process flow diagram
Process Flow Diagram(PFD)
Process Description
Slaughtering
Slaughtering involves stunning of the lambs first, which uses 1.0 - 1.25 amps and 74 - 125 volts for a max of 10 seconds (FAO, 2015). Stunning kills lambs, as the heart stops beating. The "slaughter cut" is made after stunning, and the lamb is left to bled out through the neck. During the slaughtering process the head is decapitated and the hoofs are cut off, and these are either sent to a rendering plant, or disposed of.
Dressing
During the dressing part, all the carcasses and parts are supposed to be de-pelted. The skin would be selected for further process into sheepskin products, the wool will be removed from skin into wool products. (Slater, 2010) Other trimmings will go into two departments, either edible dept or inedible dept. Most of the edible trimmings like heart, brain and liver would be exported to the countries in Asia. The inedible part like fat will be process into pet food and for industrial purpose like the soap industry, otherwise, the inedible would be disposed directly. (Barker, 2015)
Boning
Boning is the action of removing bone from the meat. According to Toldra (2010, p. 405), the boning process begins with “marking down either side of the feather bones at the neck end and flensing from the brisket across the ribs to the spine” then after tunnel boning or slash boning is used to seperate the foreleg, shank at the elbow joint and blade bones.
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The fats on the organs are cut out and the fats on the skin is reduced to thickness of less than 5mm (Toldra, 2010). Every bones, fats, paddywhack, sinew, blood, ulcer, dung, wool fibres and fine matter are taken out of the meat (Toldra, 2010). According to New Zealand Food Safety Authority (2004), the fat and bones cut from the meat is used for pet food and rendering. After boning, the product needs to attain 90% lean content (Toldra, 2010).
Packaging
To reduce weight loss and optimise shelf life, New Zealand export lamb is first chilled to a deep tissue temperature to 0.5 degrees in 24 hours after slaughter (McNeil, Mcphail & Macfarlane,1990). After the target temperature is reached, the lamb will be processed into desired caresses and cuts then packed within 30 minutess to minimise bacterial growth. The cuting room is set to be no more than 12 degrees in consideration of lamb quality and working comfort. Vacuum-packing and CAP (controlled atmosphere-packed) are the standard packaging methods in current lamb industry (Meat Industry Association, 2016). Other derivative packaging such as layer packed, bulk packed and gas flushed are also available to meet the export market (Taylorpreston, 2016).
