in Støren, where they have tested the solution since October 2019, three Lixshooters are mounted on each side of the mixer.
- Actually, it was our supplier who recommended Linde's solution, Øyvind Andersen, production manager at Norsk Kylling, explains. - I was initially interested in checking a couple of other suppliers, but found that we are the first to use this solution in Norway.
The idea to use Lixshooter, is to cool the meat to punch out products like chicken nuggets and chicken buns. You get the best shape if the product holds minus 3-4 degrees – We used to freeze the meat, but with this new solution we can now run fresh meat, which means we are shortening the process, says Andersen.
In addition, pores in the meat are avoided, which could occur if you used CO2 with so-called pellets. Øyvind Andersen states that this solution will be forwarded to the new Norsk Kylling factory, which will open in Orkanger in 2021. – We will have two additional mixers at the new factory, in order to increase our capacity considerably, he concludes.
In addition to minced meat, Lixshooter can be used in several production processes:
- Soups
- Sauces
- Pies and other minced meat
- Baby food
- Purees