Method and apparatus for selective cooling of moving poultry items

Abstract

An apparatus and a method are described that makes possible the automatic cooling of selected foodstuffs such as poultry moving on a conveyor. The apparatus is configured to receive information from sensors located upstream on a conveyor about required cooling based on the size, weight or shape and order of items on the conveyor. A cooling medium is subsequently delivered onto the selected items.

Description

[0001] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTIVE COOLING OF MOVING POULTRY ITEMS

[0002] FIELD

[0003] The present invention relates to methods for cooling food products, in particular poultry, while in motion during their processing.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Consumers are increasingly favoring fresh food over frozen as is seen by numerous market trends. The quality and shelf-life of fresh food depends on many characteristics and conditions, especially factors such as hygiene and handling, during pre - and post - processing (from catch / sacrifice to in-house processing). Bacterial contamination and growth are the main cause of quality loss in fresh foods chicken, and therefore also the main risk factor in causing food poisoning in people. The single most important factor in controlling bacterial growth in foods is temperature during processing, storage, and transport of the foodstuffs. Keeping fresh food safe and of acceptable quality for the consumers as long as possible (i.e. long shelf-life) is therefore of major concern for health authorities, and at the same time of major economic importance for the producers.

[0006] Modern food industries are now generally very high tech, with extensive automation and high throughput. The poultry processing industry is a good example of this development. Poultry production is the largest and fastest growing meat sector in the world, with over 40% of total world meat production. Chicken production is now over 120 million tons (Mt) a year and growing >2% a year.

[0007] In chicken processing, where the output of many chicken producers is as high as 20.000 bird per hour, the birds go quickly through slaughter, bleeding, defeathering by hot water immersion and rubbing, followed by evisceration, washing and finally chilling. Poultry carcasses must be chilled to lower their breast temperature from approximately 40°C to 4°C or below to ensure safe products, before entering secondary processing and / or shipment to customers. The cooling time is therefore critical in the overall economy of poultry production. The cooling process will in principle follow the Newton's law of cooling, where the rate of cooling is dependent on the temperature difference, surface area and the heat transfer coefficient of the body being cooled. The chilling rate is therefore fast in the beginning but gets very slow when the body temperature approaches the environmental temperature in a particular chiller. Chilling time for larger birds will therefore also be longer than for smaller birds under the same chilling conditions.

[0008] A typical poultry producer will receive lots of birds from different poultry farms and each lot will be composed of all birds that were grown in one isolated section of the poultry growth house at the farm. The growing section is then normally cleaned and disinfected between lots and before new lot of chicks is put in the same growth section of the poultry house. Therefore, a lot arriving for slaughter will contain birds of varied sizes, but the average size will vary depending on how long the birds have been grown and which average size is intended for different markets. Size distribution data obtained from several producers shows that different lots will usually have close to a normal distribution of size in each lot.

[0009] It is not practical for the producers to try to sort the birds in the lot according to size so all birds in one lot will therefore get the same cooling treatment, and for the same chilling time. This will therefore mean that at the end of the chilling time, the breast temperature of the birds will be variable.

[0010] The basic chilling rate obtained for poultry, in a particular industrial setting, is dependent on the overall conditions in a chilling chamber, primarily the meteorological factors, temperature, wind speed, humidity and / or water spraying intensity, or the time length of dipping into water when used. For cooling foodstuff such as poultry, some form of cooling medium must be used, and this cooling medium must touch the surface of the foodstuff, to allow heat transfer from within the foodstuff, such as poultry carcasses or poultry parts. The transfer of heat within the foodstuff goes by conduction towards the surface, where the heat can be removed by conduction, by convection, and by radiation. Since the surface of foodstuff being cooled is usually wet, or kept wet, most of the heat removal occurs by convection or through evaporation of the water from the warm surface of the foodstuff, such as in the case of poultry. The cooling media used must be of acceptable food grade and must have a sufficiently gentle mode of action, in order not to damage the surface of the foodstuff. Such surface damage can be caused by excessive drying or freezing of the surface. Therefore, there is a limit of the blowing speed of cold air that can be used, and of the temperature of the air or water that is being blown, sprayed, or dipped on the foodstuff. The internal fluid of cells in fresh foodstuff will normally freeze at temperatures <-2°C. Therefore, it is normally not possible to use cooling media having temperatures, much below -2°C for cooling of fresh foodstuff, such as in the case of poultry.

[0011] Slaughterhouses for poultry in Europe are dealing with the problem of too high temperatures and they have great difficulties complying with stricter regulations in chilling of poultry. Poultry processing plants all over the world are facing the same problems with too hot temperatures in their production, because of stricter regulations, increased size of birds, pressure to increase production, and higher cost of chilling due to warmer weather from global warming and seasonal changes.

[0012] Food operators normally must regularly inform official regulators in reports on the results of sampling of poultry and poultry meat. The report shall state at least information on the type of sample, date of sampling, traceability number / batch, analytical method, and results. The system of the current invention can provide more reliable information on the temperature of the poultry of different sizes, providing confirmation for the effective cooling and quality of the product.

[0013] The use of ice or ice-slurry as a cooling medium is well known in the art, and is a standard cooling method in fish processing, but has not been used much for chilling in the poultry processing industry. Recent technology provides additional cooling to poultry moving on a conveyor line, by shooting ice-slurry or wet snow onto the moving poultry. This method is now primarily being used as an add-on cooling for poultry in standard air-blower cooling chambers (Viglundsson et al. 2021 , EP3765801 B1 ).

