COMBINED ANIMAL WELFARE AND MEAT QUALITY

POULTRY SLAUGHTERING: If a chicken is thriving during its life, transported in a humane way, and slaughtered according to the latest methods, it reflects in the quality of the finished product

“To us, the primary aim is to supply top quality in a cycle which starts with animal welfare and ends with safe quality food,” says Morten Lindholst, managing director of Linco Food Systems.

“The finished product starts with animal welfare on the farm and humane transport to the slaughterhouse, and then continues with a good working environment at the slaughterhouse, traceability and optimal hygiene for the sake of food safety,” says Lindholst. “It all hangs together. That is why we think in totalities, instead of just producing good individual products.

Leading in fish and poultry
Linco Food System A/S is among the world’s leading manufacturers of machinery for the poultry meat processing industry. Until a few months ago, the company was No. 3 worldwide in terms of its size and turnover. In August 2007, Linco merged with Germany’s Baader Group, a market leader worldwide in fish processing machinery, which also has a very strong position on the North American market for poultry processing machinery. The merger has made Linco and Baader the world leaders in fish and poultry processing machinery.

Holistic approach
Linco’s position on the world market is the result of the company’s holistic approach to the process from farm to finished consumer product. Linco’s patented Maxiload transport system is recognised as the most humane animal transport system in the world. Linco was also the first to develop the Controlled Atmosphere Stunning (CAS) process, where before slaughter the poultry is stunned with concentrated CO2 instead of an electric shock. CAS is now becoming the standard in poultry slaughterhouses throughout the world.

Revolution in food safety Linco is in the process of developing a new and revolutionary technology for combating Salmonella and Campylobacter in slaughtered poultry. The method, invented by the company Sonosteam, is based on exposing slaughtered and plucked poultry to a combination of ultrasound and steam. “It is a brilliant method which will change the entire industry in the future,” says Linco’s managing director Morten Lindholst. “We have designed the first test machine for a Danish poultry slaughterhouse, which will test the method at fullscale over the next few months.”