Evaluation of the effect of spray chilling in preventing chiller yield loss and improving boning room yield in sheepmeat processing

JBS Australia Pty Limited has successfully implemented spray chilling of beef carcases in most of its Australian plants and it was felt that similar benefits could be achieved with sheep and lambs. A section of a chiller at the Brooklyn plant in Victoria was fitted with a system that intermittently sprayed ambient-temperature (18°C) water for the first 8 hours of the chilling cycle.

Spray chilling reduced average carcase weight loss during overnight chilling from nearly 3% to about 0.6%. A yield trial comparing sprayed and non-sprayed carcases from the same chiller indicated that spray chilling resulted in an extra 2.3% of saleable meat.

A shelf-life trial during which bone-in and boneless vacuum-packed lamb cuts were assessed regularly over a 13-week storage period, showed that spray chilling had no effect on shelf life.

Click here to download a copy of the final report