For over 30 years, the primary customer base for Chad products was the red meat harvest market. About four years ago, we identified the trend toward applying an antimicrobial treatment to primals, subprimals and trim at further processing facilities.
Much of this interest was driven by guidance from the USDA-FSIS that an antimicrobial treatment should be applied as product is converted from intact to not-intact. For example, needle tenderization is a very common practice in further process facilities where the resulting product becomes non-intact. An antimicrobial treatment should be applied to the product prior to needle tenderization. There have been several recalls involving further processed product, which has heightened the awareness for an additional antimicrobial treatment.
Common antimicrobial treatments are lactic acid, Beefxide® and peracetic acid. All of these interventions can be applied in a Chad Antimicrobial Spray Conveyor. This equipment uses an open stainless steel belt with sprays above and below the belt to provide a 360° spray of the antimicrobial solution at the proper flow and pressure. An antimicrobial mixing system, pumping and monitoring system is required to supply the solution to the conveyor at the required concentration and temperature. Chad has two models of mixing systems for large and small operations.
The antimicrobial conveyors and mixing systems have become our most popular products. There are thousands of further processing facilities that will benefit from this process.
