Stacked Trays and Still Air: Why the Bottom Tray Thaws Four Hours Late

Six trays of 20 kg beef forequarter, stacked directly on top of each other in a 2 °C chiller with the fans running, should reach 0 to 2 °C core in about 22 hours. In one plant they took 26 at the top of the stack and 31 at the bottom. The room was at temperature, the probe was calibrated, an…