POULTRY
LECTURE OUTCOMES
Define the term poultry
Identify the different classes in the market
Identify the best quality in the market
Describe the sanitary handling of poultry
Able to identify the suitable sauces, accompaniments, and garnishes.
Should be to do basic preparation of poultry.
INTRODUCTION
Chicken is the most widely eaten poultry in the world. It has both white and dark types of
meat and has much less fat than other meat Young, tender chickens could be cooked by
using any cooking method. Older birds are best suited to be braised or stewed.
Chicken has the unique appeal of being extremely versatile and due to its neutral flavor
lends itself to a variety of garnishing, marinating and can be stuffed, basted and paired
with just about anything.
If there is one thing that is universal, is the worlds’ love for chicken. Learning how to cook
chicken is simple, with the most important thing to remember is cooking safely as chicken
can contain dangerous salmonella.
Poultry is the term poultry used to describe all domesticated birds that bred for food.
According to the South Africa Meat Safety Act, 2000 (Act No. 40 of 2000);
“approved meat” means meat passed by a registered inspector; “
poultry means duck, fowl, goose, turkey, guinea fowl, dove, and chicks thereof, and any
bird slaughtered for human consumption and for sale and include any edible parts.
“Condemned material” means a bird or parts of a bird inspected and judged, or
otherwise determined, to be unacceptable for human and animal consumption and
requiring sterilizing or destruction.
Wild birds used for food are known as game. Marketed throughout the year in various
forms and used also for many convenience foods.
CLASSIFICATION
Goose Guinea fowl turkey
, 3. MARKET TRENDS
caged chickens
free range
organic chickens.
One of the challenges facing the South African free range and organic chicken farming
industry is the lack of regulations governing the market. This allows farmers to set their
own standards when it comes to free-range chicken farming with regards to the practices
that they will adopt.
Breaking into the major free-range markets such as the leading supermarket chains like
Woolworths or Pick n Pay you will need to have professional certifications indicating that your
products are free range or organic and that are using safe, high quality and healthy
techniques in your production.
You will need to hire a professional quality and safety management audit company that
offers audit services for the free-range chicken farming industry who will also help you
comply with the requirements of the South African retailers.
There are certifications that you can seek when you are engaging in free-range chicken or
organic farming such as the Department of Agriculture Certification and Halaal
Certification. Main chickens found on the market today:
Caged chickens
The cage system of the egg production is still the most popular globally because of its
efficiency and profitability. In this kind of system, the chickens are kept in a small cage that
normally has a sloping fall to allow eggs to roll off the cage as soon as they are laid in
order to prevent fecal contamination.
space is normally quite limited, typically no larger than the size of an A4 paper chicken
the chickens are not allowed to express any natural behavior.
The chickens are simply egg laying machines.
Because the farmer in the cage system of production wants to maximize profits, the
cages are generally stacked up together and confined in a very limited space.
The birds do not see any sunlight or grass range.
They are kept in an artificial system where their task is to lay eggs until they hit
their end of the lay period when they can no longer produce enough at which point,
they are slaughtered for meat or destroyed.
This kind of chicken production has always raised a lot of ethical questions and
according to research the products from this kind of poultry production mechanism are
simply not healthy!
Most of the commercial feed is Genetic Modified Organism (GMO) (genetic material
(DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or
natural).
The cramped condition of the cage production system has led to an explosion of organic chicken
farming and free-range chicken farming and this, too, have proven to be equally profitable
systems while giving buyers healthier and more nutritious table eggs.