One of the key differences of the Lethbridge plant vs others is ‘hot skinning’. This is Japanese technology that quickly removes heat from the carcass. This quick heat removal is key to top meat quality and increased shelf life. Other ways that Lethbridge removes heat in a timely manner is by removing the blood and viscera quickly. In fact, in Lethbridge, from the very first stage of production, the carcass begins the cooling process and heat is never added.
We recently invested in a new cooler and drying tunnel. The drying tunnel removes moisture from the carcass before going into the coolers. This prevents condensation and allows the carcass to cool more quickly. The coolers are designed to have good air movement and the carcasses are properly spaced to ensure consistent cooling. Ensuring consistent carcass sizes ensures that the product all cools at the same rate, which leads to consistent meat quality.
In our cutting room, all carcasses are hand butchered in the Japanese style. The lack of saws on our cut floor reduces the potential of bone-chips, bone dust and cross-contamination. This, along with dry cutting tables, also ensures a long shelf life for our chilled pork cuts. We process all Japanese production before lunches and breaks to ensure product is processed and into the equilibration cooler as quickly as possible.