12.

Chilling, Freezing and Boning

Mike North

Learning objectives
At the end of this topic you should be able to:

• demonstrate a thorough understanding of heat transfer mechanisms and how they affect
product cooling in the meat industry.
• discuss relevant literature relating to grazing management and sustainability.
• predict chilling and freezing times for meat products.
• understand hot and cold boning and the advantages and disadvantages of each of these
processing methods.

Key terms and concepts

Heat, Conduction, Convection, Radiation, Chilling. Heat transfer coefficient.
Biot number, Thermal properties, Predicting chilling times, Heat loads, Freezing.
Latent heat, Predicting freezing times, Boning, Hot boning, Warm boning, Cold boning.

12.1 Introduction
The meat industry uses refrigeration for food preservation. In many countries, animals slaughtered
for meat were, and in some cases still are, immediately distributed, sold and consumed.
Preservation was therefore unnecessary. As producers began to produce surplus meat, however,
preservation methods were required so that excess product could be held and used at a later time,
or in a distant location. Chilling meat was an early form of preservation that could be used without
changing the form or state of the products. Freezing meat was a logical progression from chilling
that gave longer preservation times.

The main factors that affect the storage life of meat are the microbial growth and chemical
reactions. Microbial spoilage can make the meat less pleasant to eat and it can also make the
consumer ill if microbial numbers are too high and enough toxins are produced. If microbial growth
is limited, the product may also become unacceptable due to flavour and textural changes, or due
to colour deterioration before microbial spoilage becomes apparent. Bacteria and moulds, like all
living things, have a range of temperature in which they prefer to live. As the temperature moves
away from the most preferred level, their growth rate slows. Once they get too far away from that
level, the growth stops completely and the bacteria may even die.
Figure 12.1 shows how the growth rate of a commonly-studied bacterium varied with temperature.
By cooling the meat from the initial body temperature of the animal (about 38°C) to 10°C, the
growth rate drops by about 95%. Below 7°C, this particular bacterium (E.coli) does not grow at all.
The growth rate at a given temperature varies between different microorganisms, but the principle
remains the same. Cooling the meat is a very good way to slow or even stop microbial growth and
thereby reduce the rate of microbial spoilage.

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 Figure 12.1 Growth rate of E. coli vs. temperature. Source: North, (2005).

Figure 12.2 How the rate of a typical chemical reaction varies with temperature.
Source: North, (2005).

Chemical reaction rates are also affected significantly by temperature. Figure 12.2 shows how the
rate of a typical chemical reaction varies with temperature. Unlike the microbial growth rate, this
reaction will still take place at low temperatures, albeit very slowly. Even if the meat is cooled to a
very low temperature indeed, some chemical reactions will continue to occur, and the meat will
slowly deteriorate, thereby setting a finite shelf life for the meat regardless of other factors.

What is heat?
Heat is a form of energy and it is measured in Joules (J). It is associated with the movement of
atoms and molecules and it may be transferred from molecules and atoms by various mechanisms.

12.2 Product cooling

Firstly, let us look at the process by which a food product such as meat is cooled. It is important to
understand the fundamental mechanisms through which heat is transferred. There are three of
these: conduction, convection and radiation. All of the possible methods for cooling are based on
one or more of these mechanisms.

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Heat transfer mechanisms
Conduction is the simplest of the heat transfer mechanisms. The molecules of a solid, liquid or
gas are in contact with each other, either all the time (in a solid), or some of the time as they
periodically collide with each other (in a liquid or a gas). When two molecules come into contact,
the one with the higher energy level (or at a higher temperature) transfers some of its energy to the
one with the lower energy level (or at a lower temperature). Therefore, conduction is responsible
for transferring heat from the warm parts of an object to the cool parts by contact.

Convection, unlike conduction, does not transfer heat by relying on molecules to pass energy to
and from each other. Instead, convection relies on actually moving the molecule with the higher
energy level into areas occupied by lower energy molecules. This raises the average energy level
of the molecules in that particular area and thereby raises the average temperature of that area.
Since convection relies on moving the molecules to transfer heat, it is a mechanism that can only
occur in liquids or gases because the molecules in a solid are fixed in position.

Radiation is the last of the fundamental heat transfer mechanisms. Like conduction, radiation also
transfers heat by passing energy from higher energy molecules to lower energy molecules.
However, radiation does not require that the molecules contact one another in order to transfer
energy. Instead, the energy is transferred by electromagnetic radiation, which is emitted by all
molecules. For radiation to occur the molecules need only be in view of one another and since the
amount of radiation emitted by a molecule increases with increasing temperature, a net transfer of
energy from the higher temperature molecule to the lower temperature molecule results. Heat
transfer by radiation is generally only important when you have very hot surfaces from which the
heat is to be transferred. Typical examples include boiler surfaces and electrical resistance
heaters. In the chillers and freezers of a meat plant, heat transfer by radiation is usually negligible.

Surface heat transfer

In the meat industry, product cooling is most commonly achieved by placing the product into a cold
liquid or gas. When the lower energy molecules of the fluid come into contact with the higher
energy molecules at the surface of the meat, heat is transferred from the meat to the fluid by
conduction. This simultaneously cools the surface of the meat and warms the fluid. The warm
fluid molecules are then moved away from the surface (either naturally or by an external means
such as a fan) and replaced by lower energy fluid molecules.

The amount of heat energy that is transferred to these new fluid molecules is less than for the first
group because the meat surface is now at a lower temperature or has less energy. Hence, as the
meat cools, heat cannot be removed as quickly by the cold fluid. Although the amount of heat
removed by the fluid is continually decreasing, the process will continue until the energy level of the
meat surface reaches the energy level of the fluid (i.e. until the meat is cooled to the same
temperature as the fluid).

As implied above, there are two ways to make the fluid molecules move away from the meat
surface – let it occur naturally or force them away. Natural convection (sometimes called ‘free
convection’) occurs naturally during the cooling process. When the fluid at the meat surface is
heated, it becomes less dense than the surrounding fluid. The warm fluid therefore rises due to its
buoyancy and the surrounding cold fluid sweeps in from the sides to replace it. Forced convection
occurs when the fluid is forced by an external force. For example, if a fan blows air or a pump
pushes liquid across a surface. Forced convection results in a higher rate of heat removal than
natural convection because the molecules are moving at a higher velocity and therefore carry the
heat away from the surface more rapidly.

The rate of heat removal in either forced or natural convection depends on “Newton’s Law of
Cooling”, which Sir Isaac Newton discovered in 1701. This is described in equation (1)
Q = h A (Tsurface − Tfluid ) (1)
Where: Q is the rate of heat removed from the surface (W)
2
h is the surface heat transfer coefficient (W/m K)
2
A is the area over which heat is being transferred (m )
Tsurface is the temperature of the surface (°C)
Tfluid is the temperature of the fluid (°C)

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“Newton’s Law of Cooling” mathematically demonstrates which variables affect the rate of heat
removal from the product surface (Q). Note that Q is measured in Watts (W) and that one Watt is
equal to one Joule per second. So removing 100W of heat means that we are removing 100
Joules per second. The temperature difference between the surface and the fluid (Tsurface - Tfluid)
affects the rate of heat removal, and as the fluid and surface approach the same temperature the
rate of heat removal approaches zero. The rate of heat removal also relies on the area (A) over
which the heat transfer is occurring – if we can expose more of the meat surface area to the cold
fluid then we can increase the rate of heat removal. The surface heat transfer coefficient (h) also
has an impact – but what is it?

The surface heat transfer coefficient (h) is an interesting parameter. It depends on the
characteristics of the fluid and the level of turbulence. Liquids are denser than gases because their
molecules are much closer together. Therefore, when meat is immersed in a cold liquid, its surface
is in contact with many more cold fluid molecules than if it were immersed in a cold gas. This
higher level of molecular contact means that liquids remove heat much faster than gases, and
therefore produce a higher surface heat transfer coefficient. This is a phenomenon that you
probably know already, since if you place your hand in ice water it cools much more quickly than if
you place your hand into air at 0°C (i.e. it feels “colder” even though it is at the same temperature).
The heat transfer coefficient also depends on the level of turbulence in the fluid and the easiest
way to increase turbulence is to increase the fluid velocity using forced convection. Again, from
your own practical experience you probably know that your body cools down much faster in a cool
breeze than it does in still air at the same temperature.

