Valves for Processing Raw Meat

A wholesale chicken product manufacturer and supplier have been using AKO Pinch Valves within their meat process since 2018.

The meat product manufacturing company has 6 AKO Pinch Valves from the VMC range on site. They have two processing machines with three valves on each, which control the minced chicken meat at the very start of the process.

The Process of Manufacturing Chicken Pieces with Valves

1000KG/1 tonne of pure chicken breast is tipped into a hopper, it is then sucked into a mincing machine, which is moveable on a rail so that it, and the other parts of the process can be cleaned easily. The cleaning process is carried out after 40 hours in use.

Once the 1000KG/1 tonne of chicken breast is minced, the AKO Pinch Valve at the bottom of the mincer opens and the minced chicken is sucked through to the next stage of the machine where there are 2 vertical Pinch Valves. The chicken travels up either Pinch Valve1 or Pinch Valve 2, so one Valve is always closed whilst the other is open. When the Valves are not in use they are always kept closed.

The machinery all runs for 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, except for Christmas day when they are closed. The Pinch Valves perform 2 cycles per hour, and the temperature of the chicken is kept between 2-5°C.

The vacuum varies between 650-1000 mBAR, and the Pinch Valves for raw meat are closed at 2.5 BAR. Once the minced meat has passed through the Pinch Valves, it moves into the next hopper when it is dosed onto a conveying line. The chicken pieces are shaped, coated and fried along the way. Once cooled, they are bagged, boxed and ready for shipment.

Pinch Valves for Raw Meat Maintenance

Some of the AKO UK Team visited this meat processing company to see the Valves in action. The Valves are in operation for 12 months before the engineers plan scheduled maintenance.

The meat product manufacturing company no longer replace the rubber Sleeves in the Valves due to bad experiences from outsourcing a local engineering company. The engineering company were not replacing the sleeves correctly, causing them to fail far too prematurely – the sleeves were only lasting a maximum of a few hours before they began to burst out from the flange.

Since the AKO Pinch Valves were first installed in 2018, all six Valves were replaced at some point for maintenance. The engineers currently on site have not worked at the company long enough to know exact timescales of replacements. It was at some point after the valves had first been replaced, that an engineering company were outsourced to replace the sleeves inside the valves, leading to the problematic issues of premature failures.

The AKO UK sales team recently gave the engineer on site a lot of technical advice, re-sleeving advice, and general support with an efficient supply of products. This is where the meat processing company have seen a turnaround within their production, with the Pinch Valves lasting a lot longer and performing as they should.

After 12 months, the company replace the Valves with new units. Six new Valves are always kept in stores ready to replace in case of a breakdown/failure.

Pinch Valves used within this application: VMC150.02X.50F.50

VMC model, DN150, air operated, stainless steel body, stainless steel PN10/16 flanged ends, white food quality natural rubber sleeve.

Failures & Incorrect Use of Pinch Valves

After the AKO UK team had helped the meat product manufacturing company by correcting the re-sleeving process, and advising technical support on the use of the Valves to perform more successfully (the company were originally using 6 BAR air pressure against the vacuum pressure to close, but were advised to reduce this down and now use 2.5 BAR), the Pinch Valves are performing very well within this application.

During the failing period, Ball Valves were purchased as a ‘panic buy’, but were actually never installed. The engineer on site could see that the Ball Valves were not made as a whole casting and could clearly see problematic bug traps, which would not be suitable for this process.

The hygienic Pinch Valves on the other hand, come in one complete casted body with no bug traps, and are CIP/SIP certified.

End User Satisfaction with Pinch Valves

There were many positives regarding the Pinch Valves for raw meat during the AKO UK site visit. The engineer commented on the fact that they like AKO Pinch Valves being maintenance free, hygienic, very safe products with a true/full bore.

As it stands, the chicken product manufacturer are happy with the 12 months life time of the Pinch Valves. After 12 months, the valves do look a little worn, with a partially closed sleeve which sometimes looks as though it is ready to pull out from the flange. However, this is to be expected on a vacuum application where the sleeve can become partially closed, especially when the Valves are always kept closed when not in use. Overall, the meat processing company are happy with how the valve performs and do not have an issue with the flow of product.