Size chilling, holding and freezing rooms for meat
For abattoirs, cutting plants and meat distributors: room volume, rail metres or pallet positions, refrigeration duty including carcass pull-down, and an indicative CAPEX range.
Abattoir cold rooms are usually quoted with rails, doors and hygiene finishes — start an RFQ or review financing routes.
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Meat cold rooms are sized by product form: carcasses on rail store at 170–220 kg/m³ and need overhead rail metres (roughly 300–320 kg of beef or 170 kg of lamb per rail metre), while boxed cuts store at 400–430 kg/m³ on pallets. Carcass chilling rooms carry the highest duty — about 45 W/m³ plus pull-down load from +38 °C to +4 °C over 18–24 hours — versus 22 W/m³ for chilled holding and 26–30 W/m³ for frozen stores.
Frequently asked questions
How big should a meat chilling room be?
Take daily kill weight times days held, divide by 170–220 kg/m³ for carcasses, then divide by 0.40 utilisation to allow rail spacing and airflow.
What is the chilling load for carcasses?
Product load dominates: mass times specific heat (about 3.2 kJ/kgK) times the temperature drop, spread over an 18–24 hour cycle, plus envelope and fan gains.
How much overhead rail is needed?
About one metre of rail per 300–320 kg of beef or per 170 kg of lamb, with 0.9–1.1 m spacing between rails.
Meat cold room sizing: buyer questions
- How do I size a meat chilling and cold room?
- Size from daily carcass or boxed throughput, hanging rail metres or pallet positions, chilling time and hold days. Carcass chilling needs high air velocity and dedicated pull-down duty; frozen storage is sized separately from average hold tonnage.
- What temperatures does a meat facility need?
- Carcass chilling to a +7 °C core (poultry +4 °C), deboning rooms at +10 to +12 °C, chilled storage at 0 to +2 °C, blast freezing to a −18 °C core and frozen storage at −18 °C or colder.
- What hygiene and compliance items affect cost?
- Food-grade panels and coving, drainage falls, stainless doors and rails, washdown-rated evaporators and HACCP or export-abattoir documentation. Export approval requirements typically add 10–20% to fit-out cost and should be stated in the RFQ.
- What happens after I submit the sizing?
- ColdMatch converts it into a structured RFQ and routes it to suppliers with meat and abattoir references, so quotes cover the same rooms, duty and hygiene scope.
Indicative planning figures only — final sizing belongs to the supplier's detailed design. Request comparable supplier quotes · all cold chain tools
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