ABSTRACT
Poultry products are nutritious and add variety to the human diet. Most of the products are from chickens, but ducks and turkeys also are important sources. Poultry, or domestic birds, are raised for their meat and eggs and are an important source of edible animal protein. Poultry meat and eggs are highly nutritious. The meat is rich in proteins and is a good source of phosphorus and other minerals, and of B-complex vitamins. Broilers are the main type of chicken produced by modern integrated poultry raising facilities due to their high feed-meat conversion ratio. Broilers are generally grown for a specific number of days and until they reach a specific weight. Slaughtering can be performed manually or by using an automatic circular knife system. The birds should bleed for at least 2 minutes to ensure a total bleed-out. Feathers are removed in a specially designed plucking machine or by hand. Feathers are collected and treated as an animal by-product.
