English 
Zhengfeng Road, Licheng District, Jinan City, Shandong Province,China
Author: Alex Song Publish Time: 2026-10-01 Origin: Site
A halal patty and nugget line has been built, tested and prepared for shipment to a food processor in Uzbekistan — a line that takes chicken, beef and lamb through forming, predusting, battering, breading and frying, and then hands the finished product to an automatic tray arranging system instead of to an operator with a tray.
The order was placed after the customer compared four Chinese suppliers. What decided it was not a single machine: it was the ability of the MF400 former to run three proteins with quick mould changes, the amount of the coating line that could be configured to their product shapes, and the engineering work that went into matching every module to the same belt width.
Stage | Model | Key specification |
|---|---|---|
Forming | MF400 | 200–600 kg/h protein-dependent · ±2 g accuracy · 150 L hopper · SUS304 |
Predust (flouring) | FLU400 | 400 mm belt · 3–15 m/min · 2.17 kW · infeed 1,050 mm / discharge 850 mm |
Batter | 400 mm batter applicator | 400 mm belt · 3–15 m/min · 2.17 kW · top-submerge coating |
Breading | 400 mm breading machine | 400 mm belt · 3–15 m/min · 2.6 kW · 2,638 × 856 × 2,280 mm |
Frying | 8.5 m continuous fryer | 8.5 m frying length · heating configuration set to the plant's supply |
Tray arranging | Automatic tray arranging system | Indexes formed product into trays and releases them toward the freezer |
Every module upstream of the fryer runs a 400 mm belt, and the modules are set to a common infeed and discharge height so they bolt together as one straight run rather than needing adapters between stages. That matters more than it sounds: on a coating line, a product that has to be lifted or re-laid between machines loses coating on the way, and the dwell time between predust and batter stops being predictable.
The MF400 forming machine is the reason this line can run a mixed portfolio of halal chicken, beef and lamb products without stopping for a dedicated machine per protein.
Its filling behaviour adapts to the product: pressure, stroke and speed are adjusted per protein profile, which is what lets a chicken emulsion and a firmer beef mix leave the same former at consistent weight. Rated capacity is 200–600 kg/h depending on the protein — chicken runs at the lower end (200–300 kg/h) because poultry texture needs a gentler filling speed, while beef runs higher (400–600 kg/h). Portion accuracy is held at ±2 g across all of them.
Two design details decide how a plant like this actually operates:
Quick-change moulds. Product shape is set by the mould, and once the plates are engaged the same former produces rectangular chicken nuggets, round patties, fish-style fingers or onion rings in the 6–40 mm thickness range the coating stages are set up for. Changeover between shapes is a mould swap, not a re-commissioning.
A 150 L hopper. On a multi-protein line, hopper volume and the clean-out between runs are what limit how many recipes a shift can carry; a temperature-maintaining jacketed hopper is available where the mix must be held at temperature.
Because every product-contact part is stainless steel and the mould set is removable, changing from a chicken recipe to a beef or lamb one is a clean-in-place cycle rather than a rebuild — the practical basis for producing halal ranges on one line.
The coating stages are bought as a set, because they only work as a set.
The FLU400 preduster applies the dry flour layer that batter and crumb actually bond to. It uses a flour curtain drop with air-assisted circulation, so the underside of the product is coated as evenly as the top. Flour is circulated and recycled inside the machine, and belt speed is adjustable from 3–15 m/min by variable frequency drive.
The batter applicator uses a top-submerge coating system with adjustable submerge height, so products of different thicknesses are fully wetted without being pressed through a fixed gap. Its belt speed range and 1,050 ± 50 mm infeed height are the same as the preduster's, and its discharge height is adjustable between 800 and 1,100 mm to line up with the breading module.
The breading machine applies the crumb layer with a gentle crumb circulation that keeps the coating intact on formed product, which is softer than a cut strip of meat. Running at 3–15 m/min on the same 400 mm belt, it discharges at 1,050 ± 50 mm into the fryer infeed.
The modules also run independently: a crumb route adds the breading stage, a flour-only route bypasses batter and crumb without a rebuild.
The frying stage is a single continuous fryer with an 8.5 m frying length. Length is the dial that sets dwell time on a continuous fryer — with belt speed fixed by the product recipe, the immersion length decides how long each piece is in the oil, and 8.5 m gives the dwell range needed for coated formed products at this line's throughput.