[0014] Different methods and apparatuses for weighing foodstuffs such as poultry when traveling on conveyor belts have been described and are well known in the art (Hagendorn et al. 2023, Joergensen et al. 2019). This demonstrates that the industry is continuously looking for improvements in how best to automatically weigh poultry or other foodstuffs, while it is moving in the conveyor line. However, no similar developments have been made for automatic sorting of poultry or other foodstuffs in classes, according to size, weight, or shape, such that different poultry classes could receive different amount of cooling while moving in the conveyor line. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0015] The present disclosures seeks to alleviate, prevent and / or mitigate the deficiencies in the prior art, including those described above.

[0016] The present disclosure thus describes the characteristics of an apparatus, system and method for automatic detection and cooling of foodstuff, in particular poultry, based on discriminating between different classes of foodstuff, in particular poultry, moving on a conveyor or conveyor line, according to the size, weight, and / or shape of individual items, such that different items or different classes of items can be cooled differently, when moving on the conveyor line. In an aspect, the disclosure relates to a method of cooling poultry items during movement on a conveyor, the method comprising steps of (i) selecting at least one poultry item being transported on a conveyor for cooling, based on information with respect to size, weight, and / or shape of the at least one poultry item, and (ii) delivering a cooling medium onto the selected poultry item.

[0017] A cooling medium can for example be air, a liquid such as water, a liquid suspension such as an ice slurry in water, wet snow, snow, ice, in particular crushed ice.

[0018] The selecting of items can comprise determining the size, weight, and / or shape of poultry items moving on a conveyor using one or more sensing device. Such information can then be used to determine the need for cooling of the respective items, or groups of items having similar or same characteristics (such as weight within a certain range, size within a certain range or a certain shape, or combinations of size, shape and / or weight). Based on the selecting of one or more items for cooling, a cooling medium is delivered onto the one or more selected items. This can be done using a cooling apparatus that is configured to receive instructions to deliver one or more cooling medium onto selected poultry items, and comprises means to deliver the cooling medium onto the selected items.

[0019] The method can include or comprise the determination of individual cooling regimens for a plurality of poultry items moving on a conveyor, wherein the cooling regimen comprises determining a quantity of cooling required for each individual poultry item of the plurality of poultry items. In other words, base on a determination of certain size, weight and / or shape, a schedule or regiment for cooling required for the item can be determined. The cooling regiment is then delivered onto the selected item or groups of items. A cooling regiment may involve a quantity of cooling that is provided by delivery of individual doses of a cooling medium by a plurality of cooling apparatuses positioned along the conveyor. In other words, a first dose of cooling medium is delivered by a first cooling apparatus that is positioned along a conveyor for poultry items. A second dose of cooling medium is delivered by a second apparatus, and so on, each such additional apparatus being positioned downstream along the conveyor with respect to the direction of movement of the conveyor. The individual apparatuses may be identical in nature, i.e. configured to deliver the same type of cooling media. Alternatively, the apparatuses may deliver different types of cooling media

[0020] Information on the size, weight and / or shape of individual poultry items can be processed by one or more processors to determine a particular cooling regimen for each of the items. Information on the cooling regimen can subsequently be provided to an individual cooling apparatus, or a plurality of cooling apparatuses, instructing the apparatus to deliver the appropriate dose / amount of cooling media onto selected items. The obtained information on the cooling to be delivered, and / or information on the detecting can be provided by electronic means to at least one cooling apparatus along the conveyor. Alternatively, the one or more processors may be integral to the cooling apparatus.

[0021] The detection of items can include one or more sensing device such as: imaging means such as a camera, mechanical sensors, optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, metallic sensors, magnetic sensors. Two or more detectors that are positioned upstream of a cooling apparatus can also be used, providing information with respect to the direction of travel of the conveyor, and wherein the obtained information received is provided by electronic means to at least one cooling apparatus along the conveyor, for selection of poultry items to be cooled and operation of the at least one cooling apparatus.

[0022] It will be appreciated that weight and / or size of items on a conveyor can be in any order, such as a random order. Accordingly, instructions to each individual cooling apparatus on the cooling regiment to be applied is based on a determination of the need of cooling for each individual item on the conveyor.

[0023] In another aspect the disclosure provides a cooling system for cooling of poultry items. The system comprises (a) at least one cooling apparatus, configured to deliver a cooling medium onto a moving poultry item on a conveyor; (b) one or more conveyors for moving poultry items; and (c) at least one sensing device selected from imaging means such as a camera, mechanical sensors, optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, metallic sensors, and magnetic sensors for detecting the size, or weight or shape of poultry items while moving on a conveyor. The system further comprises at least processor, configured for (i) receiving and processing data on at least the size, weight and / or shape of detected poultry items and (ii) determining a cooling regimen for the poultry items, and provide instructions to the at least one cooling apparatus about delivery of cooling medium onto at least one poultry items based on the cooling regimen.

[0024] The system thus comprises at least one upstream sensing device and at least one cooling apparatus that can provide a cooling medium onto a foodstuff such as poultry in a conveyor line, by blowing, spraying, or shooting mechanisms. The apparatus can be controlled such that a different amount of cooling medium can be provided onto poultry carcasses or other items on a conveyor, where it can be controlled such that certain groups or classes of the poultry, such as classes defined by size or weight, can be cooled by different amounts of a cooling medium.

