They say that, if you knew how beef was processed, you might become a vegetarian. However, beef remains a staple food in U.S. society, and chillers are essential for keeping meat safe for human consumption. In this post, we examine an important publication from the U.S. Department of Agriculture: “Safe and Suitable Ingredients Used in the Production of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products.” This helps both meat processors and consumers to consider why refrigeration might be needed and what kinds of materials are acceptable for use in the manufacturing plant. It’s important to keep in mind here that this is not an exhaustive list and that consumers who really want to insure that they are eating safe foods could ask to inspect the plants where their products are made.
How Do Beef Processors Make Meat Safe While Keeping the Components Chilled?
There are many chemicals that fall under the classification of antimicrobials approved for use in meat processing. For example, there are a variety of mixtures, such as an aqueous mixture of peroxyacetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid, 1-hydroxyethylidene-1, 1-diphosphoric acid, and sulfuric acid which is used to process water or ice for washing, rinsing, storing, or cooling whole or cut meat, including carcasses, parts, trim, and organs. It’s possible that consumers will read all of the chemicals used to process the parts of a cow, and we might be surprised. However, we hope that the chemicals are applied in amounts that do not harm us when we consume beef.
What to Do When You Introduce a New Technology
If you will process beef, remember not all chillers available for rent are built to the same standards to keep meat carcasses, parts, trim, and organs cooled to the right temperature. The chillers that we maintain in the J.C. Younger Company use only chemicals and technologies approved by government inspectors and are built to keep beef parts cool. Any time a beef processor will introduce a new technology, then they must seek approval from the FSIS. “FSIS defines ingredients as any substances added to food, the intended use of which results or may reasonably be expected to result, directly or indirectly, in its becoming a component or otherwise affecting the characteristics of food.
These include substances intended for use in producing, manufacturing, packing, processing, preparing, treating, packaging, transporting, or holding food, including any source of radiation intended for any such use.” It is the responsibility of the meat processor to provide scientific evidence for how the new technology will impact consumers. A new technology that is submitted for review must include a description of its intended use, the method of use, appropriate safety measures, how it complies with current regulations, and how it will not interfere with FSIS inspection procedures.
What to Look for in a Beef Processing Chiller
If your plant will process meat using a rented beef processing chiller from the J.C. Younger Company, here are some things to look for:
1. Efficient energy use: A chiller is used 24-7 to keep beef parts cool. When a solid or liquid meat component must be cooled, the mechanism within the chiller equipment should be energy efficient. Otherwise, chiller costs run your electric bill to a higher level than is desired for your company’s bottom line.
2. Use of environmentally safe EPA-approved refrigerants: In our rentable chillers, we use newer technologies to ensure that our chillers are safe for the environment. Even when chillers use older coolants, they must be handled, stored, and disposed of in ways that are carefully delineated by the EPA.
3. Continuous power source and backup power source: You want to rent a beef processing chiller that will be easy to provide with continuous electricity. You should plan to supplement electrical power with a generator or another backup power source. Otherwise, during an electrical storm or a downed power line, the chiller could fail, resulting in potential spoilage of massive amounts of beef components.
For more details on renting beef chillers, please contact us today.
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