ABSTRACT
WITHIN the last couple of decades, many new processed poultry products have been introduced in the market. The poultry industry has taken the initiative to develop fresh, marinated and fully cooked products and has adopted some red meat recipes. All have helped to increase consumption and move away from seasonal demand. In the past, items such as whole turkeys were primarily sold in North America prior to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Such a pattern significantly limited the increase in sales of poultry meat. After the industry realized these limitations (e.g., demand concentrated within 1-3 months) and started to market smaller cut-up portions and further processed products, the situation improved. In the beginning, red meat recipes were modified to manufacture poultry products (e.g., frankfurters), and later, new technologies were developed exclusively for poultry (e.g., chicken nuggets). Chicken frankfurters were unheard of 25 years ago; however, after their introduction, they gained significant market share and currently represent about 20% of the North American market. Overall, the poultry industry successfully responded to consumer demand for more convenient food items including semi-and fully prepared items. The increase in poultry meat consumption (Table 1.4) has been the result of aggressive marketing, the favorable nutrition profile of the meat and the competitive price of poultry meat (see Chapter 1 for data on consumption, price, feed efficiency, etc.).