[0025] The system is characterized in that it is configured to receive information on size and shape of foodstuffs moving on the conveyor from one or more upstream sensing devices; information on different individual poultry items belonging to groups of at least one specific size or size range and / or weight or weight range and / or shape, on the conveyor, the information being sent from at least one upstream sensing device to the cooling apparatus so that the cooling apparatus can be activated for providing cooling medium onto poultry items selected for cooling; activate one or more delivery units that can shoot, spray or blow a cooling medium onto the foodstuff while moving on the conveyor; and wherein the system is further configured to adjust the position and / or number of cooling medium delivery units used for shooting, spraying or blowing the cooling medium to the different items in a group of a poultry items having a certain size, weight and / or shape.

[0026] The amount of cooling medium provided onto the poultry, can be zero or can be incrementally increased in several distinct steps (e.g., through stepwise dosing of a cooling medium) such that items with increased size or weight on a conveyor line will receive increased amount of cooling medium.

[0027] In another aspect the disclosure provides a cooling apparatus for use with a conveyor in a poultry processing unit or poultry processing plant, the apparatus comprising a linear arrangement comprising a plurality of delivery units through each of which a cooling medium can be blown, sprayed, or shot onto moving items such as poultry items on a conveyor, wherein each of the delivery comprises an inlet for receiving a cooling medium and a delivery spout for delivering the cooling medium. The delivery of cooling medium can be driven by pressurized gas or pressurized air, i.e. the blowing, spraying or shooting of the medium can be done by using pressurized gas or air to drive the cooling medium through a delivery nozzle onto the items to be cooled. The cooling apparatus is further configured to receive instructions about the cooling of one or more specific poultry items on the conveyor, and is further adapted to deliver cooling medium through at least one of the delivery units onto selected items based on the received instructions.

[0028] The cooling apparatus can comprise a manifold of delivery units that is arranged adjacently on a support, for example as a linear arrangement. Each of the delivery units is connected to a source of a cooling medium, and the apparatus further comprises a control mechanism for selectively controlling the delivery of the cooling medium through each of the delivery units.

[0029] The cooling apparatus, when provided in the system, can be positioned above, or to one side of a conveyor in a poultry processing unit or plants. The conveyor line can be a flat conveyor belt or overhead conveyor line, such as used in chicken slaughter processing and in chilling chambers. The manifold of delivery units can be supported by a stand-alone support or be attached to the frame structure of a conveyor. The cooling apparatus can receive information on the size and shape of each poultry item in the conveyor line, that is sent from an upstream sensing device to the cooling apparatus, containing a manifold of delivery units. The cooling apparatus, or a processor that is configured to send instructions to the cooling apparatus, will then electronically decide how to provide the cooling medium, such as slurry-ice or wet snow to one or more of selected poultry items. Based on the decision on an appropriate cooling to be applied, the cooling apparatus will then provide a predetermined amount of the cooling medium to the selected items, for example items of a particular class of size, weight and / or shape.

[0030] Alternatively, the apparatus is configured to receive instructions on the delivery of cooling medium onto poultry items moving on the conveyor based on the detection of the shape, size and / or weight of the poultry items and a determination of a cooling regiment for the detected items.

[0031] The apparatus can thus be used for selective cooling of poultry items moving on a conveyor or conveyor line according to size, weight and / or shape of the poultry items. The cooling instructions to the apparatus can be provided by a preprogrammed cooling program, according to a cooling regimen, such that only poultry items of certain size, weight and / or shape, or poultry items of certain classes of size, weight and / or shape of the foodstuff, tat are to be cooled.

[0032] The cooling instructions can also, or alternatively, comprise instructions to deliver different amount of cooling medium onto the poultry items according to a preprogrammed cooling program, such as instructions to provide item-specific and / or different cooling to a plurality of poultry items, or to only provide cooling onto poultry items of specific weight, size or shape.

[0033] The cooling can be provided by directing a cooling apparatus to only subject poultry carcasses of certain weights or carcasses that have a breast temperature above a certain set target temperature, to additional cooling. Such additional cooling can be provided by stronger air blowing, or colder air blowing, or spraying cold water or shooting ice slurry through delivery units in the cooling apparatus at only those poultry carcasses that have a temperature above the set target temperature, to reach a specific target breast temperature within a set and predetermined time within a cooling chamber in which the conveyor transporting the poultry items is arranged, or through which the conveyor transports the items..

[0034] Thus, the methods and system described herein can be configured in such a way that the cooling apparatus will only cool poultry carcasses above a certain weight, or only poultry carcasses within a certain weight range.

[0035] The system and apparatus can be used to connect to other components within a poultry processing units to provide for an appropriate cooling of the poultry items being processed. For example, the system or apparatus can be connected to a controller that can provide instructions for directing the speed of a conveyor in a cooling chamber, to decrease or increase the cooling time needed for poultry carcasses of certain weights, combining the effects of cooling from the environment in the cooling chamber and the additional cooling provided by the cooling apparatus. In other words, information on the size, shape and / or weight of individual items, the temperature in the cooling chamber and the residency time in the chamber (the time it takes for the item to move through the chamber on the conveyor), in addition to the target temperature for the items can be used to determine an appropriate dosing regimen for each item. The dosing regimen determination can further include measurements of the temperature of the poultry items (for example, a measurement of the breast temperature) that are made on entry into the cooling chamber or before poultry items enter the cooling chamber.

[0036] The cooling of items can further or alternatively comprise selectively directing certain poultry carcasses of certain weight and / or size or items that are otherwise in need of additional cooling to reach a set target temperature, to a second or alternate conveyor in the cooling chamber, to increase the residency time of the items within the chamber and provide addition cooling through additional cooling apparatuses arranged along or adjacent to the second / alternate conveyor. This way, poultry carcasses that are too warm can be cooled for longer time if needed, and / or be selected for additional cooling, to reach a target breast temperature.

