24 Poultry Processingand Products

Primary and further processing of poultry is a multibillion dollar industry in the US. The majority of poultry raised and commercially processed in the US is composed of chickens, turkeys, and ducks, with more than 9 billion birds processed in 2010 (Table 24.1). Total retail product weight exceeded 58 billion pounds, with an estimated retail value of $100 billion. The general process of turning live birds into meat is similar for all three species, but details of the process can be distinctly different for specific steps. Differences are due to bird size and physiology differences, requiring unique equipment and species-specific methods. Poultry meat is further processed into many forms as a result of customer and consumer demands that developed in the 1980s (Figure 24.1). The industry was able to respond to this demand since the profit margins were higher for further processed items than for raw whole carcasses or parts. Also, equipment had been developed to automate further processing and packaging on a large scale, and otherwise defective whole carcasses not marketable as raw Grade A could be further processed and sold as value-added. Since the vast majority of poultry meat is represented by broiler chickens, the following sections will describe broiler processing. Two further sections will address differences specific to turkey and duck processing. The basic steps of broiler chicken processing are shown in Box 24.1. The processing plant is divided into a slaughter area, a separate evisceration area, a chilling area, and, depending on the products produced, further processing areas. In addition to the processing areas, plants contain employee areas such as locker rooms, breakrooms, and restrooms; office areas for management and a separate space for USDA employees; accessory areas such as coolers, shipping and receiving docks, warehouse storage, maintenance and repair, and box making; and waste (offal) and waste water processing. The commonality among plants is that live birds are processed or further processed into food, but any individual plant is uniquely different from any other plant.