Organic Waste Recycling

50 Organic waste recycling: technology and management

Poultry processing (Griffiths 1981)
Due to the large demand for fowls, poultry processing is now a high volume
operation which has developed from its original farmhouse background. The
basic procedures for poultry processing are shown in Figure 2.9.

Figure 2.9 Major steps in poultry processing (Nemerow 1971) (© 1971, Addison Wesley
Publishing Co., Reading, Mass)

The birds are hung by the feet on a conveyor. They are then killed and bled. The
blood is taken away and, if recovered, used for human or pet foods (it is of less
value than beef blood).
The next stage is feather plucking. This is done by a series of flaps and flails in a
tunnel, under a hot-water spray. There are two ways of disposing of the feathers.

Killing

station

Shipment

Outside Inside wash

wash

Chilling

tanks

Weighing and

packaging

Eviscerating table or trough

Scalding

Washer Singer Picker tanks

Bleeding area

(tunnel or enclosed area)

Uploading of live

poultry