Chicken Processing Plant & Machinery Solutions

Dressed birds are chilled and moved into the cut-up hall on hygienic conveying. The bird is brought down in temperature before cutting so that portions hold their shape and stay fresh.

Whole birds are cut into breast, leg, wing and boneless fillet, and fillets are portioned to weight. Grading by weight lets the plant build packs of similar-size pieces for retail and food service.

Portions are tumbled with brine, spice and marinade in a rotating drum, often under vacuum. Tumbling works the marinade into the muscle instead of leaving it on the surface.

Nuggets, strips and patties are battered and crumbed, then fried before freezing. Crumb is screened and recirculated, and fried pieces are cooled before they enter the freezer.

Portions are frozen as separate pieces on a spiral or tunnel freezer so they do not stick together. Free-flowing frozen pieces let the packer weigh out any pack size from the same bulk.

Frozen or chilled pieces are weighed out and packed into bags or sealed trays. Each pack passes metal detection and coding before it is cased for dispatch.