Document YDaqb8X3kxj29RKZDQ9b2zxDn

552 CHAPTER 53 1962 Guide And Data Boole Table 1 .... Approximate Chilling Time food Hour* of 35 F Beef (halves or quarters) Pork, lamb and veal Poultry and other fowl Fish 36-72 *>4--*9. 5-10 2- 5 locker plant applications. Since a locker plant is required to handle a wide variety of products, it b necessary to select a method that will permit the plant operator to apply it to all of thefoods to be frozen. The blast freezer or the contactfreezer has been specified for the great majority of plants. Either method b well adapted to the handling of miscellaneous products in packages of varying rise and shape, and will freeze with suffi cient speed to satisfy the most critical processor. Regardless of which method b used, freezing should be accomplished with reasonable speed in order to produce a high quality product, and to have as much food as possible pass through the freezer in a given amount of time. The storage requirements for frozen foods in the commercial freezing plant or the frozen food locker plant are identical as to temperature and general conditions. A temperature of 0 F with a normal variation of 2 to 3 F deg b generally con sidered practicable and satbfactory. The humidity in such storage rooms should be kept as high as practicable by de signing the plant with a small difference in temperature between the room and the refrigerant. PUNT CLASSIFICATIONS The great majority of all locker plants are vxdk-in type, with all facilities on one floor level. In a few cases due to space limitations the plant, or part of it has been located either in a basement or on the second Boor. A limited number of plants of other types known as the room-room type have been so built that the patron can secure frozen foods from hb locker without entering a low-temper ature storage room. Locker customers evidently do not mind going into the cold locker rooms of the uxzZk-w* type; hence, the limited number of toarm^room plants. Some warm-room installations have been made in apartment houses and grocery stores. These use assemblies of about 16 to 100 lockers ar ranged similar to a reach-in refrigerator. The frozen food locker plant serving the average commu nity must be designed tofurnish thevarious services which the prospective operator has found desirable. The average plant, should be equipped to handle meat aa 85 to 95 percent of its volume. The services to be rendered should, therefore, be planned accordingly. These services consist of chilling, aging, cutting, wrapping, freezing and storing. Operators in some areas will want to provide additional meat services such as pickling, smoking, lard rendering, slaughtering, poultry dressing, sausage making, grinding, etc. Other services for the handling of fruits and vegetables will constitute less than five percent of the plant activity and will consist of cleaning, blanching, packaging and freezing. Less fruit and vegetables are stored in plants today due to the popularity of the home freezer. Plants which may perform only parts of the services out lined above are usually referred to as limited service plants. Most patrons are willing to pay for other additional services. Such decisions will be influenced by the community, the type of patron and other nearby plants. Some patrons will produce everything which they bring into the plant for processing while others will buy their meats in primal cuts. Some will produce their own fruits and vegetables for storage and some will buy them. Meats from popular brand packing houses are often in great demand by patrons. Even the farm producer who raises hogs only, for example, will often want to vary hb menu with a few choice cuts of beef. In certain areas the processing and storage of game b a major item, and the plant operator must therefore recognize the need for special facil ities. He must ply* be familiar with state game laws. The percentage of townspeople or other non-farmers who may be expected to patronize a plant b usually much less than for farm families. Some observers maintain that 10 per cent b a reasonable figure to apply to thb latter group because some smaller towns and villages are in general farming areas. The patronage of locker plants by farmers in many areas will run from 70 to 90 percent. Locker renters living on farms averaged 64 percent of all locker renters in 1954. There are no data available on farm and non-farm home freezer users. The distance to a nearby plant, the kind of service available and the length of time it has been in operation are factors which affect usage. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION General Requirements A locker plant must be designed to handle a wide variety of foods. It b therefore necessary to provide facilities to handle properly the various kinds of locally produced foods as well as those which may be brought in by patrons. Chilling. Meats, fish, fowl or game should be chilled immedi ately after killing. Thorough chilling at thb time produces s better flavored product and facilitates the handling and cut ting, The approximate chilling time of various items b given in Table 1. The products mentioned in thb table should be held in the chilling or aging room until prepared for freezing. Beef, to be aged, should be hung in the aging room at approximately 35 F for several days as desired. Vegetables should be cleaned, packaged and frozen as soon as harvested (the same day, if possible). For thb reason, chilling b usually unnecessary un less overnight storage b required during peak season. Some fruits may be held for a shorttime in the chill room at 35 F to make them firmer and more suitable for handling. Thb de pends upon their degree of maturity. Other fruits and berries should be cleaned, packaged and frozen as soon as possible. Chill room temperatures may vary from 34 to 36 F, but for purposes