Table 12.1 shows some typical ranges for h in a variety of situations. Methods for estimating h for
common product cooling cases will be discussed shortly. In the meantime, if you have no better
information to rely upon than Table 12.1, it is important to design conservatively. For instance, to
2
have a heat transfer coefficient of 500 W/m K in air with forced convection, you would need to have
the air moving at a very high velocity.

Table 12.1 Approximate surface heat transfer coefficients in various convective situations.
Source: Welty, (1978)
2
Mechanism Surface heat transfer coefficient - h (W/m K)
Forced convection, water 250-15,000
Forced convection, air 25-500
Natural convection, air 5-50

Internal heat transfer

When the surface of a food product such as meat is cooled, it creates a temperature difference
between the surface and internal parts of the product. This temperature difference produces
internal heat transfer by conduction, where the warmer molecules inside the product transfer their
heat to the cooler surface molecules. For a slab-shaped piece of food cooled from the top surface
only, the rate of internal heat flow Q (W) from the bottom to the top, is given by the equation:
kA
Q=
x
(
Ttop − Tbottom ) (2)
Where: k is the thermal conductivity of the material (W/mK)
2
A is the area over which heat is being conducted (m )
x is the thickness of the slab (m)
T1 is the temperature of the top slab surface (°C)
T2 is the temperature of the bottom slab surface (°C)

Equation (2) is strictly correct only when the heat flow is steady, which is not the case during
cooling of meat because the temperatures within the meat are constantly changing. Despite this,
equation (2) indicates the factors that are important to internal heat transfer. The slab thickness,
slab surface area and the top and bottom surface temperatures are parameters that most of us
understand, however, the thermal conductivity may not be. The thermal conductivity of a material
specifies how easily heat can be transferred through itself by conduction. Highly conductive
materials such as metals, which have a high thermal conductivity, will easily transfer heat from one
side of a slab to the other. Whereas, materials that have a low thermal conductivity will not allow
as much heat to be transferred. Insulation is an example of a material with a low thermal
conductivity, which we often use in buildings to restrict the flow of heat through walls, ceilings and
floors.

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Surface vs internal heat transfer
In practice, meat cooling involves a combination of conduction and convection, where internal
conduction carries the product's heat content to the surface, and then convection (natural or
forced) carries that heat away from the surface.

Because the whole process is a combination of these two factors, you do not necessarily get the
results that you might expect when you change some of the chilling parameters. If you already
have a high rate of surface heat transfer, increasing the heat transfer coefficient will increase rate
of heat removal from the surface but may not significantly increase the total rate of heat removal
from the product because it will be limited by the rate of internal conduction. On the other hand, if
you have a high rate of internal heat conduction through an object, reducing its thickness will not
increase the heat flow rate by very much either, because the total rate of heat removal will be
limited by the convection at the surface.

The way in which the external resistance to heat transfer (due to convection) is balanced against
the internal resistance (due to conduction) is indicated by the Biot number. The Biot number is the
ratio of the conductive (internal) resistance (X/k) to heat transfer to the convective (external)
resistance (1/h). The Biot number is abbreviated Bi and it is defined by equation (3).
hX
Bi = (3)
k
Where: X is the distance from the centre of the meat product to the surface (m)
The Biot number can range from 0 to infinity. If Bi is low (much less than 1.0), this means that the
external resistance controls the process. In this case, changes to h will have a large effect on the
cooling time and changes to X will have little effect. If Bi is high (much more than 1.0) then the
internal resistance controls the process. In this case, changes to h will have very little effect on the
cooling time, but changes to X will have a large effect.

12.3 The chilling process

The chilling process is important to the meat export industry for two reasons. Firstly, an increasing
proportion of our meat products are exported in chilled form, using vacuum packaging, or
controlled-atmosphere packaging. Secondly, if we are going to freeze the product, then the meat
must pass through a chilling process first. Even if we are hot-boning, the meat must always chill
before it starts to freeze.

Definition
Chilling is the process of cooling meat while the meat remains above its freezing temperature. The
temperature of the cooling medium (air or water, for instance) doesn't matter. As soon as the meat
starts to freeze, it is no longer considered a chilling process.

Quality considerations
A well designed and controlled chilling process is very important to producing meat of satisfactory
quality. An appropriate chilling regime is critical to producing tender meat, and it is just as critical to
producing meat with low levels of bacterial growth, and therefore a long shelf life.

For tenderness, chilling must be slow enough to prevent too much “cold shortening”. Once the
meat has passed through rigor, chilling must continue relatively slowly to give the meat time to
“age”. Since the aging rate depends greatly on the meat temperature, meat that is cooled too
quickly after rigor can fail to age as much as you might like, and it will be tough. Fortunately, the
cuts that you most need to age are generally quite deep in the carcass, and they therefore cool
more slowly than the surface.

To minimise bacterial growth, meat should be chilled as quickly as tenderness considerations

allow. Bacterial growth depends on the meat surface temperature, but it also depends on the
“water activity” on the surface of the meat. Fortunately, the surface temperature drops quite
quickly during chilling. Air chilling can also dry the surface of the meat, thereby reducing the water
activity, and bacteria do not grow as well in low water activity environments. These factors
combine to keep bacterial growth to an acceptable level in a well-designed and operated process.

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Thermal properties
The amount of heat that has to be removed from a meat product during chilling, and the rate at
which that heat can be removed both depend on the thermal properties of the meat. The important
thermal properties are the thermal conductivity (W/mK), the heat content or enthalpy (J/kg) and the
3
density (kg/m ) of the meat. The enthalpy of a meat product above its freezing temperature
increases at an almost constant rate with temperature. This constant rate is called the heat
capacity (J/kgK).

Values of thermal properties for various meat products may be found in Pham & Willix (1989),
Pham et al. (1994), Miles et al. (1983), Willix et al. (1998) and ASHRAE handbooks (e.g. ASHRAE,
2002). If you do not have thermal properties for the meat product that you are interested in, you
can estimate the properties from its composition using equations (4) to (6).
1
ρ= (4)
W S F
+ +
1000 1300 850
⎛ W S F ⎞
k l = ρ ⎜ + + ⎟ W/m K (5)
⎝ 1695 5306 4722 ⎠
Cl = 4180 W + 1400 S + 1900 F J/kg K (6)
3
Where: ρ is the meat density (kg/m )
kl is the unfrozen thermal conductivity (W/mK)
Cl is the unfrozen heat capacity (J/kgK)
W, F, S are the mass fractions of water, fat and other solids respectively (ie. for a typical piece of lean beef, W
= 0.70, F = 0.10, S = 0.20).

Choosing a chilling rate

How should we choose a chilling rate? There are three process factors that can be changed in
order to change the chilling rate: object size or shape, external resistance, and driving force.
Changing the object size or shape changes the length of the internal pathway along which the heat
must be conducted. This means that it changes the X in the Biot number [equation (3)]. You can
make the pathway shorter by chopping the object up into smaller pieces. This is certainly very
successful in reducing the chilling time for a meat product, but it has several disadvantages if it is
taken to extremes. First, the exposed meat surface is multiplied many times over the original
object's surface area. This can result in much greater evaporation rates and greatly increased
weight loss, even given the shorter time spent in the chiller. It can also encourage “oxidative
rancidity”. This is perceived as a "warmed-over" flavour. Second, re-packing densities after
chilling will be lower than the original undivided meat. Third, the smaller the meat pieces are, the
harder it is to identify the original form of the meat. Customers do not want to have to do a genetic
fingerprint test to find out whether they are buying beef, lamb, or horse!

You can make the pathway longer, and increase the chilling time, by making the product larger.
This is achieved by packing many smaller products inside one larger package. Trying to chill meat
in very large blocks (e.g. several hundred millimetres thick) inevitably means that the centre
temperature will remain high for quite a long time, with a consequent high growth of micro-
organisms in that part of the package. The tenderness of meat in the centre of the package will
also vary considerably from the tenderness at the surface, particularly if a high rate of heat transfer
is used at the surface in an attempt to reduce the overall chilling time. Even in more moderate
package sizes, for example a 27 kg carton that is 160 mm thick, the variation between the centre
and the surface can be considerable.

