With installation of modern processing plants, consumers will get hygienically processed meat along with clean environment  Indian poultry industry has faced many challenges in last few years but has emerged stronger amidst recessionary pressures. The Indian poultry industry is growing and will continue to grow as our one-billion plus population has begun to relish the taste and nutrition of poultry meat and eggs. India poultry with annual production of approximately 50 billion eggs and 1.95 million metric tonnes of poultry meat ranks 3rd and 4th amongst egg and poultry meat producing countries of the world.
The poultry sector in India has benefited due to the integrated approach of large poultry breeders, stabilised farm operations, ability of agriculture to feed growing numbers and ability of industry to provide vaccines within India to overcome sporadic viruses.
While the overall growth of the poultry sector has been remarkably stable, this sector suffers from poor processing methods and lack of waste management at the point of processing. In such a scenario, hygienic meat management in poultry processing assumes significance because the poultry industry has been growing steadily over last few decades.
Challenges
With the exception of few modern processing facilities such as those at Venkateshwara Hatcheries, Godrej Agrovet, Suguna etc, more than 95% of meat processing is done in localities, street corners and open yards without any control on incoming and outgoing quality. Meat from modern processing plants do not even account for 5% of total poultry consumption. With changes in consumer preferences and their need for hygiene, convenience and quality, most hotels, restaurants and malls in major cities rely on poultry meat processed in modern facilities. However, a large section of consumers still depend on low and unhygienic quality poultry meat sold at local shops and markets.
Although hygienic meat management implies hygienic poultry meat processing, it does not start simply with the processing facility. The quality starts from the farm itself with proper control on quality of livestock, safe and clean transport from farm to processing units and proper receiving area before commencement of actual processing.
Hygienic meat management
Poultry processing is done either in conveyor or non-conveyor set up. In a conveyor set up, physical handling of bird is minimised and processing is completely mechanised. But in a non-conveyor set up, physical handling of birds is done at every stage of processing.
In a conveyor plant, live birds are put on the conveyor shackles, which then go through all the processing stages without any physical handling or intervention. As opposed to this, a non-conveyor plant handles live birds five times before meat is ready in fresh chilled form. Modern processing plants give processors not just quality but the required flexibility and convenience of operation.
Rendering of waste to keep environment clean
Poultry processing results in 50-70% of live weight as edible portion and the remaining discarded as waste. Increasing consumption of poultry meat will require large-scale processing, which will create pollution unless the waste is disposed off effectively.
Most of the modern processing plants produce not just hygienic meat but are also armed with suitably advanced rendering facility to convert all the waste (including feathers) into sterilised animal protein. Rendering plants cook, homogenise and convert all the waste into animal protein required for the animal feed sector, thereby keeping the environment pollution-free.
Firms like Dhopeshwar Engineering Pvt. Ltd. have focused on providing advanced poultry processing and environmentally-friendly waste rendering plants for the poultry sector in India and overseas.
Shirish Dhopeshwar, managing director of Dhopeshwar Engineering Pvt. Ltd., a mid-sized manufacturer and exporter of poultry processing plants and equipment and rendering plants in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh |
