Meat+Poultry - November 2018 - 56

FOOD SAFETY

West Liberty Foods uses
high pressure processing
during the production of
its ready-to-eat meats.

MEAT+ POULTRY | 11.18 | www.meatpoultry.com

West Liberty Foods

56

"It also lengthens shelf life and sustainability
of products," he says. Benefits include fewer
anti-microbial ingredients in meat and poultry,
less salt, less nitrates and nitrites.
Because HPP is a batch process - often
products are put into the HPP systems at
the very end of the lines. Integration into the
processing lines happens, but it's not easy.
"The products come off our slicing lines,"
Swanson explains. "Then our HPP tubes are
packed with the products. After the HPP
process, then final boxing, the products go into
cold storage for distribution." He says HPP
can tie into plant automation processes to a
certain extent, but he hopes that tie-in can be
expanded in the future. "Expanding HPP into
the automation process is what we're working
on for the future."
As far as the amount of time being added
to processing and throughput, Swanson
estimates, "It might add 12 to 24 hours to
our slicing operations." The footprint of HPP
systems in plants is big, he adds, because of
the size of the systems.
Applegate Farms LLC, a processor
in Bridgewater, New Jersey, also uses
HPP extensively, relying on systems
manufactured by JBT/Avure Technologies

Inc., in Middletown,
Ohio. Applegate is a
subsidiary of Hormel
Foods but is operated as
an independent brand that
specializes in organic and
natural prepared meats.
Applegate primarily
uses high pressure
pasteurization for its
ready-to-eat, refrigerated
foods, as they pose the
greatest risk for pathogens,
says Chad Clem, Applegate
director of research and
development. It's helpful
to Applegate because the
company is committed to
providing clean food with
no artificial preservatives
or ingredients. "HPP helps
us deliver on that promise
without compromising
food safety or taste," he
says. The company has
very specific time and pressure requirements
for all the products that go through HPP,
including restricting how long a product can be
in package before HPP.
The company uses HPP on many of its
fully cooked refrigerated products, mostly at
its main distribution center and cold storage
facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania. HPP
also takes place at two co-manufacturing
facilities. While cycle time is less than 10
minutes, additional time is needed for drying,
then quality evaluation before re-boxing
and palletizing. Lightweight items in bulky
packaging have lower throughputs than dense
items in vacuum packages, since throughput is
based on product volume that can fit into HPP
caddies, he says.
Clem also notes that syncing production of
processing and HPP into an automated process
isn't happening yet for them, "because of the
stop-and-go cyclical nature of HPP and the
continuous process of Applegate production
lines. In manufacturing plants where HPP
takes place on site, the goods are finished and
then moved through HPP later. Varying shapes
and sizes of products are also an obstacle to
automation. They require manual loading and
unloading," Clem says.
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Meat+Poultry - November 2018

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