The amount of external resistance to heat transfer in meat cooling can be changed by changing the
heat transfer medium (e.g. using forced convection instead of natural convection, or water instead
of air), or by changing the packaging. The effect of altering the heat transfer medium was
discussed in the section above on ‘Surface Heat Transfer’ and the effect of packaging will be
discussed below. One heat transfer medium not yet discussed is plate freezing. In a plate freezer,
the external resistance is negligible, except for any packaging that may surround the product.
The final parameter that affects the cooling rate is the temperature driving force. We are limited in
how cold we can make the cooling medium during chilling if we want to avoid the surface of the

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meat freezing during the process. In principle, we should not have the cooling medium any colder
than the freezing temperature of the meat if we want to avoid all risk of freezing. In practice, even
if the cooling medium is a few degrees below the freezing temperature, there will be virtually no risk
of freezing the surface.

Product tenderness
Muscles are made up of fibres that contain protein filaments of actin and myosin. In a live animal,
these protein filaments move across one another to allow muscles to contract and relax. The
energy for contraction is usually generated by a process involving oxygen, which is supplied to
muscles by circulating blood.

After an animal is slaughtered, blood circulation stops and muscles use up their oxygen supply.
Without oxygen the muscle turns to anaerobic glycolysis to generate energy, a process that breaks
down glycogen (a sugar stored in muscle) without oxygen. Anaerobic glycolysis produces energy
to contract the muscle and it also produces lactic acid, which causes the muscle pH to fall. As
glycogen supplies are depleted, the energy for muscle contraction is lost and the actin and myosin
filaments lock together in a permanent contraction called rigor mortis.

When meat is chilled so that its temperature falls below about 10°C while its pH is still above 6.2,
the muscle will contract. This is called cold shortening, and the meat becomes tough in proportion
to the amount of shortening that takes place. If the muscle pH is less than about 6.0, it can be
cooled fairly rapidly without shortening, although if it is then frozen it may shorten when thawed and
again become tough.

The rate of pH fall can be increased by holding the meat at a high temperature during the early part
of the cooling process, or by electrical stimulation. Electrical stimulation quickly reduces the pH of
the meat by speeding up the rate of anaerobic glycolysis considerably and results in a substantial
reduction in shortening for a given cooling rate.

Electrical stimulation requires sending an electrical current with a specified voltage and particular
waveform through the meat. The required parameters have been well-established for lamb and
sheep in order to give a maximum pH drop during stimulation (MIRINZ RM 54, RM 135 and RM
141). For other animals, the parameters are not so well-established and they are often finalised for
a particular plant by carrying out carefully-controlled trials.

However the stimulation is carried out, it is essential to subsequently chill the meat in such a way
that the temperature vs. time specifications are met in order to produce meat that is of the desired
tenderness. This ensures that there is enough time for aging to take place before the meat is
frozen or consumed.

Aging of meat is a tenderisation caused by the activity of enzymes that are already present in the
muscle when the animal is killed. These enzymes act on the muscle and break down some of the
proteins within the meat. Electrical stimulation does not accelerate aging as such, but because
stimulated meat goes into rigor more quickly, it starts to age sooner and it does so while the meat
is still quite warm. Since aging is accelerated by higher meat temperatures, stimulation usually
results in faster aging.

More detail on meat quality issues is provided by Devine et al. (1996). Although meat quality may
not always be mentioned during the rest of these notes, it should always be borne in mind when
discussing chilling or freezing of meat.

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Predicting chilling times
To design a chilling process, it is important to be able to calculate the length of time that the
process will take and the heat loads that will have to be removed.

We looked at several surface heat transfer coefficients in the examples above, but we did not look
at how to calculate them for real meat chilling and freezing situations. For air chilling and freezing,
2
the surface heat transfer coefficient (h, in W/m K) in forced convection can be estimated from the
following equations:

h = 7.3 v 0.8 for flat surfaces (7)

h = 12.5 v 0.6 for oval surfaces (8)
Where: v is the air velocity (m/s)
The heat transfer coefficients predicted by these equations are shown in Figure 12.3. Oval
surfaces include lamb carcasses and beef sides. The flat surface equation should be used for
cartoned product.

Figure 12.3 Estimated heat transfer coefficients for flat and oval shapes from air velocities
of 0.4 m/s to 6.0 m/s. Source: North, (2005).

These equations are valid down to the lower air velocities where natural convection starts to have a
significant influence on the heat transfer coefficient. In general, they should be used in air
velocities of more than 0.4 m/s. It is possible to predict heat transfer coefficients below 0.4 m/s but
the equations to do so are much more complicated and they involve many other factors. It is
generally safe to assume that the heat transfer coefficient at the surface of a meat product due to
natural convection is approximately the value shown at the lower end of the applicable line in
Figure 12.3.
The equations to estimate heat transfer coefficients for water chilling are also more complicated
than equations (7) and (8), so I will not give them here. Estimating equations for both the air
(natural convection) and water heat transfer coefficients can be found in heat transfer textbooks
such as that by Welty (1978) if you require them. Often, you can just use Table 12.1 as a guide for
rough calculations, however.
The chilling process reduces the temperature of a product from some initial temperature (Ti)
towards the ambient temperature of the surrounding cooling medium (Ta). The best way of
expressing how far through the chilling process we have gone is to say what fraction of the
temperature difference the meat still has to go through. This is called the fraction unaccomplished
temperature change, and it has the symbol Y. Y can be calculated for any point in a meat product,
but we are most often interested in either the average temperature or the thermal centre
temperature. The thermal centre is the slowest-cooling point in the object. This is often the same
as the geometric centre of the object, though that is not always the case. The fraction
unaccomplished centre temperature change, Yc, is therefore:

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 Tc -Ta (9)
Yc =
Ti -Ta
The average temperature is calculated in the same way, but Tc is replaced with Tav:
T av - T a (10)
Y av =
Ti -Ta

Alternatively, if we know what the value of Yc or Yav is, we can rearrange equations (9) or (10) to
find the centre or average temperature:

T c = (T i - T a )Y c + T a (11)
T av = (T i - T a )Y av + T a (12)

As we discussed above, chilling requires a temperature driving force which is the difference in
temperature between the surface of the object and the surrounding medium. If the difference in
temperature between the object and the surrounding medium is small, then chilling will be very
slow. In fact, as the object gets cooler and cooler, its rate of cooling gets slower and slower. As a
result, if you chill a piece of meat initially at 35°C in cold air at a temperature of 0°C, the meat will
never quite reach 0°C. It will just keep getting closer and closer to 0°C forever. The meat will
never get all the way to the ambient temperature.

Although we can never talk about how long the meat will take to reach the ambient temperature,
we can talk about how long it would take for the meat to get part-way there. The time that it takes
for Yc to change from 1.0 to 0.5 is the time required for the centre of the object to go half way from
its initial temperature to the ambient temperature. This is called the half-cooling time and denoted
t1/2. This should not be confused with half of the total cooling time. The total cooling time depends
upon the final temperature that you set (some temperature above Ta) at which you will take the
meat out of the chiller. The half-cooling time, on the other hand, depends only on the physical
conditions of the meat in the chiller.

For a given set of conditions, it is possible to calculate the half-cooling time in several different
ways. We will use the method of Cleland & Earle (1982). For a simple shape such as a slab, or a
sphere, the calculation is straightforward. First, calculate the Biot number (Bi) for the situation and
use Table 12.2 to find the Fourier Number at the half-cooling time (Fo1/2) for that value of Bi.