[0037] The apparatus and system can be controlled via a preprogrammed computer and / or using software for coordinated controlling of valves and / or switches to apply an determined cooling regimen in a prefixed / preprogrammed manner.

[0038] The system described herein can be incorporated into a food processing chain. Thus, one more cooling apparatus as described herein can be connected to arranged adjacent to a conveyer belt that is moving poultry carcasses or poultry items between processing stations within a poultry processing unit or plant. This, way the temperature of individual items being processed within the processing plant can be controlled and adjusted as needed.

[0039] The method and system can also be used for direct controlled precooling of poultry items before packaging for subsequent transport from a poultry processing plant.

[0040] Additional features and advantages of the present invention are described in, and will be apparent from, the following Detailed Description of the Invention and the figures.

[0041] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0042] Figure 1 shows a cooling apparatus in the form of a manifold for shooting or spraying of cooling medium, such as slurry-ice or wet snow onto poultry moving in a conveyor line. The poultry is not shown but a person skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the outlets 4 on the manifold may fit to align up to a poultry and be able to shoot or spray a cooling medium onto the poultry, while passing by on a conveyor. Figure 2 shows a drawing of an exemplary embodiment of an exploded view of a cooling apparatus for shooting or spraying of cooling medium, such as slurry-ice or wet snow onto poultry moving in a conveyor line.

[0043] Figure 3 shows an example of a 4.000 bird lot being chilled in a standard blower air chilling chamber at a European poultry processor. The air temperature in the chamber stayed at 0.5- 1°C for the whole time. The size distribution follows a typical normal distribution curve (blue line), and orange line shows the time in minutes that it takes to reach a target 4°C in breast. The average weight of the lot was 1 .59 kg. The first arrow indicates the average weight mark where 50% of the birds have reached 4°C in 125 min. The second arrow indicates the weight mark where 85% of the birds have reached 4°C in 150 min. The third arrow indicates the weight mark where 95% of the birds have reached 4°C in 180 min. The standard operation at this processor was to run the chilling chamber for 130-150 min. Therefore, about 15% of the birds would still be having breast temperature >4°C, when entering secondary processing.

[0044] Figure 4 shows an example of chicken breast temperature measurements when done at the end of chilling in a state-of-the-art blower air chilling chamber. The data shown represent two large lots of chicken with different average weights. The example shows that the final breast temperature has a near-linear relation as function of bird weight.

[0045] Figure 5 shows an example of chicken breast temperature measurements when done by an automatic temperature measuring apparatus herein after about 65 min of chilling time in a state-of-the-art blower air chilling chamber with full length chilling time of 100 min. The data shows an example where the automatic temperature measuring system was set to measure every 100th bird on the conveyor line.

[0046] Figure 6 shows schematic drawings of two arrangements of a conveyor and a plurality of cooling apparatuses that are arranged adjacent to the conveyor.

[0047] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0048] The present disclosure is based on the development by the inventors of a practical way to apply the principle of online measurement for continuous monitoring of different foodstuff, in particular poultry, moving on conveyors or conveyor lines. The disclosure in part relates to an independent system that can accurately and continuously categorize (sort) and select foodstuff items, such as poultry items, according to size, weight, and / or shape within different types of food cooling facilities.

[0049] A poultry item, as described herein, can be a whole body (i.e. poultry carcass) or an individual part of poultry, for example breast, legs thighs, etc.

[0050] Furthermore, the system can selectively provide different amounts of cooling medium, such as ice slurry or wet snow, onto different classes of foodstuff, such as poultry, in a conveyor line, according to size, weight, and / or shape of such classes. The system can furthermore communicate with or be connected to computers or other systems in the facility (factory or food processing facility, including poultry processing facility), allowing the collection of information, reporting and response that can be taken under different situations within the facility.

[0051] All cooling methods that are currently in industrial use for chilling poultry on a conveyor line are applied indiscriminately, in the sense that all the poultry carcasses will get the same cooling treatment, and for the same chilling time, irrespective of size, weight or shape. This means (as indicated in figure 3 in example 2), that the smallest items (bird carcasses or parts) will be cooled more than is set or required, and the larger birds will not get enough cooling to reach the desirable low internal temperatures.

[0052] Because of this indiscriminate character of current cooling methods, cooling facilities are being over dimensioned in size or capacity to accommodate sufficient cooling of the larger birds, or else the speed of the conveyors must be run slower than optimal, to extend the cooling time. Both approaches lead to higher costs and are wasting energy for unnecessary extra cooling of the smaller birds.

[0053] If a practical system for standardized and automatic method of sorting / categorization of foodstuff such as poultry according to size, weight and / or shape on a conveyor, and cooling the foodstuff differently according to size, was commercially available, this would be highly valuable for the producers.

[0054] The main obstacles to such an automatic and standardized sorting and discriminating cooling of foodstuffs, such as chicken carcasses in conveyor line, is that poultry such as chicken is variable in size and shape, typically arriving in random order and moving very rapidly on a conveyor. Thus, the common speed of birds moving on conveyor lines in chilling chambers is between 0.1 to 0.9 m / sec, although even higher speeds are possible. The current invention thus relates to new ways to provide an automatic method of sorting foodstuff such as poultry on a conveyor, according to size, weight or shape and selectively cooling different items, groups or classes of foodstuffs that can be of variable size and shape and are moving rapidly on conveyor lines, such as in chilling chambers that are used for chilling poultry, including both whole carcasses or cut pieces.

