Meat Yields from Hot Deboned Noneviscerated Broilers

Abstract

A method for the rapid removal of meat from the defeathered, noneviscerated warm chicken carcass was developed. Initially, breast meat, skin, and wing from one side of the bird were stripped in one motion from the noneviscerated carcass. Then leg bones are cut and pulled from leg meat. The procedure eliminates the need to eviscerate chickens before deboning. Yield data for 7-through 12-week-old broilers showed increases in combined breast and leg meat yields from 24.7% of slaughter weight for 7-week-old males to 29.3% for 12-week-old males and 24.4% for females at 7 weeks to 28.2% at 12 weeks of age. Meat yields were evenly divided between breast and leg in males, but breast meat was heavier than leg meat in the females.