The outside air contains many contaminants that, if allowed to land on a food item, can cause serious health risks. Mold, yeast and coliform bacteria are chief among these concerns.
“The outside world is full of microorganisms,” says Jim McConnell, plant manager for the Odom’s Tennessee Pride processing facility in Little Rock, Ark, “so you do the best you can to make sure you’re minimizing the influence of that inside the plant through the air system with refrigeration and filtration.”