Refrigeration of red meat products

On this page

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Purpose
• 3. What is included
• 4. What is not included
• 5. Roles and responsibilities
• 6. Chilling performance standards
• 7. Shipping of meat products that have not reached 4°C

1. Introduction

Refrigeration, which includes both chilling and freezing, plays an integral role in the production and storage of meat products and its importance cannot be over-stressed.

Chilling is recognized as an important process step to slow down or stop the proliferation of microorganisms. It also slows down the chemical and enzymatic changes which occur in tissues after slaughter which results in improved preservation of meat products. It is therefore inevitable to include refrigeration as a part of a preventive control plan (PCP) for red meat.

2. Purpose

Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) licence holders must identify and analyze the biological, chemical and physical hazards that present a risk of contamination of their food, and prevent, eliminate or reduce to an acceptable level the hazards identified by using control measures that are shown by evidence to be effective, including any treatment or process (SFCR 47).

Refrigeration is one control measure that is necessary to prevent microbial proliferation and this document provides the expectations to achieve this outcome.

3. What is included

The chilling performance standards herein are designed to facilitate PCP design and meet expected outcomes. Alternate approaches to chilling will need to be validated by the licence holder as meeting the same outcome.

As well, when the expected 4°C is not met prior to shipping, this guidance explains the controls that would need to be put in place throughout shipping and receiving to ensure that the chilling process is being maintained.

4. What is not included

For information about condensation in establishments, and practices that may help prevent the resulting risk of contamination, please consult the recommended preventive control guidance on condensation.

5. Roles and responsibilities

Food businesses are responsible for complying with the law. They demonstrate compliance by ensuring that the commodities and processes for which they are responsible meet regulatory requirements. If a written PCP is required, the food business develops a PCP with supporting documents, monitors and maintains evidence of its implementation, and verifies that all control measures are effective.

CFIA verifies the compliance of a food business by conducting activities that include inspection and surveillance. When a non-compliance is identified, the CFIA takes appropriate compliance and enforcement actions.

The CFIA may request SFC licence holders to modify their monitoring procedures to ensure that effectiveness of processes can be continually demonstrated.

6. Chilling performance standards

Respect the following principles for the refrigeration of meat products:

• fully chill (to 4°C or less) or freeze (to 0°C or less) meat products prior to shipping
• begin carcass chilling promptly after the end of carcass dressing
• begin meat by-product chilling promptly after harvesting
• reduce product temperature as quickly as possible
• chill meat products in a continuous manor: continually lower the temperature of the meat product until the chilled state is achieved (to 4°C or less)
• maintain cooling media at a maximum of 4°C until the product has achieved chilled state (4°C or less).
• For carcasses and primal cuts, ensure that:
  • the surface temperature of carcasses is 7°C or less within 24 hours of the end of carcass dressing
  • after reaching a surface temperature of 7°C, the product's internal temperature is continually lowered to 4°C or less
  • before carcasses are cut, for example to break down to primals, the internal temperature (warmest part) of the carcass is 7°C or less
• For carcass parts (meaning edible portions removed from the carcass, such as offal, trims, meat, meat by-products), ensure that:
  • the cooling of the carcass part is continuous
  • the surface of concern^Footnote 1 is 7°C or less within 12 hours after the carcass part is harvested
  • after the surface of concern reaches 7°C, the temperature of the carcass part is continually lowered to 4°C or less

  The following are chilling options for carcass parts:

  • in potable water
  • air chilled
  • packaged (with or without carbon dioxide) immediately after harvest or after partial chilling, and blast frozen on site or in a remote location shortly after harvest
  • individually vacuum packed offal in brine tunnels

7. Shipping of meat products that have not reached 4°C

The chilling performance standards above will be maintained throughout the shipping and receiving process.

The PCPs of both the shipping and the receiving businesses will reflect the hazards of shipping incompletely chilled product. These will include records reflecting the shared responsibility. Revisiting these commitments annually (at minimum) is recommended.

When preparing their PCP, the licence holders will need to determine the appropriate location(s) to monitor the effectiveness of the chilling process. The operator's hazard assessment, critical control point determination, validation and ongoing verification processes will need to include real-time data collected during actual shipping and which reflects worst-case conditions, such as:

• physical data (for example, temperature curves)
• microbiological data (for example, total plate counts, generic E. coli swab results)
• other data (for example, Total Fatty Acids for products used in edible rendering)

Specific controls expected to be included in the PCPs:

• For the shipping operator:
  • refrigeration of product prior to loading
  • temperature of meat products at the time of load-out
  • product temperature during shipping and
  • time between transport vehicle/container loading and unloading
• For the receiving operator:
  • temperature of products when unloaded
  • temperature of products during further chilling (until the product has reached a temperature of 4°C)
  • generic E. coli testing for carcasses shipped prior to 12 hours of chilling.( The results will need to be provided to abattoir of origin)

An operator wishing to ship incompletely chilled products should pre-emptively communicate their intention to the CFIA in writing, to ensure that export eligibility is not jeopardized (for example, because of the possible need for inspection resources at destination, such as cold storages).