Thor Ice Chilling Solutions, supplier of unique cooling solutions for food processing, is pleased to announce the official closing of its Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) project selectively co-funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. The goal of the project, which was named “Decontamination with Ice” (acronym: “ChillBact”), was to fine-tune Thor Ice’s technology and scale it up for use in commercial plants and assess its efficiency in chilling and reducing the number of Campylobacter cases.

In Europe every year, it is estimated that more than 9 million people are being infected with Campylobacter or other food bacteria. By chilling down the bird’s core temperature to a lower level, it has shown promising results as a highly efficient chilling method and as a method for dramatic reduction of Campylobacter. The IceGun® solution was installed in one of the largest poultry factory in Europe, Volailles de Keranna (VDK), a participant in the ChillBact project. The IceGun® technology was bolted onto the existing lines in the air-chiller. Extensive tests and analyses were done in poultry factories located in both Iceland and France.