Meyn

Quality, appearance and marketablility of the end product are affected at every stage of the poultry processing line and this critically starts at the slaughtering department. The slaughtering department has to deliver a clean product ready for evisceration and further processing. The Meyn slaughtering equipment not only realises this clean, high quality product, but does so with an absolute minimum of energy and labour requirements.

The Meyn slaughtering equipment has been developed from intensive research and practical experience to provide optimum efficiency, durability, safety and economy. This means high quality construction from high quality materials and designs perfected and proven in real processing situations. Meyn's slaughtering equipment is easy to use and can be easily be adjusted during processing. The modular design of the equipment enables processing of a range of capacities from 500 up to 12,000 birds per hour.

Stunner

Meyn offers two types of stunners; a conventional stunner as well as a high frequency stunner. Both can be offered in a wide range of dimensions suitable for each specific situation.

In the conventional water bath stunner, the birds are hung in the shackles of the overhead conveyor by their feet and their heads pass through the water bath. Electrodes in the water bath and the shackle guide deliver the stunning shock as the bird’s head enters the water, effectively completing an electrical circuit.

The main advantage of high frequency stunning (over 50 or 60 Hz) is that the electric current at this frequency tends to run along the surface of the birds. This decreases the number of haemorrhages, largely reducing possible damage to the birds and thus benefiting meat quality.

Meyn’s stunners only require a minimum amount of water, keeping energy costs to an absolute minimum. They are easy to use, adjust and maintain forming an optimum start of the slaughtering process.

Killer

The result of the killing machine largely influences the end quality of the product. Should a bird not be correctly cut, this could result in insufficient bleeding which in its turn can results in downgraded meat quality because of haemorrhages, shortened shelf life and there is even a big chance on loosing the bird for consumption totally.

Meyn’s single or dual killing machines allow precise positioning of the neck and the high shaft speed delivers an optimum clean cut without fraying of the neck skin. The neck of the bird is captured between guide bars and passed across a motorised circular knife or knives, incising either one or both sides of the neck.

Electrical stimulator

The electrical stimulator is part of Meyn’s accelerated maturation concept. The use of electrical stimulation shortens the time post mortem that the product needs to reach rigor mortis, the state in which the product can be deboned with the tenderest result. A large chill room space, needed for a long maturation time, can be avoided, considerably reducing required floor space and cost.

A stimulation time of a minimum of 32 seconds is recommended for an optimum result. This will produce a tender fillet within two hours and 45 minutes. The system configuration consists of single and double lane modules which can be placed above the bleeding trough. The set up can be composed after client specific parameters such as shackle pitch and capacity.

Jet stream scalder

Processing times are especially critical in the slaughtering department. For optimum feather removal, the right balance between temperature and scalding time should be applied. The longer it takes to loosen the feathers in the scalder, the further rigor mortis will set in, making it harder to remove the feathers. By means of effective scalding, the processing time can be reduced and the plucking result will be optimised.

The Meyn jet stream scalder has a unique water flow system that pulls the carcasses down in a stream that moves with the line direction. As the water floats with high velocity along the entire skin, the heat exchange is optimised resulting in a shorter processing time. The water not only pulls the bird down, but also makes it move along with the line direction. This way, scalding at high line speeds is no longer an issue as products are not dragged to the surface and scalded on only e.g. one side. The Meyn jet stream scalder delivers an extreme uniform scalding result, independent of weight range or line speed.

In the plucking line, the birds pass through a series of plucking machines that are equipped with motor driven rotating discs, each operating a number of plucking fingers. The discs closely follow the contours of the bird and water spray removes the plucked feathers. Easy and simple adjustment in height and width, even during production, provide excellent plucking results. Efficiency and ease of use are key features of Meyn's plucking equipment and their precision in operation provides optimum plucking results with an absolute minimum of incidental damage to the skin of the bird.

The Meyn plucking machines can be supplied with a fixed cabinet with either two or three rows of plucking discs on each side or with separate plucking banks which can be individually adjusted. Both series are available in various lengths.

Head puller

The Meyn head puller uses individual processing units for each bird, ensuring and effective operation. Head, trachea and oesophagus are removed together and the offal is discharged into a receiving bin by a rotating scraper. Any loss of neck skin is kept to a minimum, thus maximising yield.

Hocks are removed from the bird usually as final step in the slaughtering process. The machine can be integrated in the rehanger slaughter-evisceration or can be installed as a stand alone machine.

The Meyn feet cutter separates the feet from the hocks. With the hocks hanging in the slaughtering shackle they are separated by a rotating knife that cuts the hock into a shank and a foot. When the hocks are cut of from the whole bird with the hock cutter, the shank and feet can be separated with the stand alone feet cutter which is placed after the hock cutter.

The ongoing mechanisation of the evisceration department has a profound impact on poultry processing. This formerly labour intensive activity with limited throughput has rapidly evolved into a high capacity and virtually labour free process. As a result, the evisceration department nowadays turns out unprecedented volumes of properly eviscerated birds that - within the processing value chain - have the characteristics of a commodity. The evisceration department generates the raw material for the second stage in processing, where product value is increased by cut up and deboning. Meyn has always played a leading role in these developments.

Chilling