of calculation, it b suggested that 35 F be used. Many plants are provided with rooms for curing meat. The de sign temperature of these rooms should usually be 38 to 40 F. During the process of cutting, wrapping or packaging, and labeling, there will be some rise in temperature of the products being hand&d. To keep thb rise to a minimum, meat and other products in process should be allowed to remain in the chill room until they are ready to be handled and then should be placed in the freezer as soon as possible. Freezing. After packaging, the next step b freezing. The items to be frozen should be arranged in the freezer in such a way that freezing may be accomplished with reasonable speed to produce a better product and so that the food will pass through the freezer rapidly enough to utilize fully the pro* ductive capacity of the equipment. Freezing of family-size packages with suitable speed may be done satisfactorily in a locker plant by several different methods such as: y^er and Freezer Provisioning Plants 553 t Contact freezing by placing the product in contact with inff4emPeratare or unS refrigerant tempera- hc products to be frozen. ^3. Blast freezing in air with the air temperature 0 F or less. freezers are usually of such capacity that two or three load ings per day are possible with product delivered at approxi mately the temperature at which the food b to be stored. The reduction of temperature of the foods being frozen to temperatures far below the ultimate storage temperature is wasteful and unnecessary. Storage- Practical experience by plant operators and re- ggareh by food technologists and others has shown that 0 F b the'proper design temperature for locker room storage. Some of the earlier plants were designed to operate at storage tem peratures as high as 15 F. Some have been content to do a partial job of correction by providing temperatures of 5 or 10 F. It has been necessary for many of these early plants to fhangp their storage temperatures. Indisputable evidence has existed foT many years that frozen foods should be stored at a temperature of 0 F ( 2 deg) if they are held for other than veryshortperiods of time. Goodmoisturevaporproofpackaging is also mi essential for successful long time storage. Research conducted confirms the 0 F storage temperature. Thb work showed that even when properly packaged and pre pared under exacting laboratory conditions, most foods showed significant deterioration within three months when Table 2 .... Approximate Storage Period for Frozen Foods Product Monflb of Temp of 0 F 5 F 10 F Fruits, Vegetables, Beef, Veal Lamb, Mutton, Poultry, Eggs Pork, Butter Ground meat (unsalted), Cream Bacon and Ham (mild cured, not smoked) Fish, Ground meat with salt in seasoning 10-12 8-10 6-8 4-6 4-5 3-4 8-10 3-4 6-8 3-4 4-6 2-3 3-4 1-2 3-4 1-2 2-3 1-2 (Also zee Chaptm* 36 to 44.) stored at + 10 F. Diehl, Tressler, Winter and numerous others have proved the 0 F requirement for other than short time storage. Extensive work through several years conducted at the Western Utilization Research Branch of the USDA has been reported in a series of papers beginning in the December 1956 issue of Food Technology. Thb work again confirms the require ment of steady temperature of 0 F for frozen food storage. Table 2 showing approximate storage periods possible b submitted here as further evidence that 0 F should be gener ally recognized as the proper design temperature for locker storage rooms. Suitable design recommendations for the average frozen food locker plant are given in the condensed Table 3. Type of Space Table 3 .... Locker Plant Design Conditions Room fowperofwe ' Refrigerant Tamperufure laudation Thickness, In. Work room, Process room and Kitchen Grill room Aging room Curing room Freezing room (Gravity sir circulation) Freezer cabinet (In kicker room) Blast freezer Locker room or bulk storage Atmospheric*-* 34-36 F. Design for 35 F* 34-36 F. Design for 35 F ` 38-40 F. Design for 40 F.**r -1010--201* Not important11 Depends on type system used4 0F None 20 to 25 F below room temperature, for gravity circulation; 10 to 15 F below room temperature for forced air circulation S.1WC pS ftlrill room Same as chill room --20 to --30 F -15 to -20 F -10 to -15 F -- 15 to --2QF None 3-8*-* 3-8* 3-8** 6-12*-* 1->A 6-12** 6-12*-* . Properly sealed And erected eorkboard or equivalent. Be air conditioned for employee* comfort if desired. CUD, age and cure rooms may be operated at 32 to 40 P with reasonably good results. Chill and age roams are usually preferred at 34 to 36 F and cure rooms a htUe higher, os about 38 U> 40 F. It Is suggested that 35 F be used aa a design temperature tor chip and ace roceas. The refrigeration coil* m these room* should epo^teon a defrosting cycle. s- Freessg may be done in a fleeter room, or m a cabinet freeser, cr in a blast freeser. If a freeser ro product load. If a freeser cabinet ts installed in a looker room, the product load only need be considered. "t leakage where the freeser cabinet is located. A blast type freeser ma^ be located in a special room or ,___ _________ _ consider both heat leakage __tlm coiling in the looker room will take care of the the locker room. It may be used for freestn< only.jjt.. PayI(atb)sehCuoasoepkd)abctoietyrreeomffriefgrmeeerbaseteerrethdhitehrelaolatctfkiroeenresrtoeoor mltoeaadn!1d6*h*andlemthaeyfsreheowascgolnosaiddearlasbol.e variation daring periods. The amount of variation depends principally upon: ' w Size, shape and initial temperature of packaged product, fc) Method of hatch or continuous, . Control* should be adjusted so as to bold the air temperature of the looker room as constant as^poesible. Variations of 3 to 3 F are customary. Ultra-violet lamps may be used in tbae areas. * Common trails between two refrigerated rooms should be insulated with at least thicknen shown.