[0055] As described herein, the present disclosures provides method to automatically and selectively cool a foodstuff such as poultry items while moving, or in motion, on a conveyor, the method comprising selecting a foodstuff such as poultry items of certain size, weight, or shape from a random batch of the foodstuff items moving along the conveyor, to allow for selectively cooling individual items or groups of items of certain size, weight, and / or shape by means of providing a cooling medium onto the selected foodstuff.

[0056] The cooling medium can be gas such as air, or liquid such as water, or a suspension such as ice slurry or wet snow, or a powder, such as snow or crushed ice.

[0057] The cooling medium can for example be provided through delivery of an ice slurry through specially designed spraying nozzles (delivery units). An example are IceGun spraying nozzles which are described in WO 2019 / 175905. Briefly, the spraying nozzles (ice guns) contain a conically shaped filter housing with the apex (i.e., narrower end of filter) directed against the flow of an incoming ice slurry. As the ice slurry is driven through the spraying nozzle by pressurized air, the slurry is converted into wet snow as a result of the discharge of liquid through the filter housing. This wet snow, which has a reduced content of water, subsequently exits the nozzle and is delivered onto the item(s) to be cooled.

[0058] The methods and system described herein can be useful in production facilities such as poultry processing facilities where individual items (e.g., poultry carcasses or poultry parts) are moving at high speed along or on a conveyor, such as at a speed as high as 10 m / s (equivalent to about 240k birds per hour (bph)), as high as 5 m / s (120k bph) or as high as 2 m / s (50k bph). The speed can generally be in the range of 0.05-10 m / s, such as 0.05-5 m / s, 0.05-2 m / s, 0.5-5 m / s, 0.5-4 m / s, 0.5-3 m / s or 0.5-2 m / s. 0.05 - 0.85 (1200bph - 20000 bph) or 0.1 - 0.9 m / s.

[0059] Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. The examples provided as an explanation of the invention are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. Therefore, as used herein, the term “or” is generally intended to be inclusive (i.e., “A or B” is intended to mean “A or B or both”). The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings and figures provided.

[0060] Unless defined otherwise, all technical terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methods and materials are now described.

[0061] EXAMPLE 1

[0062] This example shows drawings of a cooling apparatus. Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a manifold apparatus for shooting an ice-slurry or wet snow onto foodstuff such as poultry that is moving on a conveyor. Suitably, during use the location of the manifold apparatus is in front of the moving foodstuff, e.g. chicken, i.e. the outlet of each delivery unit faces the poultry items as they move in front of the manifold apparatus. In particular, the manifold can be suitably arranged so that spouts at the outwardly end of the delivery unit 4 face and are close to (e.g., within 1 m, within 0.5 or within 0.4, 0.3 or 0.2m of the poultry items) the breast side of the poultry items. The poultry items, which are typically suspended by their legs on the conveyor, is not shown but a person skilled in the art knows what poultry looks like and that the manifold apparatus may be arranged to be aligned with a row of incoming poultry on a conveyor.

[0063] The manifold contains a linear arrangement of adjacent delivery units 4 each having a delivery spout and that are arranged on a main body 1 of the apparatus. Each of the delivery units can be used to deliver a dose (in the form of a pulse over time) of a cooling medium such as ice or ice slurry onto adjacent food items (e.g,, poultry items). A lid 3 is used to cover the inner parts of the manifold apparatus. Figure 2 shows an exploded view of the exemplary embodiment of the manifold apparatus with the lid 3 open, showing the main functional within the apparatus. The apparatus is shown to contain a pneumatic and electrical control unit 2 and a plurality of cooling medium delivery units 4 with connection tubes shown for electrical connections 5 and connections for delivering pressured air and cooling media 6, such as slurry ice or wet snow. The function of the individual parts as numbered in the drawings in figures 1 and 2 are explained according to the following list:

[0064] 1 . Main body base of manifold apparatus with attachments for holding a plurality of delivery units 4, such as IceGuns for blowing, spraying, or shooting cooling medium.

[0065] 2. Pneumatic and electrical control unit to be attached to the main body 1.

[0066] 3. Lid covering main body base 1 to protect the pneumatic and electrical control units 2.

[0067] 4. Delivery units 4, such as IceGuns attached under the main body base 1.

[0068] 5. Connection tubes for electrical and computer connections into the main body base 1 and connecting to the pneumatic and electrical control unit 2.

[0069] 6. Connection tubes for pneumatic connections to provide pressured air and cooling media, such as ice-slurry to the manifold delivery units 4.

[0070] EXAMPLE 2

[0071] This example shows real data of a typical example of a 4,000 bird lot being chilled in a standard blower air chilling chamber at a European poultry processor. The air temperature in the chamber stayed at 0.5-1 °C for the whole time. The size distribution follows a typical normal distribution curve (solid curve), and the straight line shows the time in minutes that it takes to reach a target temperature of 4°C in the chicken breast. The average weight of the lot was 1 .59 kg. The first arrow indicates the average weight mark where 50% of the birds have reached 4°C in 125 min. The second arrow indicates the weight mark where 85% of the birds have reached 4°C in 150 min. The third arrow indicates the weight mark where 95% of the birds have reached 4°C in 180 min. The standard operation at this processor was to run the chilling chamber for 130-150 min. Therefore, about 15% of the birds would still have breast temperature >4°C, when entering secondary processing. In figure 4 is another real data example of chicken breast temperature measurements when done by the usual manual method at the end of chilling in a state-of-the-art blower air chilling chamber. The data shown indicates two large lots of chicken with different average weights. The example shows that the final breast temperature increases with increasing size or weight of the birds and furthermore it shows that the breast temperature shows a near-linear relation as function of bird weight.

