A process and apparatus for removing or reducing the levels of pathogenic bacteria present on an eviscerated carcass. The process includes introducing the eviscerated carcass to a cleaning apparatus. The cleaning apparatus generally includes a housing structure having an entrance and an exit. Disposed within the housing structure is a rotating brush assembly and a spray assembly. The brushing assembly provides brushing and massaging actions to the surfaces of the carcass whereas the spraying assembly simultaneously directs a cleaning solution onto the surfaces of the carcass.
A method and an apparatus for scalding of slaughtered poultry are described, for example chickens, hens, turkeys, ducks, or geese, prior to plucking thereof, where the birds while shackled by their feet are conveyed through a scalding chamber (2), preferably via a sluice device, in which chamber a precisely controlled heated atmosphere of humid, hot air is established by blowing in steam at the bottom of the scalding chamber, which air is recirculated and blown directly onto the poultry, and where the scalding period is determined by the length and course of the conveyor (8) and by the capacity and/or speed of the conveyor, where a scalding chamber (2) with a relatively large height is used, and where the scalding chamber conveyor (8) including its secondary nozzles (10) extends through two or more levels (stories).
A machine for scrubbing a fowl, wherein the machine comprises at least one pair of opposing rotating brushes, wherein the fowl passes between said at least one pair of opposing rotating brushes. The pair of opposing rotating brushes comprises a first rotating scrubber and a second rotating scrubber having bristles extending therefrom. The fowl is suspended via a shackle suspended from a track, wherein the height of the scrubbing machine may be selectively varied via a threaded height adjuster. The bristles of the machine are rotated, wherein the bristles contact the exterior of fowl travelling through the machine. Jets of water, or other cleaning fluid, spray inwardly to reach the fowl and the scrubbing bristles to rinse removed material from the fowl and bristles. The brushes are rotated through hubs attached to gears powered by a motor, wherein the gears may be selectively rotated in either direction.
Apparatus for de-feathering (i.e. picking or plucking) poultry. More particularly, picking apparatus employing a plurality of elongated picking elements which are resistant to cracking and/or micro-poring, and which are preferably flexible and/or bendable and which are of sufficiently low mass such as to decrease poundage yield loss (e.g. decrease fat loss and poultry wing damage). In some embodiments, apparatus is provided having a plurality of filaments rotatable about an axis for removing feathers from a poultry carcass.
