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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PASTURED POULTRY PROCESSING
As you begin planning your processing operation, obtain the advice of your local inspector. Requirements vary from one geographic area to another. By obtaining the blessing of your local inspector, you can often save time and expense.
KILLING/BLEEDING
When killing the bird, it is best to cut the carotid artery, not the windpipe. This allows the bird to bleed more easily and minimizes shock. A properly bled bird will have little or no blood around the bone or joint. Do not cut the head off as the bird is bled. This will result in an undesirable appearance. The head should be removed during the evisceration process. Estimate bleeding time at about 1 minute and 15 seconds.
SCALD & PICK
After birds are bled, they should be scalded then picked as soon as they can be added into your picker. SCALD AND
PICK WITHOUT DELAY. The scald is the key a good pick. When analyzing damaged birds, please note. If bird shows a bruise, the bruise happened before the bird was killed or during death shudder. A bled bird will not bruise. The darker the bruise the older the injury. If a broken bone has blood around it, the breakage occurred while the bird was alive. The darker the blood, the older the injury. Pick only long enough to pull feathers. Extending pick risks skin tearing. Excessive skin tearing in the breast and inner thigh are signs scald is too hot or to long. Fatty tissue under skin should not liquefy. If fat breakdown occurs, scald is too hot. To check if scalded long enough, tail feathers should pull out easily.
Recommended Scalding Temp
Broilers 1¼ minute @143 ° F (63° C)
Quail 30 seconds @ 127° F (53° C)
Duck 1 minute @ 155° F (68° C)
Recommended Picking Time
Broilers 25-30 seconds
When processing turkeys, hand strip heavy wing and tail feathers before picking. If when picking, it is apparent that the birds are not sufficiently scalded, we recommend longer scald, not a higher temperature. With practice, you can achieve a yellow skin if desired. A bird has two skins. The outer yellow skin is usually loosened in the scald. However, if you drop the scald temperature to 127 degrees F (53 degrees C), the outer yellow skin should remain in place. Scald for the same length of time, just drop the temperature.
**On our smaller poultry pickers remove the head, feet
and heavy wing and tail feathers before picking.**
EVISCERATION (GUTTING)
Position a barrel near the eviscerating table to collect the feet and offal. Remove the feet by cutting at the knee joint. Pull the head off to avoid leaving bone shards on the bird. This should be done before birds are hung on the eviscerating shackle (if used). Hold the bird on the table with the head end facing away from you breast facing up. At the front of the bird pinch the skin near the base of the neck. With a sharp knife make a slit in the skin and peel away the skin from the flesh. Find the crop, esophagus and windpipe. Pull these away from the skin and flesh. Cut them loose from the head end leaving them intact with the body end of the bird. Turn the bird around with the head facing you. Then cut the oil sack above the tail. Make a slice across the belly of the bird on the side opposite the oil gland. Open the tail and remove the vent. Then draw entails and remove the crop. When drawing entrails, contamination can result if the operation is improperly performed. Care must be taken to pull out the intestines without tearing them. Later trim the heart and liver. Do not pinch the gall off the liver. Cut it off with the shears. If the gall is broken, the liver or other meat that comes into contact with the bile can be contaminated. You can remove the sack around the heart with your fingers. Trim, split and wash gizzards. Use shears for trimming and opening, a hacksaw blade also works well to split pen gizzards. Remove lungs from the birds. Then remove any interior body parts left from evisceration, do a complete carcass wash and place into 1st chill tank.
CHILLING
Chilling is necessary to reduce pathogen development. Chilling by itself will not reduce pathogens. Birds need to be thoroughly washed as well. Birds need to be chilled to below 40 degrees F within 4 hours of death. Maintenance of the birds at this temperature can give shelf life of 7-10 days. The inside of the carcass should be chilled to this temperature. Cubed, diced, flaked or shaved ice works better than large ice hunks. The amount of ice depends on the ratio of ice to water and also depends on the temperature of the room where chilling is performed. For chilling, use about 1½ pounds to 1¾ pounds of ice per bird. This is where the water in your chill tank is about 35 degrees F and where room temperature is 68-77 degrees F.
DO NOT BAG A BIRD UNTIL IT IS PROPERLY CHILLED
PACKAGING BIRDS
Birds should not be bagged fresh out of the ice water. Let the birds drain on a table, shackle, or rack before bagging. The customer is paying for meat not water, besides the fluid in the bag will distract from your quality product. Slip in labels work very well. They need to be made out of FDA - USDA approved material. Stick on labels are some times hard to work with. The bag has to be dry before applying. They also wrinkle as you apply them. A customer recently called discussing a bagging rack consisting of a horizontal 2 x 6 wood base with 10 - 1/2” PVC pipes (or as many as you like) approximately 12” long spaced about 8” apart, pointing up horizontally
(see below). You place a bird on each pipe head up allowing them to drain. Then come back and slip a bag over them keeping the bag dry. (Hook up your shop-vac to a nozzle to evacuate the air in the bag.) Tie or tape the bag and move on. Don’t forget to push the legs up on the bird or cut a hole in the flap of skin and hook legs to make the bird look more enticing. Another thought is to talk to the local ice man. if you have an empty freezer, have him fill it with bagged ice. Offer the ice to your customer for “x” amount of money per bag. Arrange to have the ice man pick up remaining bags of ice. It saves the customer the hassle of stopping and getting ice on the way home. It also helps assure you the customer has a safe chilled chicken until they get home, as well as off setting your ice cost for a properly chill product.
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American Pastured Poultry
Producers Association
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