Gaseous fluid stream treatment unit for treating a meat product cut into slices

A gaseous fluid stream treatment unit for treating a meat product cut into slices, comprising:

• an enclosure having a tray inlet and a tray outlet;
• a conveyor device conveying trays loaded with slices of said meat product from said tray inlet to said tray outlet inside said enclosure;
• and
• a gaseous fluid circulation device circulating a treatment gaseous fluid stream through the inside of said the enclosure and around said slices while the trays are conveyed by said conveyor device for a certain time to reduce the moisture content of the slices to a predetermined level;
• wherein the conveyor device comprises:
• at least two upward vertical translation sections and at least two downward vertical translation sections, wherein each of the at least two upward vertical translation sections is adjacent to a downward vertical translation section of the at least two downward vertical translations and conveying the trays in alternating upward and downward vertical directions;
• at least one horizontal translation section transferring the trays from a final end of one of said upward or downward vertical translation sections to an initial end of the next downward or upward vertical translation section;
• roller chains provided with side projections supporting the trays on opposite sides thereof in each upward vertical translation section and each downward vertical translation section, wherein said roller chains have vertical sections arranged at the sides of the upward and downward vertical translation sections, and wherein two adjacent upward and downward vertical translation sections of the conveyor device share at least one of said roller chains;
• a tray annexation conveyor which introduces the trays to be added one by one up to an annexation position associated with the initial end of the upward vertical translation section;
• and
• a tray removal conveyor which extracts the trays to be extracted one by one from a removal position associated with the final end of the downward vertical translation section;
• and
• wherein the gaseous fluid circulation device comprises:
• at least one gaseous fluid inlet and at least one gaseous fluid outlet located at two opposite longitudinal ends of the enclosure said gaseous fluid stream to circulate inside the enclosure in a horizontal direction from said gaseous fluid inlet to said gaseous fluid outlet consecutively traversing the alternate upward and downward vertical translation sections of the conveyor device.