Production Trends, Consumption Patterns and MarketingConstraints of Processed Poultry Meat in Pakistan

Ali Hassan and Dr. Muhammad Tariq

Supervised by Dr. Muhammad Tariqalihassan927211@gmail.com

tariqlm@uaf.edu.pkDepartment of Poultry Science, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Sub- Campus Toba Tek

Singh

Study Background

The relationship between the consumption of meat and health is multifaceted and it needs to be

analyzed. To analyze the production trends, consumer behavior and marketing problems of

processed poultry meat, I conducted research survey in Lahore, a capital city of Punjab and

second largest metropolitan city of Pakistan. This city is famous for food markets and food habits

of its citizens. Geographically the Lahore city is divided into two halves by centrally passing

canal throughout the city. I selected the households on the both sides of canal with stratified

random sampling method by dividing different areas of Lahore into stratum.

To fulfill my designed research requirement, I collected three types of data from three different

respondents. First of all, I collected data about the consumer point of view that what they think

about the poultry meat generally, processed poultry meat and what are the patterns of their

consumption etc? Second type of data belonged to the fast food outlets. What was their trend of

Meat consumption? Either they were purchasing from open market or from processing plants etc.

The last type of data was collected from the poultry processing plant. What were their standards

and what were the conditions in which they were producing and processing chicken.

Findings from consumer survey on consumption patterns and marketing Constraints of processed poultry meat

The questionnaires of the consumer included different categories of questions like socio-

economic characteristics of the respondent, house expenses on different kind of foods, purchase

decisions etc. People were amazed that such kind of survey was i conducting because it included

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the questions like which was their preferred food and what was the reason and how much their

expenditure on food were? First of all they thought suspiciously that am I an agent from the tax

department investigating property of the people? That’s why; first of all, I tried my best to realize

the respondent that what was the survey and what I was going to do after this survey. Then

People gave the information truly. The most difficult task was to get information about socio-

economic parameters because respondent didn’t like to tell that what was their wealth status and

no. of family members etc. But mostly respondent cooperated.

During survey, I found that main portion of their meat expenditure was on white meat and

among white mostly on poultry meat. The decisions about the purchase of food was mainly taken

by housewives except some households which themselves decide or their children select the food

for cooking. The criteria for purchase of meat (red and white) were mostly found to be quality.

Due to incidents of Haram or dead meat sale in market, people did not believe on the quality of

meat especially red meat. Education of the decision maker mostly was found to be metric.

During purchase of poultry meat, respondents mostly take into account the hygiene condition of

the butcher shops. Most of the people said that we purchase the meat from trusted butcher. They

had fixed one shop and they always purchased from that shop. Their preference for one butcher

shop was only due to hygienic condition of the shop. Most of the people said that they like to eat

both vegetables and meat but some of the respondent also selected vegetables alone and meat

alone as their preferred food. Upon asking question about their likeness of meat, most of the

people choose red meat. Some of the people selected white meat but, among white they also

liked amazingly fish but not chicken. There was a perception in the minds of people that red

meat is healthy than white. They personally liked red meat but consumed less due to un

availability and poor quality assurance. Among white they liked fish meat but it is available for a

short period of time and at high cost comparable to chicken. That’s why they had to consume

chicken as animal protein source. Most of the people did not like chicken meat because of the

common wrong perception that chicken is fed hormones and steroid based diet that’s why it gets

2 kg weight within 35 days some said 20 days. Some of the respondents explained that hormonal

problems in the young females and appearance of hairs on the female’s face are due to

consumption of the broiler meat. I was amazed that some respondents were homeopathic doctors

and even they had the same perception as mentioned above. Even people said that broiler is a

poison. But frequency of the chicken consumption was mostly 2 or 3 times in a week. Mostly

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people liked to consume chicken in the dishes and mixed with vegetables. Mostly people freeze

the chicken in their houses for a short period of time but nevertheless they did not rely on frozen

meat from market. They thought that it is frozen from a long period of time and it had lost its

nutritive value and it should not consume.

When preference between desi and broiler meat was asked, near about all respondents ranked

desi meat on the top. They thought that desi meat is more nutritious and more tasty than broiler

meat. Some of respondents cooked desi meat once in a month and remaining all respondent did

not know that when they had last time consumed desi meat. People canoe t afford so high price

of desi meat. Most of the people said that no doubt desi meat is more nutritious but one reason of

not consuming is the high cost and other is that people are now addicted to eat broiler meat that

is soft and its taste is different from desi. They cannot consume desi meat because it is tough and

its taste is different from broilers. Some of the people had also smell problem with the broiler

meat that’s why they don’t like broiler meat.

