Plant for drying and ripening food products and method for transferring such products within said plant

A plant for drying and maturing foodstuffs, comprising:

• input conveyor means to convey trays loaded with portions of a foodstuff;
• a processing chamber with conditioning means to create modified atmospheric conditions inside it, said processing chamber having an input gate device, an output gate device and an inner conveying device for conveying trays from said input gate device to said output gate device along a route inside the processing chamber, said input gate device comprising an input regulating chamber, an outer input gate between said input regulating chamber and the outside, and an inner input gate arranged between the input regulating chamber and the inside of the processing chamber, drive means to alternately open and close said outer and inner input gates such that, at any time, at least one of them is closed, and regulating means operable to match the atmospheric conditions inside the input regulating chamber to the outside atmospheric conditions before the outer input gate is opened and to the modified atmospheric conditions inside the processing chamber before the inner input gate is opened;
• and
• input transfer means configured to introduce said trays from said input conveyor means into the processing chamber through the input gate device,
• characterised in that said input transfer means comprise:
• an input stacking device arranged before the input regulating chamber to form stacks of a predetermined number of trays with the trays coming from the input conveyor means;
• an input unstacking device arranged after the input regulating chamber inside the processing chamber to unstack stacks of trays and deliver the trays individually to said inner conveying device;
• and
• an input transfer device arranged to transfer each of said stacks of trays from said input stacking device to the input regulating chamber when the outer input gate is open, to keep each stack of trays in the input regulating chamber with the outer and inner input gates closed long enough to allow for matching the atmospheric conditions inside the input regulating chamber to the modified atmospheric conditions inside the processing chamber, and to transfer each stack of trays from the input regulating chamber to said input unstacking device when the inner input gate is open.