Table 12.2 Fo1/2 for slab and sphere shapes. Source: North, (2005).
Bi Fo1/2 Slab Fo1/2 Sphere

0.01 69.54 23.15

0.02 34.88 11.59

0.04 17.56 5.82

0.06 11.78 3.89

0.08 8.89 2.93

0.1 7.16 2.35

0.15 4.85 1.58

0.2 3.69 1.2

0.25 3 0.971

0.3 2.54 0.817

0.4 1.96 0.625

0.5 1.62 0.51

0.6 1.39 0.433

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 Bi Fo1/2 Slab Fo1/2 Sphere

0.7 1.23 0.378

0.8 1.1 0.338

0.9 1.01 0.306

1 0.936 0.28

1.1 0.874 0.26

1.2 0.822 0.243

1.3 0.779 0.228

1.4 0.741 0.216

1.5 0.709 0.205

1.6 0.681 0.196

1.7 0.656 0.187

1.8 0.634 0.18

1.9 0.615 0.174

2 0.597 0.168

2.2 0.567 0.158

2.4 0.542 0.15

2.6 0.521 0.143

2.8 0.503 0.137

3 0.487 0.132

3.5 0.456 0.122

4 0.433 0.114

4.5 0.415 0.109

5 0.401 0.104

6 0.38 0.098

7 0.365 0.093

8 0.354 0.09

9 0.346 0.088

10 0.339 0.086

15 0.319 0.0804

20 0.309 0.0777

30 0.299 0.0751

40 0.295 0.0738

50 0.292 0.0731

60 0.29 0.0726

80 0.287 0.072

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 Bi Fo1/2 Slab Fo1/2 Sphere

100 0.286 0.0716

1000 0.281 0.0703

Then use equation (13) to calculate the half-cooling time:

Fo1/2 ρ c l X 2
t1/2 = (13)
kl

The only parameter from equation (13) that we have not looked at is X, the depth of the thermal
centre. For a carton, that is easy. If the carton is 160 mm thick, X = 0.08 m (half the thickness).
For a carcass or side, it's a bit more complicated.

Figures 12.4 and 12.5 show the values of X for various weights of beef sides and lamb carcasses.
You can also use these figures for beef quarters (double the weight of the quarter to get the weight
of the equivalent side) and for venison, etc. (treat small venison like a sheep carcass and a large
venison like a beef side).

Now that we can use equation (13) to estimate the half-cooling time, we can calculate the time
required to cool to any temperature quite easily.

Figure 12.4 Deep butt depth for various beef side weights. Source: North, (2005).

Figure 12.5 Deep leg depths for various and sheep carcass weights. Source: North, (2005).

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 Figure 12.6 Number of half-lives, N, required to cool to a given fractional unaccomplished
temperature change, Y. Source: North, (2005).

Finding the average temperature.

For an average temperature, Tav, that we want to cool to, we can use equation (10) to calculate the
fractional unaccomplished temperature change, Yav. From Yav, we can find the number of half-
lives, N, required to cool to that Y value from Figure 12.6. Finally, we can find the total time to cool
to the specified average temperature using equation (14).

t = N t1/2 (14)

For shapes other than a slab or a sphere, we cannot just read the Fourier number from Table 12.2.
Instead, for a flat-sided shape such as a carton, find the Fo1/2 for a slab from Table 12.2, and for an
oval shape such as a carcass or side, find the Fo1/2 for a sphere from Table 12.2. Once you have
the Fo1/2 for a slab or sphere, calculate the Fo1/2 for the shape using either equation (15) or (16).
Fo1/2, slab
Fo1/2, carton = (15)
E
3 Fo1/2 , sphere
Fo1/2 , carcass = (16)
E
The factor E is called the Equivalent Heat Transfer Dimensionality. This is a factor that relates the
cooling time for a complicated shape to the cooling time for a simple shape such as a slab or a
sphere. It is possible to calculate E for a complicated shape, but the procedure is quite difficult.
Fortunately, other people have done these calculations for us for many of the shapes that we are
interested in. Some of these values are shown in Table 12.3. Where a range is shown in Table
12.3, the exact value depends on the precise shape. In general, the larger the E value is, the
thicker the object is relative to its width and length. This means that a deep carton will have an E
value of 1.5 while a shallow carton will have an E value of 1.3.

Table 12.3 E values for products of interest to the meat industry. Source: North, (2005).
Product E
Lamb (shoulder) 1.4
Lamb (deep leg) 2.2
Ewe (deep leg) 2.0
Beef carton (plate freezer) 1.0
Beef carton (air blast freezer) 1.3 - 1.5
Beef side or quarter (deep leg) 1.3

Finding the centre temperature.

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To calculate the chilling time for the thermal centre of an object, we have to take into account the
difference between the thermal centre temperature profile and the other temperature profiles in the
object. The thermal centre is the slowest cooling part of the object, so it lags behind the other
temperature profiles.
Rather than using Figure 12.6 to find the number of half-lives, N, if we are estimating the chilling
time for the centre, we need to use Figure 12.7 instead. Simply find the value of E (or EHTD on
Figure X) at the bottom left, and go straight up until you reach the value of Bi for this situation.
Then go straight across to the right until you are above the value of Y that you need. This will give
you the number of half-lives that you should use.

Figure 12.7 Alignment chart to calculate N, the number of half-lives for the centre
temperature from E, Yc and Bi. Source: North, (2005).

Effect of packaging on heat transfer coefficient

Up to now, we have dealt with unpackaged objects where you could estimate the heat transfer
coefficient from Figure 12.3 or equations (7) and (8). When you have a packaged object, the
effective heat transfer coefficient is reduced by the thermal resistance of the packaging and by any
trapped air layer between the package and the product. Some thermal conductivities for packaging
materials are shown in Table 12.4.

Table 12.4 Typical thermal conductivities of packaging materials and still air.
Source: North, (2005).
Solid cardboard 0.06 - 0.10 W/mK
Plastic film 0.08 - 0.15 W/mK
Corrugated cardboard 0.04 - 0.06 W/mK
Still air 0.03 W/mK
Although the impact of the packaging material on heat transfer can be very important, often the
most important factor is any layer of still air that is trapped in the packaging. You can see from
Table 12.4 that still air has a lower thermal conductivity than any of the packaging materials. In
fact, most methods of preventing heat transfer (such as household wall insulation, polystyrene
panels and peoples' warm clothes) have their main effect by trapping a layer of still air within them.
In many cartoned products, there is often an air layer of 0.5 to 2 mm thickness around most of the
product in the package, with a larger air gap on top. In the case of stockinet and poly-bagged lamb
carcasses, the effect of the trapped air can reduce the effective heat transfer coefficient predicted
by Figure 12.3 by about 20% (for stockinet) or up to 50% (for loose polybags).

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The overall effect of the packaging on the heat transfer coefficient can be calculated from:
1 1 x package x air
= + + (17)
h hsurface k package k air

Where: h is the heat transfer coefficient to use in your calculations

hsurface is the surface heat transfer coefficient predicted from Figure 12.3
kpackage is the thermal conductivity of the package from Table 12.4
xpackage is the packaging material thickness (m)
kair is the thermal conductivity of still air from Table 12.4
xair is the thickness of the still air layer (m)

In practice, the surface heat transfer coefficient varies significantly between different surfaces of
the product, and even between different parts of the same surface. The most important example of
this is in a cartoned product with an air gap under the top surface. The heat transfer coefficient
under that surface can be much lower than it is under surfaces with little or no air gap. The simple
methods for estimating cooling times only use one heat transfer coefficient, however, so you
cannot account for this sort of variation. The solution is to use a weighted average heat transfer
coefficient rather than any single value. A rough guideline is to estimate the upper and lower
surface heat transfer coefficients and use an average of the two, ignoring the coefficients of the
carton sides and ends.

Product heat loads

The product chilling heat load is the total amount of heat that is to be removed from the product
spread over the length of the operation. In practice, however, because the temperature difference
between the product and the cooling medium is high at the start of chilling and low at the end, the
heat load will also be greater at the start than at the end. There are methods that can be used to
take all of this into account and produce a smooth heat load profile, but the simplest technique for
hand calculation is to use the average-temperature cooling times as shown in the previous section.

As an example, to chill a beef side with a heat capacity of about 4000 J/kgK in air at 2°C from an
average temperature of 40°C to 5°C, we would have to remove a total amount of heat of (T1 -T2) x
Cl , i.e. (40°C-5°C) x 4000 J/kgK = 140000 J/kg. Now let us assume this heat is to be removed
over a period of about 24 hours (86400 seconds). The average heat load would be 140000 J/kg /
86400 s = 1.62 W/kg.

