Food and beverageNewsProcess industries

Lutetia tumblers deliver defrosting, curing, marinating, drying, and smoking

Lutetia has developed patented technology using straight injection of smoke into the tumbler with or without drying function of the meat type.

Provisur Technologies, owners of the Lutetia brand say the technology is the perfect application for the best smoke penetration and enable customers to obtain products perfectly adapted to their tastes and requirements. Lutetia can help minimise cycle times, improve product quality, and maximise throughput.

Lutetia is renowned for patented tumbler processes with cold steam, and chamber processes with cold convection. Lutetia systems improve quality and yield of defrosting. The patented Proactivation technology for Lutetia tumblers is ideal for curing, and especially for the creation of clean label products.

Tempering meat products is usually a lengthy process in which the frozen food loses its liquid content and active protein. Lutetia equipment uses technologies that counteract the drip loss of meat. In the rotating drum of the tumbler, frozen meat IQF or in blocks is defrosted by steam injection under vacuum.

The advantage of this technology is that the meat juice consisting of water and proteins is retained in the product. Due to reduced drip loss, the weight loss that occurs during conventional defrosting is reduced by about five to 10 per cent. At the same time, the process stops microbial growth and therefore increases product safety.

Defrosting in the tumbler is best suited to goods that are subsequently processed for cooked or marinated product. Complementary to defrosting in the tumbler, Lutetia has developed a new technology that perfectly covers customer needs: defrosting in the chamber. The high level of airflow, saturated humidity, and patented technology based on convection inside the chamber. This makes it ideal for fragile products, such as fish, chicken, beef, pork, pork loin and lamb – products that simply need defrosting to be “look as fresh”.

Lutetia smoking solutions include the use of cooking chambers as a traditional way to cook and smoke products with a large range of capacity and smoke generator type.

Provisur’s Proactivation technology is a patented method for cured meat and dry products that produce high quality products in a shorter time. While conventional methods for products such as air-dried ham, Black Forest ham, pancetta and more, require three to twelve months of maturing and drying, the entire process can be shortened to about two to four weeks with Proactivation technology.

For customers, the shortened storage time means significant savings in terms of storage space as well as increased flexibility in responding to market needs. The process enhances the raw material by bringing out the best in meat of different quality grades and processing it into excellent products that are delicious in taste and texture.

Among other things, the new Proactivation technology is suited to create clean label products, such as products with less salt whether with cooked or dry cured product, less preservatives, flavour enhancers, colourings, or aromas. The absence of certain ingredients makes conventional processes more demanding and often requires technologically very powerful equipment.

“Thanks to the extensive know-how we’ve gathered throughout the years, we are continually “Pushing Boundaries” with innovating and patenting new technologies,” says Philippe Longo, commercial director, Provisur Technologies. “All our processes are designed to maximise throughput and improve product quality.

“Our Lutetia equipment focuses energy on the product and doesn’t waste it outside the product – the bottom line is that customers benefit from faster, safer, and more economical processes that produce excellent meat quality.”

Related content