From Water Use to Air Efficiency: Why Poultry Processors are Moving to Air Chilling

Rethinking Poultry Chilling: Why More Processors Are Exploring Air Over Water

While water chilling has served the industry well, a growing number of operations are evaluating air chilling as a way to enhance efficiency, hygiene, and long-term performance.

Let’s look at the core issues with traditional water chilling:

• Excessive water usage, adding cost and failing sustainability benchmarks
• Cross-contamination risks, as birds share immersion tanks
• Product inconsistency, with water absorption skewing yields
• Manual labour, including re-hanging between lines

Clean Air Chill – One of the BAADER Solution to Your Water Usage

The BAADER Clean Air Chill offers a modern alternative - cooling birds with filtered, recirculated cold air instead of immersion in shared water.

But what about one common concern processors still have? “Won’t air chilling dry out the meat and affect tenderness?”

Not with Clean Air Chilling.

Our system includes a precisely timed water spray directly on the birds. This step prevents the skin from drying out during chilling, ensuring moist, tender meat while still avoiding the problems of full water immersion.

High Cleanability of the Clean Air Chill Room

Colony Forming Units (CFU) - a measure of potential bacterial or fungal presence - remain exceptionally low in the area above the plenum. This zone is considered a clean, controlled environment and does not require daily cleaning like the main air chill room.

Additionally, the single-layer design of the Clean Air Chilling system offers a major hygiene advantage: With no dripping onto overhead structures, only the floor requires routine washing, making sanitation faster, easier, and more effective.

Clean Air Chill: A constant Flow of Advantages

Clean Air Chilling isn’t just air over birds – it is a fully engineered solution tailored for modern poultry processors:

• ‍Significantly Reduced Water Usage
  ‍Eliminate the need for immersion tanks and drastically cut water consumption - ideal for sustainability targets and cost savings.
• ‍Ultra-Clean Air Environment
  ‍With extremely low CFU counts above the plenum, the system maintains a clean zone that minimizes bacterial load - reducing the need for constant cleaning and enhancing overall hygiene.
• No Cross-Contamination
  Single-layer design and air chilling eliminate risks associated with shared water or dripping -  promoting superior food safety.
• Moist, High-Quality Product
  A strategic water mist prevents surface drying while avoiding water absorption - keeping the yield high without waterlogging.
• Fast, Even Cooling
  Cold airflow is directed both inside the cavity and across the surface, rapidly bringing down core temperature without freezing extremities. Birds remain pliable and ready for efficient cut-up or pack-out.
• Simplified Sanitation
  The single-layer layout means no overhead beam washdowns - only the floor requires cleaning. Less water, less time, more uptime.
• Built for Automation
  No need for manual re-hanging between lines. Clean Air Chilling supports automated, in-line transitions for higher throughput and reduced labour strain.

Not One-Size-Fits-All: BAADER Offers Flexible Air Chilling Solutions for Every Facility

While Clean Air Chilling delivers high-performing results in hygiene and product quality, we understand that not every facility has the space for a full single-layer chilling tunnel.

That is why BAADER also offers Multi-Tier Air Chilling Solutions - designed specifically for processors who want the benefits of air chilling but need to optimize space. These systems utilize the height of your building rather than its floor space, making them ideal for retrofits or footprint-constrained plants.

Need even more flexibility? Our hybrid configuration combines the advantages of both immersion and air chilling: birds can first pass through a short inline water bath for initial cooling and then continue into the air chill tunnel. The result is fast chilling and a light water pickup followed by efficient air chilling - all in a compact, efficient footprint.

If you are still using simple water chill, you are absorbing more cost than necessary. Schedule a consultation today and learn more about the different BAADER air chilling solutions. Discover how much water, energy, and labour air chilling could save your operation.