If this 24-hour process took three half lives (N = 3). It would mean that the average temperature
dropped half-way from 40°C to 0°C (i.e. to 20°C) after 8 hours; it then dropped three quarters of the
way to 0°C (i.e. to 10°C) after 16 hours; and then dropped seven eighths of the way to 0°C (i.e. to
5°C) after 24 hours. So, the amount of heat removed during the first 8 hours would be (40°C-20°C)
x 4000 J/kgK = 80000 J/kg. This period took 28800 seconds, so the average heat load during the
first 8 hours would be 80000 J/kg / 28800 s = 2.78 W/kg.

During the second 8 hours the temperature drops from 20°C to 10°C, so the heat removed during
this time would be (20°C-10°C) x 4000 J/kgK = 40000 J/kg. The average heat load during this
period would be 40000 J/kg / 28800 s = 1.39 W/kg. During the last 8 hours the temperature drops
from 10°C to 5°C, so the heat removed during this time would be (10°C-5°C) x 4000 J/kgK = 20000
J/kg. The average heat load during this period would be 20000 J/kg / 28800 s = 0.69 W/kg.

We can check that this calculation is correct by adding up the amounts of heat removed in each
third of the process: 80000 W/kg + 40000 J/kg + 20000 J/kg = 140000 W/kg. This is the same as
the total amount of heat removed that we calculated for the whole process, so we have done the
calculation correctly.

Although the results are given in terms of W/kg, they can be calculated for the whole chiller by
multiplying by the number of sides in the chiller (perhaps 200) and by the weight per side (perhaps
150 kg). For the first third of the process, therefore, the average heat load would be 150 kg/side x
200 sides x 2.78 W/kg = 83400 W, or 83.4 kW in this chiller.

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In the example above, we have calculated the heat load in the chiller at three points in time and we
used 1, 2 and 3 half-lives because it happened to be convenient. You can, of course, calculate the
average heat over any period during a chilling process as long as you know the average
temperature at the beginning and end of that period. To estimate the average temperature part
way through a half-life you can use the following equation to find Yav:

N (18)
Y av = 0.5
To calculate the instantaneous heat load at the start of the cooling process, you just need to know
the product surface area in addition to the other factors that have been covered above, and you
can calculate it from:
Q = h Asurface (T surface - T a ) (19)
Where: Q is the initial heat load (W)
2
Asurface is the meat surface area (m )
Tsurface is the surface temperature of the meat (°C)
Ta is the ambient temperature (°C)

So for the example above, let us assume an air velocity of 1 m/s (and hence a heat transfer
2 2
coefficient of 12.5 W/m K using equation (8)), a surface area of 2 m /side and 200 sides in the
2 2
chiller, then the initial heat load Q = 12.5 W/m K x 200 sides x 2 m /side x (40°C-0°C) = 200000 W,
or 200 kW for this chiller.

In addition to the product load in a chiller, there will also be loads due to other factors. These
include:

• Heat infiltration through the walls, floor and ceiling

• Hot air entering through open or unsealed doors
• Heat load due to fans, lights and machinery (e.g. forklifts)
• Heat loads due to people in the chiller
• Heat loads due to the structures in the chiller

The total heat load to be removed from a chiller is the sum of the product heat load (which varies
with time as the chilling process progresses) and these additional loads, most of which do not vary
over time. I will not go into detail about how these additional loads may be calculated [Cleland
(1990) gives more detail if required] however, it is important to minimise these additional heat loads
to ensure that the refrigeration system has as much capacity as possible to handle the product
heat load and thereby achieve the desired result.

12.4 The freezing process

Definition
Freezing is the process of removing heat so that the water content of meat is converted into ice.
To make this change from liquid water to ice, we must remove a large amount of heat in addition to
the amount that is required to change the temperature. This extra amount is called the latent heat
of freezing. As a pure substance freezes, this latent heat is removed without any change in
temperature. Meat is not a pure substance, so the latent heat is not all removed at one fixed
temperature. You have to remove quite a lot of heat, however, until the temperature really starts to
drop again.

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 Figure 12.8 The variation in heat content (enthalpy) of meat with temperature.
Source: North, (2005).

You can see from Figure 12.8 that the amount of heat removed during freezing is quite a lot more
than the amount removed during chilling. This means that the freezing part of the process takes
longer than the chilling part if the same cooling conditions are used.

Eventually, freezing can be regarded as finished and the meat moves into the final, sub-cooling,
stage of the process. At this point, the latent heat is mostly gone, and the meat just chills down to
its storage temperature.

The freezing front

Meat does not start to freeze until its surface temperature drops to the initial freezing temperature
of the meat. At that time, the piece of meat will start to freeze from the outside towards the inside.
The surface layer freezes first and then the frozen layer starts to get thicker over time. The
boundary of the frozen layer is called the freezing front. This freezing front moves gradually
inwards towards the centre of the meat, with frozen meat on the outside and unfrozen meat on the
inside (as shown in Figure 12.9).

Figure 12.9 The Freezing Front. Source: North, (2005).

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Once the freezing front has started moving, the temperature of the unfrozen region has usually
dropped to the freezing temperature of the meat. This means that the temperature at the centre of
the meat remains constant for most of the freezing process — just a little below zero. One
consequence of this behaviour is that you can't tell how well frozen a piece of meat is by measuring
its centre temperature, unless the meat is almost completely frozen and the centre temperature
has already started to drop below the freezing temperature.

Further, if you measure the temperature of a point that is not actually at the thermal centre, the
plateau temperature that you measure will still be the freezing temperature of the meat. However,
the difference is that the temperature at a non-central point will start to drop from the freezing
temperature sooner than the centre point and the rate at which it drops will be slower. A non-
central point drops in temperature more slowly than the centre point because it is not just releasing
its own heat content outwards into the rest of the meat (and thence into the surroundings), but it
has other heat passing through it from deeper in the meat. As a consequence, the closer your
temperature measurement is to the centre of the meat, the sharper is the "knee" in the temperature
plot, e.g. Figure 12.10.

Figure 12.10 Centre temperature during freezing. Source: North, (2005).

The bottom part of the tail on Figure 12.10 indicates that the meat temperature is starting to get
close to the air temperature, so the rate of cooling and therefore the rate of temperature decrease
has slowed.

As you can see, however, there is no doubt about the freezing time for a piece of meat if you
measure its centre temperature correctly.

Quality considerations
When it freezes, water is a crystalline substance. Under normal freezing conditions, it does not
form an amorphous solid like glass, but instead forms discrete ice crystals. The sizes of these
crystals depend upon the rate of freezing. They always start very small, clustered around an
impurity or microscopic flaw in the meat called a nucleation site. If the freezing is done quickly,
then the ice crystals will stay small. If the freezing is done more slowly, the crystals merge and
grow (Figure 12.11).

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 Figure 12.11 Ice crystal growth during freezing. Source: North, (2005).

Small ice crystals can exist within and between meat cells, in which case they do not cause any
problem. Once ice crystals reach about the size of the meat cells, however, their expansion breaks
up the cell structure and penetrates the cell membranes. This has little effect until the meat is
defrosted, but then the fluids within the cell can leak out. This is known as drip loss and it is
unattractive to customers and causes the defrosted meat to lose weight.

The process of freezing aged meat, if sufficiently rapid, generally does not in itself, have any
demonstrable effect on the cooked colour, flavour, odour or juiciness of that meat. Indeed, the
process of thawing can result in a certain amount of tenderisation, and small amounts of additional
moisture released by cell damage can increase the perceived juiciness.

Most nutrients are retained during freezing and subsequent storage. Soluble proteins can be lost
in the drip during thawing, but the fluid lost as drip (as long as it is not excessive) is similar to the
amount of fluid lost when fresh meat is cooked, anyway. Once the meat is frozen, however, it is
not completely inert.

The undesirable changes in meat during freezing are associated with formation of large ice crystals
in extracellular locations, mechanical damage by the ice crystals to cellular structures through
distortion and volume changes and chemical damage arising from changes to concentrations of
solutes.

