User:Cmmatheny/sandbox

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Juan.Alatorre/sandbox

History
The first known iteration of the Chicken Nugget was created by Robert C. Baker, a food science professor at Cornell, and posted as unpatented academic work in a Cornell Bulletin in 1963. This bite sized piece of chicken, coated in batter and then deep fried was called the "Chicken Crispie" by Baker and his associates. Common problems the meat industry were facing at the time of this invention were being able to hold ground meat together without a skin and producing a batter that could handle being both deep fried and frozen without coming off of the desired meat. Baker was able to solve both problems by first coating the meat in vinegar, salt, grains, and milk powder to make it hold together and secondly using an egg and grain based batter that was able to be fried as well as frozen.

Common manufacturing practices
The manufacturing process is separated into three main sections: pre-slaughter, slaughter and evisceration, and further processing. Before slaughter the chickens are starved for up to 12 hours to empty their bowels and reduce contamination risk during processing. They are caught at night by specially trained handlers and put into layered cages on trucks to be moved to the processing location. Red light is used to illuminate working areas during this phase as it causes the chickens less stress, leading to easier working conditions and higher quality meat.

Once at the plant they are hung upside down by their legs on a moving belt of shackles. The chickens head is passed through a plastic trough with an electrical current running through it. In the EU this electric bath is typically used to kill the birds, but in the USA this is simply used to stun the bird. The bird is the killed by cut to the jugular and carotid or decapitation. This can be done manually or by heavy machinery, but if the latter is used an attendant must be on site to quickly slaughter any birds that may survive the automatic killing process. The birds are allowed to bleed for roughly two minutes before being moved to the next stage of production by the shackles. Bleed times are allowed to vary based on the size of the bird being used. The blood is collected for use in other products, namely blood meal. The carcasses are passed through one or more baths of boiling water for two minutes at a time in order to soft the skin and make defeathering easier. Two temperatures are commonly used in poultry processing. The first, referred to as a soft scald, is around 125° F (69.4° C) and produces a yellow colored meat while keeping a layer of skin intact. This is used for chickens sold whole or other products without breading or other coating. The second scalding temperature is 145° F (80.5° C) and is referred to as a hard scald. This produces a more white colored meat and is used in most processed poultry products, such as chicken nuggets. The chicken carcass is then defeathered by 4" × 0.5" metal strips covered in textured rubber that are spun against it by a machine. These strips are often positioned at various angles to remove feathers from a specific part of the carcass. Any feathers that remain on the body are burned off, and all usable feathers are collected and shipped away for further processing. This process is sometimes violent enough to break bone resulting in a lower quality meat. The head and legs are then removed before the carcass is placed on a new rack for internal organ removal. In the United States the slaughtering and evisceration process must be separated by a wall in order to prevent possible contamination of equipment and product. Once re-hung the oil or preen gland is removed from the base of the tail, along with the rest of the internal organs. This is done by a series of machines designed to remove specific parts of the chicken or by hand, depending on the size of the operation. Both the innards and carcass are then inspected by whomever the controlling health standards allow, which can range from factory employees to government appointed officials.

Once deemed high enough quality to eat the meat is transferred to a third production line where it is deboned, cut, and shaped into the correct size. This is done manually, by a series of automatic blades, or by a process called grinding. Grinding isa method of deboning in which the softer parts of the chicken carcass are forced through a mesh, leaving behind the more solid pieces, resulting in a meat paste. If used, this paste is then shaped before battering. The pieces are battered and breaded in a large cylindrical drum that rotates, evenly coating all of the pieces in the desired spices and breading. The pieces are then fried in oil until the batter has set and the outside reaches the desired color. . Finally the nuggets are packaged, frozen and stored for shipping.