UNIT 4 POULTRY PROCESSING

Introduction
Poultry The term "poultry" refers to domestic fowl (bird) reared for their flesh, eggs or
feathers and includes chickens, ducks, goose, turkeys, guineas, and pigeons.
Of these, chicken and turkey are most commonly used for their meat.
Composition and Nutritive Value
• Poultry meat has a high protein content varying from 18-25 per cent, and is
comparable in quality and nutritive value to other meats.
• It contains all the essential amino acids required for building body tissues. There is
little fat on the meat of young birds, but the fat content is influenced by age, and
species of poultry.
• In any case, the fat content of poultry is less than half that of other meats. Chicken fat
is more unsaturated than the fat of red meat and this has nutritional advantages. Like
other animal tissues, poultry flesh is a good source of B vitamins and minerals.
• The dark meat of chicken is richer in riboflavin than the light, but the light meat is
richer in niacin. Because of its high protein-to-fat ratio, poultry meat is advantageous
to persons who must restrict the intake of fats.
• Poultry meat is rich in niacin and moderately rich in thiamine, riboflavin and ascorbic
acid. It is a good source of iron and phosphorus. Half of iron in meat is present as
haem iron, which is well absorbed (1 5-20%) compared with only 1 - 10% of iron
from plant food. Also it enhances absorption of iron from other foods. Due to high
biological value and easy digestibility, it is a choice food for aged persons as well as
children.
• The importance of poultry in a country like ours with low nutritional standards cannot
be over-emphasized. Use of poultry products in our diet will help avoid malnutrition.
• Another advantage of poultry in our country is that it is eaten by persons who have
objection to eat beef or pork.
• The cholesterol content of meat and egg is as under:
• Poultry meat. 60-90mg 100gm

Classification
• Chicken are classified into different types depending on the fowl’s (Bird) ability to
produce a product of commercial value, such as egg type, meat type, dual-purpose
type, and miscellaneous type.
 • Meat types are generally large in size with plenty of flesh but they are not good
layers. The meat is tender.
• The dual-purpose type also yields meat of excellent quality alongside a good number
of eggs. Each kind of poultry marketed is classified on the basis of age.
• Age influences tenderness and fat content, and this determines the cooking method.
The classification according to Indian standards are as follows.
 Rooster: A young chicken, usually 3 to 5 months of age, of either sex, tender-meated
with soft, pliable, smooth-textured skin and breastbone cartilage that may be
somewhat less flexible than that of the broiler or fryer.
 Rooster: A young chicken, usually 3 to 5 months of age, of either sex, tender-meated
with soft, pliable, smooth-textured skin and breastbone cartilage that may be
somewhat less flexible than that of the broiler or fryer.
 Stewing chicken or fowl: A mature chicken, usually more than 10 months of age,
with meat less tender than that of a roaster and nonflexible breastbone tip.
 Cock: A mature male chicken, usually over 10 months of age, with coarse skin,
toughened and darkened meat, and hardened breastbone tip. Other forms of poultry
are classified in a similar way.
RECEPTION OF BIRDS
• Before slaughter, birds have to be collected from the farm and prepared for slaughter.
You should discontinue feed at least 6-8 hours before slaughter but at the same time
ample amount of drinking water must be provided.
• Fasting serves to partially empty the digestive tract, requirement to avoid
contamination during dressing. Again, hydration to body improves bleeding and
quality of meat.
• Generally, birds are caught by shanks. They are usually loaded in the coops or crates
at night for transportation from farm to processing plant.
• Care should be taken during keeping the birds in the crates and during unloading them
from the crates to prevent bruises and broken wings. Then birds are weighed. At large
plants, birds are unloaded onto conveyor belts
SLAUGHTER AND DRESSING OF POULTRY
Stunning It is advisable to stun the birds before slaughter for humane reasons and also from
the point of view of quality. Stunning methods are given below:
(a) Electrical shock using a water bath stunner with a voltage range fi-om 60 to 1 10
volts.
(b) (b) Immobilization by carbon dioxide. Generally, stunning by 50 volts AC for 1
minute (electric stunner) is followed.
Stunning speeds up the heart rate which gives a more complete bleeding and the birds
become quiet. The muscles are also relaxed and feather removal is easier.
Killing and Bleeding
 The most convenient method of slaughter is to cut the throat so that jugular veins and
carotid arteries are ruptured to ensure complete bleeding.
 Either Jhatka or Halal method of slaughtering is practiced. The most common method
is 'modified kosher method' where trachea and esophagus are not cut, only jugular
veins are severed just below the jowls.
 In all the cases, bleeding is good if birds are hanged with shackle. Improper bleeding
may lead to following conditions: Lowered keeping quality of carcass. Undesirable
flavours.
 Ugly appearance of the carcass due to blood showing in the capillaries on the breast,
veins on the neck, shoulder, wings and over thighs.
 Entire bid may look reddish even in chilled, frozen and thawed condition.
Scalding
It is a special step in carcass dressing which is followed for bird’s and pigs, not in case of
cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat etc.
Birds are dipped into or sprayed with water at controlled temperature and for specific time.
Scalding apart from facilitating defeathering, improves appearance of skin.
Types of Scalder
a. Spray type- Hot water is sprayed/pouhed over the birds moving on the line. It keeps
the water clean
b. Dip type -Tank type scalder with thermostat control is used. Water is not so clean as
compared to spray type.

