{"id":73223,"date":"2023-02-21T17:56:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T16:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intarcon.com\/?p=73223"},"modified":"2025-08-11T14:32:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:32:54","slug":"refrigeration-as-a-quality-and-safety-contribution-to-the-meat-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intarcon.com\/en\/refrigeration-as-a-quality-and-safety-contribution-to-the-meat-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Refrigeration as a quality and safety contribution to the meat industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u201cIn order to contribute to the availability of food for a constantly growing population, demanding with the quality of the products of the meat industry, INTARCON provides solutions in refrigeration hand in hand with energy efficiency and food safety control.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Meat becomes an ideal culture medium for the growth of almost any micro-organism. This is due to its nutritional qualities, neutral post-mortem pH (pH = 6.5), high water activity (aw = 0.98), and extrinsic factors such as temperature and oxygen concentration.<\/p>

Meat and meat products are perishable by nature and easily susceptible to microbial contamination and chemical spoilage. Certain processes cause undesirable changes in quality, and alter colour, texture and flavour, posing not only a health risk to consumers, but possibly an economic loss.<\/p>

Over the last few years, the demand for quality foods of high nutritional value, but free of chemical preservatives, has increased due to the changing lifestyle and eating habits of increasingly demanding consumers.<\/p>

Refrigeration as an important part of the preservation process in the meat industry<\/h2>

Refrigeration has an important role<\/strong> to play during the meat preservation process<\/strong>, as it prevents the growth of pathogenic microorganisms such as Salmonella, Listeria, or Enterobacteriaceae (such as E. coli) due to their capacity to cause intoxication or even the death of the individual; and non-pathogens that can alter the organoleptic characteristics or appearance of the product, making it unfit for consumption. For this reason, hygiene and control measures must be taken in cold storage rooms, taking the product to low temperatures, in order to slow down or stop microbiological activity and biochemical reactions.<\/p>

Temperatures below approximately -2 \u00b0C, depending on the type of meat, lead to the formation of ice crystals in the intercellular spaces, causing water to escape from the cells to compensate for the increased osmotic pressure, which leads to drying out of the product and thus to weight loss, as well as alteration of the cell structure. All this results in a lower quality perceived by the user.<\/p>

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Refrigeration solutions for the meat industry<\/h2>

INTARCON has designed wall-mounted evaporators for deep-freezing tunnels<\/strong> with high-flow motor fans and high static pressure available together with high-efficiency coils, in order to reduce freezing time and promote the formation of smaller crystals.<\/p>

To service these high cooling capacity demands, INTARCON offers solutions and refrigeration systems using natural refrigerants<\/strong> (such as ammonia (R-717), propane (R-290) or CO2 (R-744) ready for commissioning thanks to their Plug & Play configuration.<\/p>

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Cutting or processing rooms<\/em> are among the areas with the highest risk of contamination, being classified as a critical control point in the cold chain, recommending the use of equipment that reduces the microbial load in suspension through the use of air purifiers and room temperature control<\/strong>. For this purpose, INTARCON has developed the intarSANIT<\/a> equipment, based on the use of HEPA filtration<\/strong> stages and UV-C light, or heat recovery from the extraction air.<\/p>

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Preservation and maturation of meat<\/h3>

The maturation of meat<\/a> represents an economic opportunity as it allows the product to be revalued in response to new consumer habits, their interest in quality and their concern for safety. For this reason, there are more and more cases of companies creating a new marketing line for matured meat. The two main lines of matured meat are:<\/p>