The fastest freezing rates are associated with the least damage because they result in small ice
crystal sizes and they do not provide an opportunity for the chemicals dissolved in the moisture
content of the meat to move from their original locations. On the other hand, a slow freezing rate
does allow the solutes to move away from the growing ice crystals. This results in ice crystals that
are composed of almost pure water rather than the solution of water and various chemicals that
normally makes up the moisture in the meat.

Even if the meat is frozen quickly to start with, a long period of cold storage will allow the ice
crystals to grow to a large size. Ice crystal growth occurs more quickly at higher storage
temperatures, and is particularly encouraged by temperature fluctuations. When thawed, the meat
will again become mushy due to cell damage. Small ice crystals also make the appearance of the
meat surface look better because a surface containing small ice crystals reflects more light than
the surface of slowly frozen meat, so if the meat is to be sold while frozen, it is important to retain a
small ice crystal size.

Thermal properties
As for chilling, it is important to know the thermal properties of any meat for which you want to
calculate a freezing time or heat load. Thermal property data can be obtained from the same
sources as for chilled meat data. If you do not have the required data then it can be calculated in
the same way as for chilled meat from W, S, F (the fractional water, solids and fat contents) and I,
the ice fraction. However, with freezing, there are more parameters to calculate.

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The initial freezing temperature, Tf (°C) can be estimated from:

T f = - 1.8 + W (20)
Most unsalted meats have an initial freezing temperature of -0.8 to -1.2°C. The ice fraction when
fully frozen, I, can be estimated from:

I = (W - 0.25 S ) ⎜1 - T f ⎟
⎛ ⎞
(21)
⎝ - 20 ⎠
3
The density of frozen meat, ρf (kg/m ) is a little less than that of unfrozen meat:
1
ρf = (22)
W -I I S F
+ + +
1000 900 1300 850
The thermal conductivity of frozen meat, kf (W/mK) can be estimated from:
⎛ W - I I S F ⎞
k f = ρf ⎜ + + + ⎟ (23)
⎝ 1783 433 5306 4722 ⎠
The heat capacity of frozen meat, Cf (J/kgK) from:
Cf = 4180 (W - I ) + 1940 I + 1400 S + 1900 F (24)

The latent heat of freezing of a meat product is released over a range of temperatures, rather than
at a single temperature as is the case with a pure substance (such as water). The total amount of
latent heat change due to freezing, L (J/kg) can be predicted by:
L = 333 600 I (25)
Note that the ice fraction when the meat is fully frozen is not equal to the moisture content. Some
of the water within the meat is bound so tightly to the protein content that it never freezes no matter
how cold you make the meat. This is called the bound water content of the meat.

Predicting freezing times

Predicting the chilling time of meat is made quite difficult by the changing temperature profile within
the product. However during freezing, the temperature profile in the meat is much simpler. Inside
the freezing front, the meat is unfrozen, but at its freezing temperature. Outside the freezing front,
the meat is already frozen and its temperature is gradually dropping towards the temperature of the
surroundings. Most of the heat to be removed is latent heat and this is released from a given part
of the meat as the freezing front passes through that part.

The task of predicting the freezing time is therefore simplified to the task of predicting how long it
will take for the freezing front to get from the surface of the meat to the centre, and then adding
factors to account for the initial chilling period and the final sub-cooling period. Both of these
periods are typically short compared to the freezing period, as can be seen from Figure 12.10, so
there is no need to predict their lengths very accurately as long as the length of the freezing period
is well-predicted.

Equation (26) was developed by Pham (1986).

1 ⎛ Δ H1 Δ H 2 ⎞ ⎛⎜ X X 2 ⎞⎟
t f = ⎜⎜ + ⎟⎟ + (26)
E ⎝ Δ T 1 Δ T 2 ⎠ ⎜⎝ h 2k f ⎟⎠
where:
Δ H1 = ρl C l (T in - T fm ) (27)
Δ H 2 = ρl L + ρf C f (T fm - T c ) (28)
T + T fm
Δ T1 = in -Ta (29)
2
ΔT 2 = T fm - T a (30)
T fm = 1.8 + 0.263 T c + 0.105 T a (31)

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Where: tf is the freezing time, s
E is the Equivalent Heat Transfer Dimensionality
X is the shortest distance from the thermal centre to the surface (m)
2
h is the surface heat transfer coefficient (possibly including packaging resistance) (W/m K)
kf is the frozen meat thermal conductivity (W/mK)
3
ΔH1 is the heat released during chilling (J/m )
3
ΔH2 is the heat released during freezing and subcooling (J/m )
ΔT1 is the temperature driving force during chilling (°C)
ΔT2 is the temperature driving force during freezing and subcooling (°C)
3
ρl, ρf are the densities of unfrozen and frozen meat (kg/m )
Cl,, Cf are the specific heat capacities of unfrozen and frozen meat (J/kgK)
Tin is the initial temperature of the product (°C)
Tfm is the mean freezing temperature of the product (°C)
Tc is the final centre temperature of the product (°C)
Ta is the temperature of the cooling medium (°C)
L is the latent heat of freezing the ice fraction (J/kg)

This calculation can be expected to be accurate within ±15%, though it is usually a bit better than
that.

One problem that arises more frequently in freezing time prediction than in chilling time prediction
is that of asymmetric heat transfer. Often, the heat transfer coefficient at the top of a carton is
different from that at the bottom of the carton, due to the air gap that is intentionally left at the top to
accommodate the meat as it freezes and expands.

Pham (1987) found a straightforward solution to this problem for slab-shaped food products. It
applies quite well to products that are almost slab-shaped too, such as meat cartons in plate or air-
blast freezers. When different h values apply at each side of a slab, the freezing fronts progress
inwards at different rates. Instead of meeting in the geometric centre of the meat product, the
freezing fronts will meet at a point X(1 - a) from the top and X(1 + a) from the bottom. Now if:
h
r = bottom (32)
htop
where: hbottom and htop are the heat transfer coefficients at the top and bottom of the carton
respectively.
... then it turns out that the value of a is given by equation (33).
r -1
a= (33)
r + 1 + 2 Bi bottom
where: Bibottom is the Biot number calculated with the heat transfer coefficient hbottom and the frozen
meat thermal conductivity kf.
Having calculated a, you can then calculate the freezing time for the product using equation (26)
but setting h = hbottom and X = (1 + a)Xactual, where Xactual is the depth of the thermal centre for the
actual product.

Product heat loads

The total amount of heat released during freezing can be calculated from equation (34).
ΔH1 ΔH 2
ΔH = + (34)
ρl ρf
3
Where: ΔH1 is the heat released during chilling (J/m ) from equation (27)
3
ΔH2 is the heat released during freezing and subcooling (J/m ) from equation (28)
3
ρl, ρf are the densities of unfrozen and frozen meat (kg/m )
ΔH is the heat released during the whole process (J/kg)
The average product heat load is therefore given by:
ΔH
φf = (35)
tf

Where: φf is the average product heat load per kilogram of meat in the freezer (W/kg)

The average total heat load can be calculated by multiplying φf by the total weight of meat in the
freezer.

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Although we have been able to calculate the average product heat load during freezing, we have
yet to see how the load varies with time during the process. While product freezing times are
definitely easier to calculate than product chilling times, unfortunately the reverse is true for product
heat loads, at least for hand calculation. To estimate the freezing product heat load at any given
time during the process, you have to trace the position of the freezing front all of the way from the
surface to whatever position it has reached by that time. This can be done in a computer program
using one of several different techniques (e.g. that of Lovatt et al., 1992), but it would be very
laborious to do by hand, so we will not look at those methods.

Although it is difficult to calculate accurately, the product heat load during freezing does follow a
similar sort of pattern to the heat load during chilling. That is, it starts off very high and drops
sharply. Then it tails off towards the end of the process. The main difference between the freezing
and chilling heat load profiles is that while the chilling heat load profile forms a smooth curve when
you calculate it all the way through the process, the freezing heat load profile flattens while the
freezing front is moving and then drops away after that.

If you need to predict freezing heat load variation over time accurately, you should use a computer
program.

