Chilling and freezing tunnels are another innovation that was pioneered by Milmeq in the 1970s. Today we supply custom-designed automatic tunnels to the meat, poultry, dairy, seafood and horticulture industries.

MILMEQ® Chilling and Freezing Tunnels employ an air blast based system that provides uniformed conditioning to either chill or freeze product. Application of very low temperatures in a controlled environment enables a fast chill or freeze; typical cycle times range from two to 48 hours.

Interfacing conveyor systems provide completely automatic, hands-free loading and unloading of product, precisely timed to achieve the desired temperature. Eliminating manual handling preserves product quality and reduces the incidence of injury through strain.

The integrated controls and automation designed for each system application allows for operator changes to the set retention time. The controls also deliver complete tracking of all product within the system.

Tunnels can be designed to operate with a variety of refrigerants depending on customer specifications and desired cycle times, in order to integrate with other process flows within the facility.

Our tunnels come in two distinct designs: the MILMEQ® Single Retention Time (SRT) Tunnel and the MILMEQ® Multiple Retention Time (MRT) Tunnel. Follow the links below to learn more about each of these.

The MILMEQ® Single Retention Time (SRT) Tunnel is designed to accommodate varying product types and carton sizes that all require the same chill or freeze time.

The SRT can be designed to either chill or freeze product. The single retention time, the enclosure temperature and air velocity will be calculated depending on the temperature of product entering the system and the desired temperature for exit.

The SRT tunnel is a first in, first out system which means all cartons complete a full rotation within the system. The carton in feed and out feed conveyors are therefore positioned at one end.

These interfacing materials handling systems can feature multiple levels to decrease the load and unload times.

The SRT tunnel is suited to high throughput of products within food processing operations that require the same conditioning.

The MILMEQ® Multiple Retention Time (MRT) Tunnel is designed to accommodate varying product types and carton sizes that require different chill or freeze times.

It is a completely automatic air blast based system that provides flexibility to apply different cooling regimes for different groups of product.

Shelves within the system are allocated different retention times and the interfacing conveyors pre-sort and accumulate product types allowing transfer onto a designated shelf depending on the product retention time.

MRT tunnels are used for chilling or freezing and under some circumstances can do both in the same tunnel.

The shelves move at different paces and the in-feed and out-feed carton conveyor transfers are typically placed at both ends of the tunnel.

The MRT tunnel is suited to food processing operations that have a range of products that each require different conditioning.