5 Innovative Ways to Improve Chicken Carcass Quality
Improve chicken carcass quality with better farm care, rest before slaughter, proper cutting, full bleeding and stress-free transport. Here's how.
High-quality carcasses are what buyers look for. Few shoppers will give low-grade carcass meat a second look, and the price of a carcass also depends on its quality: the lower the quality, the lower the price. Chicken carcass quality is a real concern today because carcass meat spoils easily. It holds a lot of water, and that water can become a breeding ground for microbes. Chicken carcass quality is judged on three parameters. For its quality to be guaranteed, a carcass must meet all three; the fewer parameters it meets, the poorer its quality. Here are innovative ways to improve chicken carcass quality that every carcass business should know:
Maximize Care on the Farm
High-quality chickens are in demand for carcass production. The way to produce them is to maximize the birds' growth and development while they are on the farm. One way to do that is to give them highly nutritious feed. Chickens that get enough nutrients put on meat very quickly, unlike birds on poor feed, whose meat stays thin. The thicker the meat, the heavier the bird, and vice versa.
Also read Tips for Beginners Starting a Chicken Carcass Business
Post-Harvest Technology Innovations
Businesses also need to protect quality after harvest. In fact, many carcasses lose quality after the birds are harvested. It is a real shame when chickens that were top quality on the farm lose value because of poor post-harvest handling. As a business owner, you certainly don't want the price of your carcasses to fall because their quality slipped. To keep that from happening, here are innovative post-harvest techniques that improve chicken carcass quality:
- Resting the chickens
The first step is to rest the chickens that will be slaughtered for carcasses and separate them from the rest of the flock. Stress lowers meat quality. This has to do with the lactic acid in the meat: under stress, the meat's acidity level drops. When that happens, bacteria and other microorganisms can grow and multiply in the chicken meat.
- Proper slaughter
The next post-harvest innovation is slaughtering the chickens correctly. Damage done to the carcass during slaughter can lower its quality. Common physical damage includes broken bones, torn and scattered meat, and the like. Physical damage isn't the only problem: bruising on parts of the meat also lowers carcass quality. That's why chicken carcass businesses must make sure the birds are slaughtered properly.
- Proper bleeding
One of the most important post-harvest ways to improve chicken carcass quality is thorough, correct bleeding. You can bleed a chicken by positioning it neck down and feet up so the blood drains out completely. Blood left in the carcass lets microbes and bacteria multiply rapidly, so the carcass spoils quickly.
- Safe, comfortable transport
If the chickens for your carcasses come from other farms and have to be transported, make the trip safe and comfortable. Don't let the birds get stressed on the road, because stress lowers the quality of the meat.
Also read The Chicken Carcass Parts Customers Ask for Most
Those are the innovative ways you can improve chicken carcass quality. We hope this information is useful.
