Poultry Processing Flow Chart

There are around 300 poultry-processing facilities in the U.S. and Canada combined. Each plant processes upwards of 55 million birds per year.

In addition to the primary processing of live birds into saleable parts, there’s also secondary processing that takes those parts and turns them into:

• Chicken nuggets
• Chicken fingers
• Turkey bacon
• Chicken thighs
• Breast patties
• Drumsticks

With that kind of massive annual throughput, poultry processing companies need to have their production lines optimized and dialed in. Read on to view our poultry processing flow chart and learn more about the multiple steps that allow for the efficient processing of poultry.

Delivery, Receiving, and Slaughter

The live birds are delivered to the plant on the same day they’re processed. As the trucks full of poultry arrive, workers unload them by placing each bird into shackles attached to a slowly moving and dimly lit conveyor belt. This part of the process helps limit the stress on the live birds.

As they move down the conveyor belt, a “rub bar” rubs up against the breast of the live chicken, thereby providing a comforting sensation. They are then electrically or chemically stunned, which prevents them from feeling any pain while their throats are cut and bled out.

Picking Feather Removal

As the processing line moves to the next step, the bird carcasses are submerged in 150 ̊ F water, which helps make feather removal faster and easier. Rubber “fingers” then gently rub up against each bird to remove the feathers.

Evisceration, Trimming, and Rinsing

During this part of the process, sharp blades remove the feet, head, and organs. The primary cutting operations include:

• Vent cutter 
• Head cutter
• Opening cut
• Feet cutter
• Evisceration
• Hock cutter

The bird carcasses are then rinsed off in cold water to remove blood, guts, and dirt. Each process is performed by a specific type of machine that utilizes a specialized cutting blade. Blades must be sharp and durable enough to withstand cutting through bones and other materials.

Chilling

The birds are then chilled to prevent microbial growth and subsequent contamination. There are three different methods used to perform this process:

• Immersion Chilling—The carcasses are submerged in tanks containing ice and water.
• Dry-Air Chilling—The carcasses are blasted with cold air as they move down the production line.
• Evaporative Air Chilling—Uses water misting in conjunction with cold-air blasts to cool down the birds.

Deboning and Cut-Up

This stage of the process is where the carcasses undergo additional processing based on the end requirements. There are several typical cutting operations, such as:

• Wingtip cutter
• Middle wing cutter
• Whole wing cutter
• Tail cutter
• Neck/neck skin cutter
• Breast cap cutter
• Breast pre-cutter
• Saddle cutter
• Front-half/carcass cutter
• Leg cutter
• Thigh & drum cutter
• Manual cutter

Packaging

The packaging process is the final step of poultry processing. Specialized machines package each cut using several preservation methods, such as vacuum or chilled-air packaging. The final products are then loaded into cold storage, where they await their journey along the supply chain to wind up on your dinner table.

Poultry Processing Blades from Hyde

Each poultry facility processes around 230,000 birds per day—unscheduled production line shutdowns can cause a costly ripple effect. This is why more poultry processing plants choose Hyde OEM Blades to power their cutting machines. 

Hyde Industrial Blade Solutions outperform the competition while helping improve your yields and reducing waste. We invite you to learn more about Hyde’s poultry processing blades and why we’re a cut above the rest.