Until it reaches our tables, pork goes through different phases. Unlike beef or sheep, pork must go through different Pork Cutting processes in the Slaughterhouse to ensure its quality.
Pork meat is a very special product, also considered “white meat” by the WHO, which indicates that it is a healthier food type, with good nutritional properties and a fine complement to a healthy diet. Of course, pork sausages and derivatives, alongside with serrano ham are delicacies that puts Spain on the top of food exportations, highlighting the unique flavour and a superioir quality of these, both inside and outside our borders.
But what makes this possible? Of course a good breeding of the animal and the fact it is growing in good conditions, according the animal welfare regulations are a guarantee. However, both slaughterhouse and cutting room phases are a key to determine the quality of the meat. This is because, unlike any other type of animal, the pig goes through several phases inside the slaughterhouse, to ensure that the meat we consume has the most optimal conditions.
About this, both meat producers and machinery manufacturers know a lot. This is because, once again, the many processes pork meat experiments till it arrives the cutting room. Starting with the stunning, for the pork meat it is phase in which it is very important to assure the less suffering of the animal. For this, different, specific and top equipments are used, like the stunning system by CO2. After the animal bleeding, the carcass goes through other three phases before the dressing.
Pork cutting in the slaughterhouse: Scalding
This is one the phases tha highlights the difference between pork meat and other lines, and it consists of the beggining of the carcass cleaning, and the preparation of the skin for hair removal. The key is to transmit high temperature to the skin without damaging the surface of the meat. For this operation, water is used as a conductive element. It can be carried out by using several equipments, depending of the productions needs. For example, it can be performed by immersion in a water raft, showering or water vapor condensation.
Pork cutting in the slaughterhouse: Dehairing
This phase is the key of all the pork processing inside the slaughterhouse. The dehairing consist of removing the hair from the animal skin uising robust equipment that can achieve a high volume of production according the needs of the producer. Depending of the volume of work there are several machines with which to achieve these goals, with the 100% of efectivity.
Carcasses cleaning
From this point, we proceed the double check of the pork proccess in the slaughterhouse. It consists in the deep carcass cleaning to eliminate the hair and dirt that might remained on the meat. This proccess ensure the carcass is free from any contamination, specially when this process is automated. For this, we apply technology and development by using whipping machines, which, by a continuous hitting of whips to the carcass, it removes any kind of dirt and remaining hair, and through the singer burner, the process is complete by shoooting flames directly onto the skin surface to top off the process and remove any impurity that could have stayed on the carcass.
After all these processes, the carcass goes thorught the dressing, with an appropiate evisceration, cutting, weighing and marking. From this point, the meat arrives to the cutting room, where it will be prepared for its distribution, reaching our homes eventually. To get the point where the consumer is enjoying a high quality food, the meat has gone through a different processes that guarantee this. The goal of manufacturers will be to create equipment that meets the expectations of producersm ant contribute to this complex chain of pheases, so the final product can be on the top.