Convenience breaded poultry meat products – New developments

Convenience food products which include ready to eat products or foods requiring a short preparation period are becoming increasingly popular. A product such as the chicken nugget, which was initially introduced in the West and prepared from whole muscle white meat, is now sold by fast food restaurants or can be purchased at stores all over the world. With the industry looking to expand its range of products there is now also an opportunity to move products from the East to the West. Examples of products such as the battered and fried dark chicken thigh meat portions (Karaage) and boneless chicken leg meat (Tatsutage) will be used to illustrate the potential to transfer/develop products in the West. Some of the challenges include getting consumer familiarity/acceptance, and adapting production to existing or new lines. These are no small tasks, but learning from the growing demand of the chicken nuggets and the popularity of bone-in products such as chicken wings, in both the East and West, can help such transformation. In addition, the development of in-line marinating equipment and new forming capabilities can assist the industry in adopting and/or developing efficient manufacturing of such products.

► A poultry industry has experienced a significant increase in consumption and changes in the distribution of selling whole birds, cut up, and further processed products. ► Current and previous market suggest continue growth around the world. ► A success story has been the chicken nugget originally produced from whole white muscle meat, but today many variations of the same product exist on the global market. ► Challenges to the industry will focus on developing and/or transferring successful dark meat products from the East to the West. ► In the future new technologies and more efficient production lines will become the norm and highly trained food scientists, will be needed to develop more further processed products.