9 replies to this topic

[Adolf von Liebenberg]

Hi all,

 

Production site:

Slaughter and processing of chickens.

 

Situation:

Normally we have no problems with our shelf life of 7 day.

However we have been getting 2 complaints from our customers about decay.
And we had a shelf life analysis that was above the norm.

 

Now I'm searching what the problem is.

I guess there are several parameters I should control:

- time and speed of the quick cooler (right after slaughter)

- time in the cutting room

- temperature of the chickens when packaged

- respecting cold chain

- good hygiene practices

 

Are there other things I should consider having a impact on my shelf life that I am missing?

 

Thanks in advance

[Brendan Triplett]

Adolf,

 

I would also look at:

 

Time to get product down to refrigerated storing temperature

Are you doing live hang - what is the speed of your line

How thorough is your inspection process

 

Your main factors will be time and temp anywhere along the line so I would follow your process map to see where the temperature has the greatest variance.

[Scampi]

Are you using an antimicrobial dip/spray on the carcasses?  

 

Have you performed ATP/TPC swabs on FCS?

 

What sort of controls are on the evisceration line.........you really should be able to get 10 days in total from a WHOLE carcasses

 

Is the evisceration room temperature controlled

 

Are you sure about the QUALITY of the water....has something changed there

 

Since you mention cut up........how cold is that room and are you swabbing your cutting surfaces?  Have you changed packaging materials?

 

If you could provide some more information about your entire process, that would be helpful

 

Assuming you're using CO2 for stunning?

 

Poultry slaughter is my wheelhouse

[SQFconsultant]

Packaging issue?

[Charles.C]

Hi AvL,

 

I assume the actual product in question is stored Chilled.

 

I assume the product has heretofore not evidenced significant quality variations ?

 

From a QA POV the typical response is to ask for samples and see if you agree with the customer.

 

And determine how the customer stores yr product.

 

IMEX (not poultry) the first suspect would be the raw material unless you have a specific query regarding process.

 

PS - I'm curious how you decide on a shelf life of 7 days ? Intuition ? Industry Standard ?

[Adolf von Liebenberg]

Sorry for the late reply.

 

Product is stored chilled at 4°C.

 

We had before no problems with our shelf life.

 

Shelf life is decided upon history data en data available from analysis.

 

We don't have packaging issues specific to this lot.

[Scampi]

Then either you've got a sanitation issue in house OR as PP mentioned, this is a supply chain storage problem

 

I would also suggest you target a temp of 2C in house and during transit...........those 2 degrees in poultry specifically make an enormous difference in shelf

[Adolf von Liebenberg]

Are you using an antimicrobial dip/spray on the carcasses?  

 

Have you performed ATP/TPC swabs on FCS?

 

What sort of controls are on the evisceration line.........you really should be able to get 10 days in total from a WHOLE carcasses

 

Is the evisceration room temperature controlled

 

Are you sure about the QUALITY of the water....has something changed there

 

Since you mention cut up........how cold is that room and are you swabbing your cutting surfaces?  Have you changed packaging materials?

 

If you could provide some more information about your entire process, that would be helpful

 

Assuming you're using CO2 for stunning?

 

Poultry slaughter is my wheelhouse

Hi Scampi!

 

We apply chlorine dioxine spray on the carcasses.

What does FCS stand for?

 

Our vent cutter is a CCP which is controlled on hurted intestine packages.

The temperature in our evisceration line is monitored. There are no significant issues regarding this room.

 

We use tapwater so there shouldnt be an issue. If here was an issue, then we should get a lot more reports on decay.

 

We had slight temperature deviations in the cutting room. Some we're pretty high.

We slowed down the overall process, now the meat is back to a good temperature.

 

However, I'm not sure this was the reason of the spoilage since there were only 2 complaints.

[Scampi]

FCS= food contact surfaces

 

2 complaints that you have been told about...........rule of thumb for each complaint you receive there are 10 more people out there with the same issue most are just too busy or forgetful to report it

 

Is the actual evisceration manual or are you using a mechanical eviscerator?  The carcasses really need to be inspected post evisceration as well as at venting.........if you're rupturing the liver/gall bladder you will get bile in the carcass which then will contaminate that bird AND the water in the water chiller if not properly removed/cleaned prior to chilling

[Charles.C]

Hi Adolf,

 

My question was - did you evaluate the complaints ??

 

Shelf-life is typically based on some safety/qOLQ criterion although I have known "lack of complaints" to sometimes be used as a replacement for investment in QA.

 

 

Assuming satisfactory raw material and consistent process,  "spoilage" is typically = f (time/temperature). Somewhere.