[0072] These examples illustrate the challenges and shortcomings of typical industrial chilling chamber, where an indiscriminate cooling is applied to all items being processed, independent of their size or weight.

[0073] EXAMPLE 3

[0074] This example demonstrates the use of the cooling method and apparatus described herein for lowering the temperature of chicken breast when cooled according to the automatic method described herein.

[0075] The data shown in Figure 5 result from processing where out of a lot of 14,500 birds, the breast temperature of every 100thbird on the conveyor line was measured by inserting a temperature probe deep into the breast. For the first 80 measurements, after 8,000 birds had passed on the conveyor, no additional cooling was provided onto the birds, i.e. the birds were only cooled by the ambient air in the chamber. Starting with bird measurement no 81 (indicated by the arrow) and onward for the next 6,500 birds, all birds that had size above the 1 .6 kg average weight received the same amount of additional cooling from shooting of filtered ice-slurry from the manifold cooling apparatus described herein. The results show that the breast temperature in the larger birds was significantly lower in all birds after measurement no. 80 when the additional cooling had been applied.

[0076] As will be appreciated, there is a large variation in the temperature of the breast in the initial measurement lot, which is a result of the size distribution of the chicken on the conveyor. This variation was dramatically reduced upon applying the selective cooling. Moreover, the average breast temperature using the method described herein was therefore lowered from the average of 11 .8°C to 11 .1 °C after implementation, although only the larger half of the birds received the additional cooling. This example demonstrates the usefulness of the cooling described herein in lowering the temperature of the larger birds and associated energy savings because no cooling medium needed to be provided onto the smaller portion of the birds, after about 65 min of chilling time in a state-of-the-art blower air chilling chamber with a full length (final) chilling time of 100 min. In other words, the additional cooling was applied after the poultry had been cooled for about 65 min in the cooling chamber, and after which the poultry was cooled for another 35 mins.

[0077] As will be appreciated, the degree of additional cooling can be adapted as needed to (1) lower the temperature of selected birds further, by supplying each bird with multiple rounds of additional cooling, and (2) amend selection criteria for inclusion in the additional cooling, i.e. by changing the weight / size cutoff for the additional cooling. The system can thus be adapted to the size of each chilling chamber, the time that each poultry item resides within the chamber, and the air temperature in the chamber, and applying additional cooling through the methods described herein to reach a preselected temperature of the birds after cooling in the chamber and minimize the distribution of the (breast) temperature of the birds.

[0078] EXAMPLE 4

[0079] As described in the above, the cooling apparatus described herein can be used in an environment such as poultry production plants, where large quantities of food items (e.g., chicken) are processed simultaneously. In a typical chicken production plant, large quantities (up to tens of thousands per hour) of chicken are processed in parallel. Following slaughter, the chicken is cooled down to a desirable low temperature (typically about 4C) for further downstream processing. This is conventionally done using large chilling chambers, within which conveyors extended. These conveyors can in principle be arranged as linear conveyors extending through a cooling chamber or as conveyors that follow an undulating path, a path that is in part straight and in part bent, etc. The conveyors may also transport items in more than one plane, i.e. one portion of a conveyor may be positioned in a plane above another portion of a conveyor.

[0080] In Fig. 6 there are shown schematic drawings of two arrangements of a conveyor and a plurality of cooling apparatuses that are arranged adjacent to the conveyor. The cooling apparatus can be fixed to the conveyor or a support structure for the conveyor. Alternatively, the cooling apparatus is freestanding but arranged adjacent to the conveyor. The cooling apparatus may be of any desirable constructions, as long as the apparatus is controllable to deliver a cooling medium onto poultry items (e.g., chicken carcasses or chicken items) that are moving along the conveyor. The conveyor is illustrated by a line, with the arrow indicating the direction of movement. Any type of conveyor can be employed, although a typical conveyor in a poultry processing plant will transport the poultry suspended by its legs.

[0081] A cooling apparatus is typically arranged adjacent to a conveyor, so that cooling medium from the cooling apparatus can be selectively directed to items selected for cooling. When the cooling apparatus is configured as a series of cooling units arranged on a linear structure, the structure is typically arranged parallel to the conveyor, typically so that delivery spouts are arranged to face the side of items on the conveyor (e.g., suspended poultry). Alternatively, the delivery spouts can be arranged to face an opening in a poultry carcass, so as to be able to deliver the cooling medium into the carcass.

[0082] The selection and cooling of items on the conveyor can be controlled as described herein. Thus, an upstream (with respect to the direction of travel of the conveyor) detector can detect the weight, shape and / or size of selected items on the conveyor, or if desired all items on the conveyor can be detected. Based on the detection, a cooling regimen for each item can be determined. This cooling regimen can take into account various parameters such as (1) the size, weight and / or shape of the item, (2) the original temperature of the item as it enters the facility, for example the temperature as the item is placed on the conveyor or the temperature of the item as it enters a cooling chamber on the conveyor, (3) the temperature in the chamber / room of the conveyor, (4) the residence time of the item within the chamber / room, and (5) the desired final temperature.

[0083] The determined cooling regimen can be determined as the requirement for any number of cooling doses to be applied by the cooling apparatuses arranged within the chamber / room. As the conveyor speed is typically very high, each cooling apparatus, even if provided as a manifold having multiple cooling units, may only be able to deliver one dose of the cooling medium (e.g., a dose of ice slurry or a doce of crushed or pulverized ice) to a poultry item selected for cooling, as the item passes by the cooling apparatus. Further, due to the high speed of the conveyor, it may not be possible reactivate / reload a cooling unit in time for the next incoming item on the conveyor. Therefore, different cooling units in a cooling apparatus may be activated independently to deliver doses of cooling media onto incoming poultry items.

