Farming - processing

Print this page

The first lorry from the farms usually arrives just before the plant begins operating to ensure the birds are not kept waiting in the transport modules. The modules are taken into a large area equipped with cooling fans to keep the birds at a comfortable temperature while unloading. Here the birds' health and welfare are inspected by the Official Veterinary Surgeon from the Government's Meat Hygiene Service. The module drawers are conveyed the short distance to the hanging-on bay where in subdued lighting the birds are lifted out of the trays and hung upside down in specially designed shackles on a moving chain.

Within a minute or two the birds are stunned unconscious and killed. The carcass of the dead bird is dipped into a scald tank of hot water, which helps to loosen the feathers. Still in the shackle, the carcass moved in to the mechanical plucking machines where revolving rubber fingers remove all the feathers. The feathers are continuously carried away by a water flume.

The head is removed and then an eviscerating machine removes the intestines and internal organs. Both the carcass and the viscera of every bird are examined by an independent qualified inspector to check for any signs of disease or any other condition that might present any risk to human health. Any suspect carcasses are rejected. The carcasses are thoroughly washed using potable water and chilled down to 4°C by cold air jets or cold water sprays.

A period of maturation, usually eight to ten hours for chickens, ensures the meat is properly tender. Carcasses are weighed on the shackles and automatically deposited in bins by size categories for trussing and bagging for eventual sale as whole oven ready birds. More and more birds are now being cut into portions to meet the demands of consumers for convenience and value for money. Portioning may be done by hand or by cleverly designed automatic portioning machinery that has the advantage of removing contact with the carcass and of speed. The portions move along conveyors to be examined and packed into the familiar plastic trays seen in supermarket chiller cabinets.

The individual packs are passed through a scanning machine to ensure there are no accidental bone or metal fragments which could be a danger to consumers. They are weighed, priced and labelled for the particular retail customer for whom the order is intended. In the UK most poultry is sold through supermarkets under the supermarkets' own label. There are only a few poultry processors who market under their own brand.

The wrapped packs are boxed and kept in cold-stores attached to the processing plants until despatch in refrigerated lorries to the retail customer or to wholesale markets.

Kievs, nuggets, goujons, breaded products, ready meals and similar poultry meat products are increasingly popular with the British public and these further processed products are also made in poultry processing plants under the strictest hygiene conditions.