Patent ID: 7470173

Claim:
A post chill decontamination tank assembly for positioning at a carcass discharge end of a poultry chiller that has a liquid capacity for chilling poultry carcasses and for containing a liquid solution of water and chemicals in a chemical concentration for reducing the contamination of the poultry carcasses as the poultry carcasses pass through the chiller, said post chill decontamination tank assembly comprising: a tank for receiving the poultry carcasses from the poultry chiller, said tank including an upright entrance wall, an upright exit wall opposed to said entrance wall, and a semicylindrical perimeter wall extending between said entrance wall and said exit wall and defining a chamber for containing a decontamination solution, said chamber having a smaller liquid capacity than the liquid capacity of said poultry chiller for containing the decontamination solution, said decontamination solution having a different composition than the liquid solution in the chiller such that the decontamination solution in said chamber has more rapid antimicrobial effect than the liquid solution in said chiller for further reducing the microbial contamination on the surfaces of the poultry carcasses, said tank including an upwardly positioned opening, an entrance space in said chamber adjacent said entrance wall and below said opening for receiving poultry carcasses from the poultry chiller into the chamber, and a discharge space in said chamber adjacent said exit wall, a paddle assembly including a plurality of paddles mounted in said discharge space about a central axis and extending adjacent said exit wall and positioned at different angles about the central axis, power means connected to said paddle assembly for revolving said plurality of paddles in unison about the central axis in said tank, said paddles each including a wiping edge adjacent the exit wall of said tank and a face sloped away from the wiping edge toward the entrance wall of said tank and configured for gathering poultry carcasses against the exit wall and lifting the poultry carcasses through the decontamination solution and out of the tank as the plurality of paddles revolve in said tank.