Poultry factories process domesticated birds for sale, offering services such as kosher and halal meat processing, organic meat processing, and humane slaughter facilities. Large farms may have attached processing plants, while smaller farms may use mobile processing. The work is difficult, noisy, and dirty, with low compensation rates and occupational hazards.
A poultry factory is a facility where poultry is processed from slaughter to packing for sale. Poultry is generally defined as domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese. Poultry plants vary in size and scope, and some offer special services like kosher slaughter. Most are located in centralized areas with access to train and truck lines that facilitate the rapid transportation of live birds and packaged meats, and some are directly connected to poultry farms.
In a poultry factory, live birds are slaughtered and processed to remove innards and feathers so they can be slaughtered for sale. Whole birds are often sold as-is, and the poultry plant can also provide processing for poultry parts such as legs, thighs, and wings. Waste materials not prepared for sale are sent to manufacturing plants, while finished processed meats can be shipped in bulk to wholesalers or packaged for shipment to grocery stores.
Specialty services that may be offered by a poultry factory may include kosher and halal meat processing, organic meat processing, and humane slaughter facilities. The meat from such plants tends to be more expensive, reflecting the greater care that must be taken in processing, and such plants may also be subject to stricter controls. Government inspectors in these cases are concerned not only with food safety but also with proof that the facility complies with regulations that allow it to sell meat labeled as humane, kosher or organic.
Large poultry farms may have an attached processing plant to streamline their business operations. Not having to truckload live birds reduces production costs, including costs associated with losing birds in transit. Smaller farms may not want to operate a processing plant or be part of a cooperative that pools resources to fund a centralized facility that handles birds from multiple farms. Very small farms can make arrangements for mobile poultry processing, where a slaughter truck comes to the farm to handle the slaughter and processing.
Numerous poultry plant workers are required to handle the various stages of the operation. The work tends to be difficult, noisy and dirty, and compensation rates are usually quite low because the work is mostly unskilled. Working in a poultry factory also comes with its own set of occupational hazards, thanks to the heavy equipment used in poultry processing. Plant handlers can lose the ends of blades, conveyor belts and other equipment and are also at risk of burns from worn-out tanks to remove feathers.
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