04 Meat refrigeration engineering consultants or contractors, although the ultimate decisions taken in forming this specification are the user's alone. 15.1.1 Throughput The throughput must be specified in terms of the species to be handled and whether they are split, whole, quartered, primal joints, and so on. If more than one species or type of cut is to be processed then separate specifica tions must be made for each product. The range and average weight and fatness of each product should also be specified. For example, large car casses can take twice as long to chill as small carcasses under the same con- ditions, so it is important to be realistic in deciding on the weight range. To say that all types and weights of animals slaughtered are to go through one chiller or freezer will inevitably mean that compromises must be made he design stages which will lead to an inadequate syste A throughput profile is needed. Few meat plants slaughter the same number and weight of animals on each day of the week and therefore the average throughput is not adequate in the specification. The maximum capacity must be catered for and the chiller/freezer should also be designed to chill/freeze carcasses adequately and economically at all other 15.1.2 Temperature requirements The range of temperature requirements for each product must also be learly stated. In deciding what this is or these are, several requirements, often conflicting, must be considered. First of all, what legislative require ments are there, for instance the eEC requirement at 7"C? What customer requirements are there? These may be your existing customers or they may be future customers who you are hoping to attract What standard do you ourself have? Some companies sell a quality product under their own brand name, which should include a cooling specification. Finally it must be decided to what extent the above standards may be allowed to slip. The reason for this will become apparent later. Almost everyone in the meat industry allows their standards to slip to some extent; those that get caught and are called to task for this lose orders or have their production disrupted. These firms have turned their back on this problem and not dealt with it consciously and clearly. There are others who know well to what extent they can push the inspectors, or their customers and ensure that they stay within ccepted limits. 15.1.3 Weight loss If it is intended to save weight from the meat both during chilling/freezing and storage, it is useful to quantify at an early stage how much extra money can be spent to save a given amount of weightengineering consultants or contractors, although the ultimate decisions taken in forming this specification are the user’s alone. 15.1.1 Throughput The throughput must be specified in terms of the species to be handled and whether they are split, whole, quartered, primal joints, and so on. If more than one species or type of cut is to be processed then separate specifica￾tions must be made for each product. The range and average weight and fatness of each product should also be specified. For example, large car￾casses can take twice as long to chill as small carcasses under the same con￾ditions, so it is important to be realistic in deciding on the weight range. To say that all types and weights of animals slaughtered are to go through one chiller or freezer will inevitably mean that compromises must be made in the design stages which will lead to an inadequate system. A throughput profile is needed. Few meat plants slaughter the same number and weight of animals on each day of the week and therefore the average throughput is not adequate in the specification. The maximum capacity must be catered for and the chiller/freezer should also be designed to chill/freeze carcasses adequately and economically at all other throughputs. 15.1.2 Temperature requirements The range of temperature requirements for each product must also be clearly stated. In deciding what this is or these are, several requirements, often conflicting, must be considered. First of all, what legislative require￾ments are there, for instance the EEC requirement at 7 °C? What customer requirements are there? These may be your existing customers or they may be future customers who you are hoping to attract. What standard do you yourself have? Some companies sell a quality product under their own brand name, which should include a cooling specification. Finally it must be decided to what extent the above standards may be allowed to slip. The reason for this will become apparent later. Almost everyone in the meat industry allows their standards to slip to some extent; those that get caught and are called to task for this lose orders or have their production disrupted. These firms have turned their back on this problem and not dealt with it consciously and clearly.There are others who know well to what extent they can push the inspectors, or their customers and ensure that they stay within accepted limits. 15.1.3 Weight loss If it is intended to save weight from the meat both during chilling/freezing and storage, it is useful to quantify at an early stage how much extra money can be spent to save a given amount of weight. 304 Meat refrigeration