[0084] Furthermore, the cooling effect of a cooling medium such as ice takes time which is limited by the thermal conductivity of the item to be cooled and its current temperature. Therefore, it may be useful to deliver / apply multiple cooling doses onto selected items. This can typically be done by separate cooling apparatuses that have been arranged along the transport conveyor.

[0085] Turning now to Fig. 6A, the configuration of multiple cooling apparatuses (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) can be used to deliver cooling doses onto incoming poultry items as desired. For example, it may have been determined, through processing of information from upstream sensing device and the various parameters about the system and desired final temperature, that a dosing regimen of two doses of cooling is to be applied to an incoming chicken carcass on the conveyor. For this purpose, cooling apparatus 2 and cooling apparatus 6 are to deliver such doses. Thus, as the selected item passes by cooling apparatus 2, a first dose of cooling agent (e.g., ice slurry) is applied / shot onto the carcass (e.g, breast of the carcass), without stopping or slowing down the conveyor. The carcass then passes through the chamber / room on the conveyor until it reaches cooling apparatus 6, which is activated to deliver a second dose of cooling agent onto the carcass. Other cooling apparatuses and other cooling units within each of the cooling apparatuses, can then be used for delivering doses of cooling media onto other carcasses on the conveyor.

[0086] Mechanical or electronic detection means can provide information on an incoming item (e.g. carcass or other poultry item) on the conveyor, so that the cooling apparatus can be activated to deliver a dose of cooling media onto the appropriate item. This detection means (e.g., a mechanical or magnetic detector or sensor, or an imaging sensor) can be arranged close to, or adjacent to, the cooling apparatus.

[0087] In Fig. 6B, a similar configuration is shown, although here the conveyor is shown as following an undulating or irregular path. In principle the conveyor, and adjacent cooling apparatuses, can be provided in any configuration within a cooling chamber / room, either within a single plane or in two or more multiple planes. The cooling apparatus (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) can as described in the above be activated according to a predetermined cooling regimen for each carcass or other item on the conveyor.

[0088] The dosing regimen is in principle unlimited in its variation, being mainly limited by the length of the conveyor and the related size of the chamber / room / facility within which the conveyor is located. Thus, a dosing regiment can be determined to include any number of doses of cooling media to be delivered, including zero doses. The number of doses can thus be 0, 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or even more doses, as deemed appropriate for the respective configuration and required external cooling. For example, cooling apparatus 2, 5, and 8 might be activated for a large chicken carcass requiring extensive cooling. By contrast, only cooling apparatus 4 would be activated for a small carcass, and cooling apparatuses 3 and 7 activated for an intermediate sized carcass.

[0089] Although the system and method can be individualized for each chicken carcass or poultry item, for sake of simplicity during operation, it can be beneficial to define categories of chicken carcasses in terms of size / weight and determine categories of cooling based thereon. For example, chicken with weight in first range are determined to receive three cooling doses, chicken with weight in a second (lower) range are determined to receive two cooling doses, and chicken with weight in a third range are determined to receive one cooling dose. A fourth range of chicken may additionally be determined to not receive any additional cooling at all, i.e. zero doses.

[0090] It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

[0091] REFERENCES

[0092] Hagendorn, J.W. et al. 2023. Apparatus for weighing poultry moving in a conveyor line. US patent application US2023 / 0400345A1 .

[0093] Joergensen, A. et al. 2019. Weight Estimation of Broilers in Images Using 3D Prior Knowledge. M. Felsberg et al. (Eds.): SCIA 2019, LNCS 11482, pp. 221-232, 2019. https: / / doi.orq / 10.1007 / 978-3-030-20205-7 19

[0094] Viglundsson et al. (2021). New Method of Processing Ice Slurry for Improved Chilling of Fresh Foods. PCM2021 13th HR. Phase Change Materials and Slurries for Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference, Italy, 1 st- 3rd Sept.

[0095] Viglundsson Th. (2019). Method and Apparatus for making Wet Snow. European patent no. EP3765801 B1

Claims

CLAIMS1 . A method of cooling poultry items during movement on a conveyor, the method comprising steps of- selecting at least one poultry item being transported on a conveyor for cooling, based on information with respect to size, weight, and / or shape of the at least one poultry item, and- delivering a cooling medium onto the selected poultry item.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling medium is selected from air, liquid such as water, a liquid suspension such as ice slurry or wet snow, or a powder, such as snow or ice powder.

3. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the method comprises: a.determining the size, weight, and / or shape of poultry items moving on a conveyor using one or more sensing device; b. selecting one or more poultry item for cooling by a cooling apparatus that is configured to receive instructions to deliver one or more cooling medium onto selected poultry items, and c. delivering a cooling medium onto the one or more selected moving poultry item.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, the method comprising determining individual cooling regimens for a plurality of poultry items moving on a conveyor, wherein the individual cooling regimen comprises determining a quantity of cooling medium required for each individual poultry item of the plurality of poultry items.

5. The method of the previous claim, wherein the quantity of cooling medium is provided by delivery of individual doses of a cooling medium by a plurality of cooling apparatuses positioned along the conveyor.

6. The method of the previous claim, wherein a first individual dose of cooling medium is delivered by a first cooling apparatus along the conveyor, and wherein each subsequent individual dose is delivered by one or more further cooling apparatuses positioned along theconveyor, downstream of the first cooling apparatus with respect to the direction of movemeny of the conveyor.

