Geometry, cooling rates and weight losses during pig chilling
Abstract Experiments were carried out to study the cooling rate and weight loss from whole, split and quartered pig carcasses under typical Australian air-chilling conditions. Simple geometric and heat and mass transfer models were compared with data. The cooling rate was primarily influenced by the type of carcass (whole, split or quartered), which was in turn determined by carcass weight and fatness. A simple geometric model, using a sphere, underpredicted the cooling times with an average error of 6%. There were no statistically significant variations in weight loss due to air velocity.