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Code of Veterinary Practice For Poultry Processing Plant

5.2 Before evisceration, the outer surface of each dressed poultry
carcass should be washed by spray or constant flow of water.
5.3 Viscera should be removed within an hour of bleeding and body
opening cuts must be made in such a manner that the intestinal
tract is not pierced.
5.4 Vent opening machines or guns should be flushed between each
venting operation. Water flushed from a vent gun must be directed
away from suspended poultry carcasses.
5.5 A knife or implement used in the venting operation should not be
used to cut into any other part of a poultry carcass unless first
sterilised.
5.6 Where vent opening is performed manually, a facility for the rinsing of
hands and implements should be provided. A facility of such nature
should also be provided where an employee acts in a “back-up”
capacity to an automatic vent opening machine.
5.7 Evisceration tables and benches, where used in manual processing,
should be self-draining by means of perforations or a permanently
angled surface. A cleaning system should be provided to enable
regular cleaning of the table or bench surface. Each set of viscera
should be removed from the bench surface immediately after being
drawn. Containers used for the collection of viscera should be
emptied on a continuous basis to avoid overfilling and spillage.
5.8 Additional appliances such as scissors, knifes, evisceration forks
and lung rakes should be placed on an approved rack or facility at
appropriate work stations when not in use.

5.9 Water flow in an evisceration trough should be in the opposite
direction to that in which poultry carcasses are traveling so that
carcasses leave at the point where clean water enters the trough.
5.10 Water jets or sprays continuously in operation should be provided
along both sides of an evisceration trough or belt for the rinsing
of the employee’s hand and implements during the evisceration
process. Where a water supply is limited, a control flow would be
acceptable. Hands and implements should be rinsed in a regular
basis.

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