1. Hog Processing

2. Objectives • Describe the process to harvest a hog • Describe the process to harvest a chicken

3. Important Terms • Exsanguinate – to bleed • Eviscerate – Removing the viscera • Pluck – trachea, lungs, heart, and esophagus • DFD – Dark, Firm, and Dry • PSE – Pale, Soft, Exudative

4. Weigh and Stun • Record a live weight for the animal • Guide the animal into the stunning chute and administer an electrical shock to the brain. • The shock induces a seizure • The animal will still move and the heart will beat, but the animal will be unconscious

5. Shackle and Stick • Shackle the hogs hind legs and suspend the animal • Insert the knife between the tip of the sternum and the throatlatch • Dip the knife until it contacts the backbone • The slit must remain small to prevent water from entering the body during the scalding process

6. Scald and Dehair • Scald the hog for 3 minutes to loosen the hair • Remove the hair by use of the dehair machine, manually, singeing with a flame, and shaving the hog

7. Head Removal • Split the sternum with the knife, do not cut the stomach • Cut off the head, leave the jowls on the head

8. Evisceration • To remove the bung, begin by cutting around the anus, disconnecting it from the rest of the body, but leaving it attatched to the intestine • Tie off the bung and push it inside the body cavity • Split the abdominal cavity and diaphragm • The organs will fall forward into the catch bucket • Remove the pluck • Remove leaf fat (kidney fat)

9. Splitting • Split the ham and the aitch bone (pubic symphysis) • Use the saw to split through the vertebral column, leave a tag of skin at the neck to connect the two halves of the carcasses • Visually inspect the carcass and then wash • Weight the carcass • Spray with organic acid, then move to the blast cooler

10. Review • What is the pluck? • What is the bung? • List the steps to slaughter a hog

11. Chicken Processing

12. To render the animal unconscious, poke the knife through the palate of the chicken’s mouth and puncture the brain • Slit the throat, but leave the head attached • Allow the animal to bleed out

13. Place the animal in a scalding vat • Then put the chicken in the defeatheringmaching • Take the chicken to the processing table and continue to remove the remaining feathers • Remove the feet and head • Cut out a large area around the vent, between the tail and the sternum

14. Reach into the body cavity and scrape out the organs • Rinse the body cavity of blood and remaining tissue • Chill the chicken in water, then remove to the freezer

15. Objectives • Describe the process to harvest a hog • Describe the process to harvest a chicken

16. Review • How do you render a chicken unconscious? • How do we chill chickens? • What do we do to remove the feathers?