BRITISH FREEZER FOR TOP RUSSIAN MEAT FIRM

UK equipment manufacturer Starfrost has supplied a new contact freezing system for poultry products to Russia’s largest meat producer.

Cherkizovo Group is the market leader in Russian meat processing. Starfrost was approached to supply a new contact freezing system at Cherkizovo’s Moscow facility.

Cherkizovo was using a spiral freezer with a metal mesh conveyor belt, and wanted to eliminate belt marks and improve product quality and yield on raw chicken fillets.

Starfrost’s StarContact Film Hardener (CFH) is designed to pre-condition food products before the final freezing process. The CFH hardens the product’s underside surface by freezing to a depth of around 1mm to eliminate belt mesh marks, reduce dehydration and minimise weight loss.

Cherkizovo’s CFH is an enclosed in-line freezing tunnel (length 8m x width 1m) with a processing capacity of 1,500kg per hour of raw poultry. The system was designed and supplied from Starfrost’s UK manufacturing facility in Suffolk, with installation co-ordinated by the company’s East Europe sales office.

The StarContact Film Hardener is ideal for freezing the underside of raw meats and poultry to eliminate belt marks. It can also be used to maintain the shape of wet or delicate seafood products such as fish fillets, scallops, octopus and squid. For more information visit: www.starfrost.com