Optimizing Shredding Consistency and Quality of Fully Cooked Chilled Meat & Poultry Products
Fully cooked, ready-to-eat (RTE) shredded meat and poultry products have seen rapid growth over the last several years and provide variety and convenience for consumers in both the retail and food service segments. As with any RTE meat product, quality and safety controls include thorough cooking to ensure pathogens are destroyed, proper chilling to inhibit bacterial growth as well as prevention of post-processing contamination. The production volumes now required by processors to meet consumer demands for these products can make shredded meat and poultry products more susceptible to contamination and/or bacterial growth when products are “hot shredded” (80 – 130°F) if conditions are not well controlled.
This white paper looks at optimizing shredding consistency and quality of fully cooked chilled meat and poultry products.
