Steam controls keeps roast chicken juicy
23 Aug 2007
Control valves reduce the pressure from the plant's steam distribution main before it reaches the oven
London -- Moy Park is operating an advanced new oven with highly accurate steam controls to roast chicken at its Grantham, UK factory. The oven features two pneumatically-actuated Spirax Sarco KE control valves to reduce the pressure from the plant's steam distribution main to 3 ± 0.1 bar g before it reaches the oven, regardless of changes in the required flow rate.
The oven, part of a £3-million expansion at the site, cooks ready-to-eat roast chicken, which is bound for the supermarket shelves. To cater for different recipes, the oven has two main roasting zones and several intermediate chambers. Steam humidifies these chambers to keep the chicken moist.
Moy Park has installed a similar oven fitted with Spirax Sarco steam controls in one of its Irish plants and copied that set up because it’s already working so successfully over there, said a company spokesman.
The control valves at the Grantham plant are part of a £17,000 order for Spirax Sarco equipment that also included direct in-line variable srea (DIVA) flowmeters. The meters help to monitor the cost of the roasting process by measuring the steam flow to the oven’s cooking zones.