Picking Poultry pickers are being extensively used for removing feathers. Ensure that picking
is done immediately after scalding.
You may follow the following methods of picking:
(a) Hand Picking: Tail feathers, wing feathers and body feathers are removed by hand.
(b) Machine Picking: The feathers are removed by mechanical picker. The machine
removes the feathers by abrasion.
(c) Wax Picking: Rough picked bird is coated with hot wax. When the wax is cooled,
feathers are removed. It is not in practice. Pin feathers, hair and foreign materials are
removed cleanly from the skin by wax. It is suitable for ducks and geese.
Singeing
Singeing refers to the removal of hair like feathers (filoplumes) by means of a flame. After
pinning, the hair on the body are removed over a singer on the line or a blowlamp by rotating
the carcass over the flame.
Singeing also causes the destruction of surface microbes and improves appearance and
colour of the carcass

Removal of Head, Oil Gland and Feet

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Evisceration
Birds should be eviscerated as quickly as possible after slaughter on the line while birds are
still warm.
Stationery shackle or a table with stainless steel or metal top is used for reasons of sanitation
in hand dressing. When the birds are eviscerated manually, a cut is made around the vent with
a sharp knife.
The operator holds the carcass firmly in one hand and draws the organs by a drawing tool
placing through the cut.
The inedible viscera or guts i.e. intestines, esophagus, spleen, reproductive organs and lungs
are kept in offal bin.
The liver, heart and gizzard are placed in appropriate trays for further processing. These
three organs are known as giblet.
As the kidneys are hard to remove, they remain inside. A small slit is made on the back of the
neck to remove the crop and trachea. The evisceration is followed by washing and inspection.
The mechanical evisceration followed in modem plant will be discussed under the heading of
automatic plant dressing line.

Washing
After dressing, the carcass should be scrubbed and washed well with fresh, clean water.
Processors wash the carcass at different points but the most common point of washing is
before chilling. Processors may also add chlorine to water as to reduce bacterial load of the
carcass. The edible viscera are also cleaned and washed properly for inspection.

POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION
Internal surfaces of the abdominal cavities, along with the visceral organs are examined and
carcasses with abnormalities are rejected. Inspector must be a veterinarian or a person trained
to do this work.
Birds with following diseases wherein, the entire body system has become affected will have
to be rejected: Tuberculosis, septicaemia, leucosis, tumors, inflammation, toxemia, botulism,
erysipelas, mold infections, fowl cholera, fowl typhoid and paratyphoid, pullonun disease,
coryza, laryngotracheitis, fowl pox, trichomoniasis, black head and coccidiosis etc. If only a
localized area is affected, it may be removed and remainder of the carcass is retained

CHILLING
Fresh Poultry Processing Chilling poultry immediately after processing is an important
requirement for maintaining quality.
 Immersion chilling (wet chilling) Ice chilling is most often used. Chilling tanks or
vats are used for this purpose. Only crushed ice produced from wholesome water or
block-type ice which has been sprayed with clean water and crushed should be used.
Enough clean water and ice is provided in the chilling tank to maintain a temperature
of 2-4OC all the times. The carcasses should be cooled to 4°C or below within 4 hours.
The water used for chilling is chlorinated to minimum level of 50 ppm.
Approximately 2 kg ice is required for cooling of one bird. Normally the carcasses
take 20-30 minutes to cool. Occasionally the carcasses should be moved by hand
through the cooling medium to ensure that no bird is left in the chilling tank for too
long.
 Air chilling (dry chilling) Air chilling is more suitable for fresh dressed chicken and
semi scalded chicken so that the epidermis is left on carcass and discolouration is
avoided. However, industry favours wet chilling due to gain in weight and juiciness.
In dry/air chilled birds, there is some dehydration and dryness. You would be learning
in detail about chilling and freezing of poultry later in the next block.