Poultry chilling, stunning and fixation technology that pays for itself
Dutch specialist in combined water-air chilling, head-only stunning and ODIGOS halal fixation. Higher yield, lower operating costs and better animal welfare, engineered around your line.
Why a specialist
The market for poultry processing equipment is dominated by a handful of full-line suppliers. Size has its limits, especially when it comes to flexibility and responding to the specific needs of an individual plant.
TopKip takes a different position. We focus on a few critical process steps where the right technology makes a measurable difference to yield, cost and welfare, and we do them exceptionally well. As a compact Dutch company, we respond quickly to new market demands and adapt our equipment to your plant, your product and your local regulations.
TopKip supplies key systems that integrate into your existing or new processing line, compatible with all common overhead conveyor systems. We do not build complete slaughterhouses; we make the steps that matter most perform better.
Why TopKip
Fast payback
Higher yield, lower energy and water use and fewer downgraded carcasses mean a short payback time, in some cases just a few months.
Custom built
Every system is engineered around your capacity, layout and product specification, from line speed to available floor space. Modular designs make future capacity changes straightforward.
Animal welfare
With ODIGOS, birds are supported in a holder instead of hanging by their legs in shackles. Available with head-only stunning or for halal slaughter, it sets a new standard for calm, respectful handling.
Combi In-Line Air Chilling System™
Air chilling alone is slow, energy-intensive and costs weight; spin chilling uses large volumes of water. The TopKip Combi In-Line Air Chilling System™ combines the best of both: carcasses pass through counter-current water tanks in-line, on the shackle, before entering the air chiller. The result is faster, more uniform chilling with no weight loss, for lines of up to 15,000 birds per hour.
Higher yield and product value
- No weight loss during chilling. Conventional air chilling can cost up to 1.5% of carcass weight.
- Controllable moisture pick-up from 0% up to 8%, set to your market and regulations.
- Improved cut-up yield compared with both spin-chilled and air-chilled product.
- Flexible, unfrozen skin: cut-up machinery performs better and downgrades are reduced.
Lower operating costs
- Up to 50% faster chilling than air chilling alone: carcasses reach 4 °C in about 67 minutes instead of around 100 (1.5 kg carcass; depends on carcass weight).
- Up to 45% lower energy use; the air chiller can run at around 0 °C.
- Up to 95% less process water than spin chilling, with matching savings on effluent treatment.
- No water spray needed in the air chiller, and less moisture in the chilling room.
Food safety and easy integration
- Faster cooling stops microbial growth sooner and improves shelf life.
- Hygienic counter-current water flow, meeting EU Regulation (EC) 853/2004.
- Fully in-line: no manual handling, less labour, full traceability.
- Tanks often fit at floor level beneath existing air-chill lines; modular 3-metre sections grow with your plant.
- Proven principle, with more than 75 systems installed worldwide.
Why the Combi Chiller pays back fast
The Combi Chiller earns its money every hour the line runs. The largest driver is yield: weight that is no longer lost in the air chiller is product you can sell. An illustrative example:
- Line speed 10,000 birds per hour at 1.5 kg eviscerated weight: 15,000 kg per hour.
- Yield improvement of 1.5%: 225 kg of extra saleable product per hour.
- At €2.50 per kg: around €560 per hour.
- Over 3,000 operating hours: around €1.7 million additional revenue per year.
Proven in practice. In a 2025 customer trial in Morocco, Combi-chilled carcasses showed a 2.2% higher yield than the control group, with no difference in colour, odour or texture. At a plant in Turkey running 11,300 birds per hour, carcass weight in and out of the chiller was virtually identical, and the Dutch inspection body CPE has granted a Combi-equipped plant the status of an air-chilling process.
This is before savings on energy, water, effluent and labour, and before the value of better cut-up yield and longer shelf life. The result is a short payback time, in some cases as little as a few months. Send us your line speed, bird weight and current chilling set-up, and we will calculate the payback for your situation.
ODIGOS Head-Only Stunner
ODIGOS is available in two versions. Both support every live bird in a holder instead of hanging it by its legs in the shackles. The ODIGOS Head-Only Stunner adds a stunning unit that stuns only the bird’s head. Each bird is secured and stunned through a head sensor; the current is set by the measured resistance of that individual bird’s head, so every bird receives exactly what it needs: no more, no less.
- Quick, effective stunning without unnecessary stress.
- Individual current control instead of one setting for a whole water bath.
- Body supported in a holder, not hanging by its legs.
- Consistent results for both animal welfare and carcass quality.
- Stunning monitored per bird and per second, with data logged for the plant veterinarian; an LED signal flags any bird that is not fully stunned.
- Independent research by Wageningen University & Research: 80% of fillets free of blood splashes with head-only stunning, against 16% after a conventional water bath.
Quality by design. Optimum machine speed and product safety are our highest priorities when developing new equipment. Used correctly, TopKip systems help processors deliver chicken products of premium quality, and give consumers the confidence that comes with it.
ODIGOS Ritual (halal)
The ODIGOS Ritual has no stunning unit. It is designed for halal slaughter: each live bird is supported in a holder, calm and in a stable position for the ritual cut.
- For the animal: supported throughout, with far less struggling and wing flapping.
- For your product: up to 70% less carcass damage, including broken wings, bruises and dislocations. More A-grade product and a higher value per bird.
- For halal compliance: a correctly positioned bird lets the slaughterman perform the cut accurately and consistently, every time.
Planning a new line or upgrading your chilling, stunning or fixation?
Tell us your line speed, bird weight and current set-up, and we will propose a configuration and a payback calculation for your plant.
TopKip B.V. · Bombay 14 · NL-9866 TR Lutjegast · The Netherlands
T +31 88 134 8000 · M +31 6 5052 6500 · info@topkip.com