The heating configuration for this unit is set to the customer's site supply, and the fryer platform itself is built around the same control and cleaning principles TINDO applies across the range: PID temperature control with an accuracy band of ±1 °C, an oil circulation system that keeps temperature even from the infeed end to the discharge end, a built-in filtration and impurity removal system that works while frying continues, and a mechanical lifting system that raises the conveyor for access to the tank bottom.
On a formed-product line, in-line filtration is not a refinement — it is what keeps colour and dwell from drifting as the oil loads up with crumb and coating fragments through a long production run.
This is the module that changed the shape of the customer's process, and it is the part most plants still do by hand.
After frying, formed products — patties and nuggets alike — are indexed into trays automatically and released toward the freezing room, instead of being counted and hand-placed by operators at the fryer discharge. Three things follow:
Consistent counts per tray. The same number of pieces in the same pattern every cycle, so tray weights and freeze times stay uniform across a shift rather than varying with who is loading.
Less handling damage. Product goes from the fryer conveyor into the tray once; every manual transfer of a freshly fried, coated piece risks knocking crumb off or deforming the shape.
Labour off the hot end. Tray loading is typically the highest-turnover manual job on a coated-product line — repetitive, and next to a fryer.
The system works directly off the MF400's output formats, which is why it was ordered with the former rather than as an afterthought.
The plant already had a small forming and coating line, and it worked — it just could not keep up. Volume triggered the project, but the specification went further: one line for chicken, beef and lamb, in rectangular nugget and round patty formats, without a dedicated machine per recipe.
That combination is what puts the 400 mm module set and the MF400's mould and filling flexibility at the centre of the design.
The customer evaluated four Chinese suppliers before placing it, and the deciding factors were the ones that only show up after installation: stainless construction and component specification across every module rather than only the headline machine; whether the supplier could hold one belt width and matched transfer heights across the whole line; and how far the moulds, product formats and the tray arranging system could be built around their own shapes. Those are the same questions the nuggets processing line range is specified against — and the reason this order became a line rather than a machine.
Q: Can one forming line really run chicken, beef and lamb? A: Yes. The MF400 adapts filling pressure, stroke and speed to each protein profile, holding ±2 g across all of them. Capacity varies by protein — 200–300 kg/h on chicken, 400–600 kg/h on beef — because poultry needs a gentler filling speed. Mould swaps between shapes take minutes.
Q: What is a tray arranging system, and do we need one? A: It is the module between the fryer discharge and the freezing room: it indexes formed product into trays in a fixed pattern. Plants need one when trays are filled by hand — it standardises piece counts per tray and removes a handling step from hot, fragile product.
Q: Why is the whole coating line on a 400 mm belt? A: Because the line runs as one continuous flow. One belt width and matched transfer heights from the former through preduster, batter, breading and fryer remove manual transfers and keep coating dwell times predictable.
Q: How is the coating line adjusted for different products? A: Belt speeds on the preduster, batter and breading modules adjust independently from 3–15 m/min by variable frequency drive, the batter applicator's submerge height adjusts for product thickness, and the fryer's temperature, dwell and conveyor speed are set per recipe.
Q: Does the line suit halal production? A: The line is configured for it: no pork enters the process, product-contact surfaces are stainless steel, and moulds and coating modules are removable for cleaning between recipes. If your customers require a halal certificate or declaration, tell us which standard is audited and the documentation set is prepared against it at order stage.
Q: How long does it take to move a line like this from order to shipment? A: Every TINDO line is built to order; the schedule follows the mould set and the customised modules, so your product shapes are the parts to fix first. Send your shapes, protein mix and target output per shift and the configuration follows.
Four inputs decide a line like this one, and they are worth fixing before any module is quoted: the protein mix and product shapes, which set the former's moulds and filling profiles; the target output per shift, which sets belt width and coating stages; the thermal process your product needs, which sets frying length; and what happens after the fryer, which decides whether a tray arranging system belongs in the project.
Bring those four, and the specification — former, coating modules, an 8.5 m fryer and automatic tray arranging — is set against your product rather than against a stock list. To size a halal patty and nugget line with automatic tray arranging for your plant, talk to our engineers here.
