Marinating bone-in and skin-on poultry products like wings, drumsticks, thighs, legs and whole or half birds adds flavor and boosts value. Traditionally this is carried out using tumbling only. Not only this is a time-consuming batch process, but it also leads to wet products at the outfeed and unsightly effects like skin slip. Combining injecting and massaging in the GEA Fresh enhanced line overcomes these drawbacks. GEA Food Solutions has a complete solution to increases efficiency, produce a more appetizing looking product and boost yield by up to 4%.

Bone-in and skin-on poultry parts present specific challenges for injection.  Conventional needles have a tendency to break or deform when they hit bone, whereas larger diameters needles leave visible marks in the skin and damage the  bone. To overcome these drawbacks, the poultry parts injection solution incorporates a  GEA YieldJector, which has an exceptionally high number of injection points and  works with sharp, small diameter GEA OptiFlex needles.

Due to core injection, the massaging step in the GEA ColdSteam T can be  reduced to 20 minutes. Spices will stick better to the product, the batch will be  drier and there will be less waste and drip. Shortening the massaging time also  reduces the chance of skin slippage. As brine is injected rather than massaged, the marinade and dry spices will stick  better to the product. The net result is increased yield, enhanced appearance and  an improvement in processing efficiency.

Yield is most influenced by weight loss during further processing. The better the  brine distribution and the lower the deviation between products, the higher the  potential yield and capacity during the frying, cooking and/or roasting processes. Add to this the optimal frying control and oil filtration of the GEA EasyFry and the  precisely controlled cooking process of the GEA CookStar and you benefit from  the best possible processing efficiency.