The sources of additional heat loads in freezers are the same as for chillers. However, because of
the lower temperature inside a freezer the heat load due to infiltration through the walls, floor and
ceiling is generally greater than for a chiller. Higher air velocities in air-blast freezers compared
with chillers also result in fan power being a more important heat load in freezers than in chillers. If
the air velocity in a chiller is 0.5 m/s and that in a freezer of similar design is 2 m/s, the freezer fans
3
will actually use (2.0/0.5) = 64 times as much power as the chiller fans! Heat loads from lights,
machinery and people in a freezer are generally negligible because of the large heat loads
presented by the product, heat infiltration and fans.

Software to estimate cooling times and heat loads

The lecture notes above give you some background on the theory of chilling and freezing and
enable you to carry out calculations for simple situations. However, due to the complexity and
limitations of the equations for predicting cooling times and heat loads, it is often more practical to
use a software program. Food Product Modeller™ and Refrigeration Loads Analyser™ are two
software products that are available from the AgResearch MIRINZ Centre in Hamilton, New
Zealand. These programs allow more complicated situations to be calculated and the temperature
profiles in all parts of the product to be displayed.

12.5 The boning process

Definition
Boning refers to the process of removing the meat from the bones and cutting the carcass down
into smaller and more manageable pieces. This process is often performed in an area called a
‘boning room’ or ‘cutting room’ where other operations, such as vacuum-wrapping the meat in
plastic films and/or packing into cartons, are also carried out.

Boning can be carried out before, during or after cooling depending on the requirements of the
processor. If boning is carried out before any significant cooling occurs, it is called ‘hot boning’
because the product is still near to the body temperature of the animal. If boning is carried out
after chilling (usually to below 7°C), it is called ‘cold boning’. If boning is carried out at any
temperature between about 7 and 30°C it is often called ‘warm boning’ or ‘boning on the curve’ in
reference to the temperature curve that the product is experiencing.

Product tenderness
A description of how rigor, cold shortening and aging affects the tenderness of meat is given in the
section on ‘Product Tenderness’ above. Please revise this section before continuing.

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Hot boning vs cold boning
The advantages and disadvantages of hot boning as opposed to cold boning are discussed below.
The choice of whether a processor uses hot or cold boning depends on which process
characteristics are most important to them.

Advantages of hot boning:

Lower refrigeration costs

When a carcass is hot boned, the meat is removed from the bones before any significant cooling
occurs. Therefore, the processor need only cool the useable meat (about two-thirds of the carcass
weight) and the bones and unusable meat do not need to be cooled.

Faster processing
Rigor progresses more quickly at a higher temperature, therefore the delay in product cooling that
occurs when boning is carried out directly after slaughter allows the meat to reach rigor more
quickly. This often means that a more rapid chilling regime may be used after boning (as long as
the meat is not cooled too quickly to avoid cold shortening).

Hot-boned meat cuts are not as thick as carcasses, so heat can be removed from the centre of hot-
boned meat faster than for carcasses. Often processors do not take advantage of this fact, instead
preferring to pack hot-boned meat into cartons before chilling. Since most cartons have a critical
depth only slightly lower than beef sides and higher than lamb carcasses, this practice does not aid
chilling. If hot-boned meat pieces are vacuum-wrapped, the meat may be chilled by immersion in a
cold liquid, which is faster, more energy efficient and more consistent than air cooling. The faster
cooling rate achieved by immersion chilling can also reduce drip loss and microbial growth, which
may lead to a better quality product with a longer shelf-life.

Less inventory and lower capital costs for buildings

Hot-boning can significantly reduce the on-site inventory for a meat plant, since animals can be
slaughtered, cooled and ready for shipment within a shorter period of time. The requirement of
less chiller space means that the capital cost of buildings is also lower. This is particularly the case
for meat that is shipped chilled and is not to be consumed within a short period of time. The
shipping time and the time spent on the shelf allow the meat to age to acceptable levels of
tenderness. If product is to be shipped from the plant frozen or if it is to be consumed very shortly
after leaving the plant, it will be important to provide enough chiller space for the product to age to
acceptable levels of tenderness.

Less weight loss

Cold-boned meat loses about 2% of its weight by evaporation of moisture from the meat into the air
(about 1.8% during carcass chilling and about 0.2% during boning after chilling). By comparison,
hot-boned meat loses only about 0.6% of its weight and almost all of this occurs during boning
because the product is usually wrapped or packaged before it is cooled.

Disadvantages of hot boning:

Bad shape retention/more difficult to cut

Since hot boning occurs quite soon after slaughter, the meat is usually in a pre-rigor state. This
means that the meat is extremely soft and flexible and is at near-to-body temperature, which also
causes the fat to be very soft and sticky. Due to these factors, it is usually more difficult (and
potentially more dangerous) to cut and trim hot-boned meat because the meat can easily slip in the
boner’s hands and the hot fat can easily smear. Further, as the cuts are no longer held in position
by the bones of the carcass, the muscles easily lose their characteristic shape, unless they are
packaged in such a way as to maintain their shape until they reach rigor, at which stage they will
be able to hold their own shape.

Tenderness/electrical stimulation
Many cold-boned muscles are held in a stretched state by the bones of the carcass when they go
into rigor. Since hot-boned muscles are removed from the carcass before reaching rigor, they are
not held in a stretched state and may contract more easily resulting in a rise in toughness.
Furthermore, because hot-boned meat cuts are not as thick as carcasses, they can be cooled
much quicker which, if not done carefully, this may result in cold shortening.

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As mentioned previously, electrical stimulation can be used to reduce the risk of cold shortening.
The electrical current forces the muscles to contract, which provides a considerable increase in the
rate of glycolysis. This results in a much faster fall in pH while the muscle temperature remains
high. For example, in an unstimulated beef animal it may take 10 to 12 hours to reach a pH of 6.2,
whereas with electrical stimulation it may only take about one hour to reach this pH. Consequently,
with regard to cold shortening, there is very little limit on the cooling rate of electrically stimulated
meat since it would be difficult to cool hot meat below about 10°C before a pH of 6.0 was reached.
Electrical stimulation may not be necessary in cold boning operations. However, many cold boning
plants also use electrical stimulation to advance the rigor process. As mentioned previously, when
a carcass reaches rigor it immediately begins to age. If this aging process begins at a higher
temperature (i.e. earlier on in the chilling process), the aging rate will be faster and an acceptable
tenderness level will be reached sooner.

Microbiological quality
The microbiological quality of any food depends on its initial contamination and the subsequent
handling and storage processes, which may or may not allow microbial growth to occur. A
slaughter and dressing process provides an initial contamination of the carcass surfaces due to
handling. However, the slaughter and dressing processes are similar for both hot and cold boning
so there will be little difference between hot and cold boning processes at this stage.

As we learned earlier, the chilling process is critical for controlling microbial growth. If boning
occurs before chilling (as with hot boning) the meat may become further contaminated (due to
handling) at a time when the product is still at a high enough temperature for microbial growth to
continue. Whereas, if the meat is already chilled when boned (as with cold boning) the further
contamination during boning will not result in as much subsequent growth because the product is
already at a lower temperature.

A further consideration is that during cold boning the whole carcass is cooled in air. This provides
a certain amount of surface drying that inhibits microbial growth. With hot boning, the product is
generally packaged during the chilling step, which means that the product surface is moist,
providing a better environment for microbial growth.

Synchronising slaughter floor and boning room

In a hot boning plant it is important that the slaughter floor and boning room operations are
carefully synchronised. This often means that the slaughter floor needs to start slightly earlier than
the boning room in order to supply enough animals for the boning room to start processing. In a
cold boning operation the carcasses processed in the boning room are usually from the previous
shift on the slaughter floor, therefore it is unnecessary to delay the boning room operation unless
the carcasses from the previous slaughter floor shift have not yet been cooled to an acceptable
temperature.

