Poultry Improvement Project

1. Poultry Improvement Project Killing and Dressing Poultry

2. Why Process? • To prepare a product suitable for human consumption. • To preserve the meat for future use. • To increase consumption by changing the form and use of the meat carcass. • Fresh or fresh-frozen: raw halves, quarters and parts, etc.

3. Further Processed: • Deboned to make roasts, pies, chicken a-la-king, TV dinners, baby food, etc. • Pre-cooked and usually breaded and deep fat fried, this type of processed product is becoming increasingly popular with institutional and rapid-use food service installations where labor costs are of major concern in preparing foods.

4. Sanitation • Personal hygiene is every bit as important as the general sanitation level of the plant and equipment. In poultry processing plants the workers must observe the following basic personal hygiene standards by law: • Garments, hands, and fingernails shall be clean at all times while handling poultry. In addition, caps, hairnets, or other suitable head coverings must be worn to prevent hair from falling into poultry products.

5. Any person with infected cuts, boils, or open sores on their hands cannot handle poultry or poultry products. • Every person shall wash his hands thoroughly after each use of the toilet or change of garments. • The use of tobacco, eating of food, or other objectionable personal habits are not permitted where dressed poultry or poultry products are being prepared, processed, or handled. • No earrings, wrist watches, broaches, or high crowned rings shall be worn by employees in processing rooms.

6. Processing Procedure • Modern poultry processing plants will process as high as 9,000 to 10,000 broilers per hour. The weight, physical dimensions, and health of the flock of birds being processed, and the processing line speed as determined by government inspectors (to assure adequate examination of each carcass by the inspector) determine the rate.

7. Poultry Inspection • Requires all poultry and poultry products to be inspected on a continuous basis for wholesomeness by the U.S. department of Agriculture Inspectors unless the state involved has an inspection system equal to that of the U.S.D.A. Consumer Market Service.

8. Exemptions • Are provided for intrastate processors processing less than 20,000 chicken. • Growers who produce no more than 250 chickens are completely exempt from the law. • However, the importance of inspection procedures cannot be emphasized too much.

9. Sanitation Practices • Stunning-although not mandatory, most processing plants use electric shock to prevent the poultry from struggling and to provide for humane slaughter. • Stunning causes the bird to become rigid, thus providing easier handling and less bruising from struggling and flopping while hanging on the shackles.

10. Killing • The prime concern of killing is to produce satisfactory bleeding. • If complete bleeding doesn’t occur, the carcass will have a light red to deep cherry skin color and will be condemned. • The birds should be completely bled (about 60-90 seconds) before going to the scalder.

11. Outside Method • This is the method you will see at the contest. • It is the best method for bleeding. • The knife is placed next to the head(stunning). • Then a cut is placed under the mandible.