Rapidly cooling cooked meats without compromising quality

The COOLMEAT project will design and develop a prototype immersion vacuum cooling (IVC) system for rapidly cooling cooked meats. The project will build upon research undertaken by University College Dublin, one of the project partners. Their test results indicate that IVC can reduce the loss of tenderness and juiciness in meat that is normally associated with vacuum cooling.

The overall aim of the COOLMEAT project is to develop a system that can cool meat safely and rapidly without compromising on the flavour and texture of meat. Should this be achieved, the benefits to cooked meat manufacturers in terms of higher production throughput, lower energy consumption and decreased product hold up time will be significant. Consumers will benefit too from safer, higher-quality cooked meat products.

COOLMEAT is a two-year R&D project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the EC under the ‘Research for SMEs’ sub-program.

The project comprises five SMEs from cooked meat producers and equipment manufacturers from within Europe who have teamed up with three research providers in order to work together on a two-year 1.2 million Euro project.

The aim of the COOLMEAT project is to develop a technologically advanced, robust, less costly and greener technology of rapidly cooling cooked meats that will meet the needs of thousands of cold meat producers in Europe. Combining rapid processing times with lower mass losses will enable producers to obtain an overall high-quality product in terms of its safety, sensory and physical characteristics. All these advantages will heighten their productivity and profitability, while at the same time raise quality standards. In turn European consumers will benefit from safer cold meats.