Readings
The following readings are available on CD:
1. Cleland, A.C., 1990 Food Refrigeration Processes: Analysis, Design and Simulation,
Chapter 1, Elsevier Science Publishers, London.
In his opening chapter, Cleland (1990) describes the importance of food refrigeration and
the major issues involved in designing refrigeration processes. He goes on to discuss the
benefits that can arise from further research into refrigerating operations, using the
example of a beef carcass in an air chiller.
The chapter ends with the statement of two areas for study: heat transfer within the food
product and dynamics of the refrigeration system that is providing the cooling effect. The
rest of this book covers these two areas in great detail.
2. ASHRAE 2002, ASHRAE Handbook - Refrigeration, SI Edition, Chapter 15, American
Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
An outline of different freezing methods and food freezing equipment is covered in chapter
15 of the 2002 ASHRAE Handbook (Refrigeration). Most of the equipment outlined in this
chapter could be used within the meat industry, making the chapter quite useful to
industry members. It contains many diagrams that allow the reader to better understand
how the freezing equipment operates. Consideration is also given to selection criteria of
freezer systems such as cost, quality, reliability, hygiene, etc.
3. Taylor, A.A., 1995. Carcase boning. Meat Focus International, July pp 280-285.

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 This article is well-written and gives a thorough analysis of the advantages and
disadvantages of hot boning. It covers aspects such as weight loss, colour, tenderness,
electrical stimulation and microbiology.

Activities
Available on WebCT

Multi-Choice Questions
Submit answers via WebCT

Useful Web Links

Available on WebCT

Assignment Questions
Choose ONE question from ONE of the
topics as your assignment. Short answer
questions appear on WebCT. Submit your
answer via WebCt

Summary
Summary slides are available on WebCT
The importance of chilling and freezing in the meat industry is outlined and the lecture notes
provide a basic introduction to the concepts and mechanisms involved in these two heat transfer
operations. The material covers prediction of chilling and freezing times for a variety of different
products that are of relevance to the meat industry. Also discussed is the importance of heat
loads; the possible sources are listed and methods for estimating these are considered. Hot and
cold boning is also discussed in the lecture material, with particular emphasis on the advantages
and disadvantages of each with respect to cost and quality.

References
ASHRAE 2002. ASHRAE Handbook - Refrigeration, SI edition. American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Cleland, A.C., 1990. Food Refrigeration Processes: Analysis, Design and Simulation. Elsevier
Science Publishers, London.
Cleland, A.C. and Earle, R.L., 1982. A simple method for prediction of heating and cooling rates in
solids of various shapes. International Journal of Refrigeration, vol 5, pp 98-106.
Devine, C.E., Bell, R.G., Lovatt, S.J., Chrystall, B.B. and Jeremiah, L.E., 1996. Chapter 2: Red
Meats. In ‘Freezing Effects on Food Quality’, ed. L. Jeremiah, Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 51-
84.
Gilbert, K.V., Davey, C.L. and Newton, K.G., 1977. Electrical stimulation and the hot boning of
beef. N.Z. Journal of Agricultural Research, vol 20, pp 139-143.
Lovatt, S.J., Pham, Q.T., Cleland, A.C., and Loeffen, M.P.F., 1992. A new method of predicting the
time-variability of product heat load during food cooling – Part 1: Theoretical considerations.
Journal of Food Engineering, vol 18, pp 13-36.
Miles, C.A., van Beek, G. and Veerkamp, C.H., 1983. Chapter 16: Calculation of the Thermal
Properties of Foods. In: ‘Physical Properties of Foods’, eds. R. Jowitt, F. Escher, B. Hallström,
H. Meffert, E. Spiess, G. Vos. Applied Science Publishers, London and New York, pp 269-311.
MIRINZ RM54 1977. Specification for accelerated conditioning of lambs after dressing, MIRINZ,
Hamilton, New Zealand.
MIRINZ RM135 1981. AC Seminar 1981, MIRINZ, Hamilton, New Zealand.
MIRINZ RM141 1982. Guidelines for an AC quality control programme, MIRINZ, Hamilton, New
Zealand.

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Pham, Q.T., 1986. A simplified equation for predicting the freezing time of foodstuffs. Journal of
Food Technology, vol 21, pp 209-219.
Pham, Q.T., 1987. A converging-front model for the asymmetric freezing of slab-shaped food,
Journal of Food Science, vol 52, pp 795-800.
Pham, Q.T., Wee, H.K., Kemp, R.M., and Lindsay, D.T. 1994. Determination of the Enthalpy of
Foods by an Adiabatic Calorimeter. Journal of Food Engineering, vol 21, pp 137-156.
Pham, Q.T. and Willix, J., 1989. Thermal Conductivity of Fresh Lamb Meat, Offals and Fat in the
Range -40 to +30°C: Measurements and Correlations. Journal of Food Science, vol 54, pp 508-
515.
Pisula, A. and Tyburcy, A., 1996. Hot Processing of Meat. Meat Science, vol 43, pp S125-S134.
Taylor, A.A., 1995. Carcass boning. Meat Focus International, July, pp 280-285.
Welty, J.R., 1978. Engineering Heat Transfer (SI version). John Wiley and Sons Inc, Singapore.
Willix, J., Lovatt, S.J. and Amos, N.D., 1998. Additional Thermal Conductivity Values of Foods
Measured by a Guarded Hot Plate. Journal of Food Engineering, vol 37, pp 159-174.

Acknowledgements
Thanks to Dr Simon Lovatt at AgResearch Ltd, New Zealand for drawing many of the
figures in these notes.

Glossary of terms
Biot number. The Biot number (Bi) is the ratio of the conductive (internal)
resistance to heat transfer to the convective (external)
resistance, and indicates the way in which the external
resistance to heat transfer is balanced against the internal
resistance.
Boning. Boning refers to the process of removing the meat from the
bones and cutting the carcass down into smaller and more
manageable pieces.
Chilling. Chilling is the process of cooling a food while it remains above its
freezing temperature. The temperature of the cooling medium
(air or water, for instance) doesn't matter, as soon as the food
starts to freeze, it can no longer be considered a chilling process.
Cold boning. If boning is carried out after chilling (usually to below 7°C), it is
called ‘cold boning’.
Conduction. A mechanism for heat transfer in solids, liquids or gases, where a
molecule at a higher energy level will transfer some of its energy
to a molecule at a lower energy level when they come into
contact with each other.
Convection. A mechanism for heat transfer in liquids or gases, where a
molecule at a higher energy level is moved into an area occupied
by lower energy molecules, which raises the average energy
level of the molecules in that particular area.
Freezing. Freezing is the process of removing heat from a food so that the
water content of the food is converted into ice. A food starts to
freeze when it is cooled to below its freezing temperature and is
considered fully frozen when no more of the water in the food
can be converted to ice.

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 Heat load. Heat load describes the rate at which heat energy enters the
cooling medium. The heat load may come from the food product
or from some other source of energy such as fans, lights or warm
air entering through an opening. To maintain a constant
temperature it is important that the refrigeration system is able to
remove heat from the cooling medium at the same rate as it
enters from the various heat sources in the cooler.
Heat transfer coefficient. The surface heat transfer coefficient (h) indicates the amount of
heat that can be transferred from the surface of a food to the
surrounding cooling medium for a given surface area and
temperature difference. It depends on the characteristics of the
cooling medium and its level of turbulence.
Heat. Heat is a form of energy and it is measured in Joules (J). It is
associated with the movement of atoms and molecules and it
may be transferred from molecules and atoms by various
mechanisms.
Hot boning. If boning is carried out before any significant cooling occurs, it is
called ‘hot boning’ because the product is still near to the body
temperature of the animal.
Latent heat. Latent heat is heat that, when added or removed from a food,
does not result in an observable change in temperature. Instead,
the heat addition or removal causes the food to undergo a
change in state (e.g. it may change the water in the food from a
liquid to a solid).
Radiation. A mechanism for heat transfer where energy is transferred from
molecules at a higher energy level to molecules at a lower
energy level by electromagnetic radiation (i.e. without coming
into contact with each other).
Sensible heat. Sensible heat is heat that, when added or removed from a food,
brings about an observable change in temperature.
Thermal properties. The thermal properties of a food describe its ability to hold and
transfer heat. These include the thermal conductivity (W/mK),
3
the heat content or enthalpy (J/kg) and the density (kg/m ).
Warm boning. If boning is carried out at any temperature between about 7 and
30°C it is often called ‘warm boning’ or ‘boning on the curve’ in
reference to the temperature curve that the product is
experiencing.

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