7. The method according to any one of the previous claims, wherein the method comprises detecting poultry items of different size, weight and / or shape being transported in order on a conveyor, determining the size, weight and / or shape of each of the poultry items and sending information to a cooling apparatus about a cooling regiment to be applied to each of the poultry items based on the determination of the size, weight and / or shape.

8. The method according to the previous claim wherein the detection of poultry items on the conveyor comprises using one or more sensing device selected from: imaging means such as a camera, mechanical sensors, optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, metallic sensors, magnetic sensors.

9. The method according the previous claim, wherein information on size, and / or weight and / or shape and the order of poultry items on the conveyor is obtained by two or more different types of sensing device selected from imaging means such as a camera, mechanical sensors, optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, metallic sensors, and magnetic sensors, and that are positioned upstream of the cooling apparatus, with respect to the direction of movement of the conveyor, and wherein the obtained information is processed by one or more processors to provide a selection of poultry items to be cooled and provided by electronic means to at least one cooling apparatus along the conveyor.

10. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the poultry items on the conveyor are variable in size and the size distribution along the conveyor is in any random order, wherein the method comprises applying information on the size, weight and / or shape of each poultry item on the conveyor to determine a cooling regimen to be applied to each of the poultry items, sending instructions about the cooling regiment to one or more cooling apparatuses along the conveyor about providing cooling medium onto one or more selected poultry item on the conveyor; and delivering the cooling medium onto the one or more selected poultry item.11 . A cooling system comprising: a. at least one cooling apparatus, configured to deliver a cooling medium onto moving poultry items on a conveyor. b. at least one conveyor for moving poultry items; andc. at least one sensing device selected from imaging means such as a camera, mechanical sensors, optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, metallic sensors, and magnetic sensors for detecting the size, or weight or shape of poultry items while moving on a conveyor; and wherein the system further comprises at least processor, configured for (i) receiving and processing data on at least the size, weight and / or shape of detected poultry items and (ii) determining a cooling regimen for the poultry items, and provide instructions to the at least one cooling apparatus about delivery of cooling medium onto at least one poultry items based on the cooling regimen.

12. system according to claim 10, characterized in that the system is configured to: receive information on size and shape of poultry items moving on the conveyor from one or more sensing device; determine a cooling regimen for poultry items belonging to groups of a certain size or size range and / or weight or weight range and / or shape, on the conveyor, wherein information on the cooling regimen is sent from at least one upstream sensing device to at least one cooling apparatus so that the at least one cooling apparatus can be activated for providing cooling medium onto poultry items selected for cooling; activate one or more delivery units on at least one cooling apparatus to shoot, spray or blow a cooling medium onto selected poultry items based on the determined cooling regimen while the selected poultry items are moving on the conveyor; and wherein the system is further configured to adjust the position and / or number of cooling apparatuses used for shooting, spraying or blowing the cooling medium to the different items in a group of poultry items having a certain size, weight and / or shape.

13. The system according to claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the at least one cooling apparatus comprises a plurality of delivery units through each of which a cooling medium can be blown, sprayed, or shot onto moving items such as poultry items on the conveyor; and wherein the at least one cooling apparatus is configured to receive instructions to deliver variable amounts of the cooling medium onto items selected for cooling.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein a variable amount of cooling medium to be delivered can be zero or can be non-zero and applied in separate distinct steps by a plurality of coolingapparatuses that are positioned along the conveyor, such that items with increased size and / or weight will receive increased amount of the cooling medium.

15. A cooling apparatus for use with a conveyor in a poultry processing unit, the apparatus comprising: a linear arrangement comprising a plurality of delivery units through each of which a cooling medium can be blown, sprayed, or shot onto moving items such as poultry items on a conveyor; wherein the cooling apparatus is configured to receive instructions about the cooling of one or more specific poultry items on the conveyor, and wherein the cooling apparatus is further adapted to deliver cooling medium through at least one of the delivery units onto selected items based on the received instructions.

16. The cooling apparatus of claim 15, comprising a manifold having a linear arrangement of delivery units that are arranged adjacently on a support, each of the delivery units further being connected to a source of a cooling medium, wherein the manifold further comprises a control mechanism for selectively controlling delivery of the cooling medium through each of the delivery units.

17. The cooling apparatus of claim 15 or 16, wherein the delivery units each comprise a conically shaped porous filter unit that is connected to a source of a cooling medium in the form of an ice slurry, so that during the operation of the apparatus, ice slurry that is driven into the delivery units by pressurized gas or air passes through the conically shaped filter unit and is discharged from the delivery units as an ice slurry or wet snow with reduced water content compared with the ice slurry that enters the delivery units.

18. The system, apparatus or method of any one of the previous, wherein the cooling medium ice or ice slurry that contains 1% to 25% salt, such as NaCI, preferably 2% to 15% salt, even more preferably 3% to 10% salt, or the cooling medium is wet snow that contains 0.01% to 10% salt, preferably 0.05% to 5% salt, even more preferably 0.1% to 2% salt.

19. The system, apparatus or method according to any preceding claim, wherein the cooling medium is ice slurry or wet snow that contains 30% to 90% ice, preferably 40% to 80% ice, even more preferably 45% to 75% ice.

20. The system, apparatus or method according to any preceding claim, wherein the ice slurry or wet snow is at temperature of 0°C to -20°C, preferably at temperature of -1 °C to - 10°C, even more preferably at temperature of -2°C to -5°C.

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