Processed Poultry

Processed poultry covers two products with nothing in common except that neither is a raw cut, and both carry a compliance load that raw poultry does not.

Cooked chicken is worth understanding properly rather than treating as a variant of the raw trade, because a fully cooked product can sometimes enter a market on terms that raw poultry cannot. The heat treatment and the processing record evidencing it are part of what makes the consignment acceptable, so this is a documentary product as much as a physical one.

Commercially it divides by format, whether diced, strips, whole muscle or formed, and by preparation, and ingredient declaration, additives, allergens and destination labelling all apply here in a way they do not to a raw cut.

Mechanically separated poultry is a manufacturing input bought on a numerical specification. Fat, protein and calcium are agreed with tolerances, and calcium in particular is tested on arrival and regulated directly by several destinations. It is a frozen block trade where the block size and how the product tempers matter to the buyer's line.

Both lines are frequently authorised by a destination separately from raw poultry, with their own conditions. Confirm eligibility for the specific line first.