I found that most of the people did not satisfy on the butcher shop condition. Some people

satisfied because they purchase from one trusted butcher. People said that some butcher have

already slaughtered broiler on their table. Respondent did not like to purchase that meat. They

prefer to purchase meat that is slaughtered in front of their eyes. Because in later case, they are

confirmed that meat is slaughtered accurately and the bird was alive and healthy. Otherwise It

could be dead bird slaughtered or improperly slaughtered. Most of the people said that during the

avian influenza they completely stop the poultry meat consumption neither in house nor on the

fast food shops or restaurants. Most of the people had issue with broiler feed. They said that

PBM (Poultry Byproduct Meal) addition in the feed is immoral. Other than this people thought

that steroids and hormones are added in the feeds. But some people also said that it is ok. There

no problem with PBM addition because it is natural recycling of the resources.

Among the section of processed poultry products, question were asked. Some of people thought

that frozen meat can be used safely and they thought that processed meat is also safe to use. But

they were not consuming due to certain reasons which included unavailability in their area and

high cost. Some people did not like processed poultry meat because of the fear of dead or

diseased bird slaughtered and fear of Haram meat. Upon asking that can you pay extra, some of

the people replied positively and remaining all said that they cannot pay extra if quality meat is

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available. Most of the people said that they will consume processed poultry meat if problems be

resolved.

People liked most of the ready to eat products of K & N’s. Most the people selected nuggets as

their favorite product and among meat they selected breast meat as a preferred part of the

chicken meat. It was found in the survey that most of the people cannot judge the meat quality.

Among the people who can judge the meat quality, most of the people select color of meat as

judgment tool. Most of the people observed the bird condition before slaughtering they are more

confident on the common butcher with meat safety point of view.

Most of the people had issue of slaughtering method and unhygienic conditions of the butcher

shops. People are not satisfied with suddenly fluctuating rate and they not knowing the rules of

demand and supply, mostly blame the GOVT for these fluctuation. Mostly people suggested that

there should be stability in the price of unprocessed poultry products and processed poultry

products should be available at low price in all areas.

Findings from fast food outlets survey

Second type of data was collected from the fast food outlets. Near about all fast food shops like

cock’s n Bull, Broast shops, KFC and MFC etc. purchase poultry meat from processing plants

preferably from K & N’s. Some of the shops purchase poultry meat from the local meat market.

They purchase Poultry meat in a bulk quantity from the processing plants, that’s why they

purchase on concession rate. They got fortnightly supply of meat and have good freezing facility

at their stores. They purchase non marinated meat and themselves prepare different products

according to consumer demand. Multinational fast food companies like KFC have their proper

feedback channel on the spot on table and on facebook page also.

Findings from Poultry Processing Plant Visit

1. Production Parameters

The Big Birds have their own Hubbard breeder farms so, they prefer hubbard breed of broiler to

rear in their farms. At the age where it got 1.8 kg weight in about 35-37 days, they were

transferred to the processing plants after grading and ranking. They followed antibiotic

withdrawal period if any antibiotic were given. After withdrawal period birds were transferred to

the plant so that any antibiotic residues cannot appear in the meat samples. They used one man

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one bird catching method. They used vehicle with baskets instead of vehicle with cages. Birds

remain comfortable in the baskets as compared to cages. Birds are transferred in night during

comfortable environment.

2. Processing Parameters

I visited first the office of Managing Director of the Big Birds Poultry, Dr. Mustafa Kamal and

that was his kind affection that made this visit Possible. Then I visited the processing plant of

Big Bird that is newly installed and functional from few months. I visited first the office of

Processing Manager and after that along with Assistant processing manager and quality control

officers, visted the plant under level 1 after wearing long rubber boots, face and head masks and

sanitizing hands and boots. There were different levels of the visits according to the situation of

visit. In level 1 visit, there was restriction that visitors cannot enter in the rooms. Visitors only

can visit the gallery which had different rooms on left and right sides through glass windows. We

visited the plant in backward direction. It means that we visited the last unit of the plant first and

then move backward. There was reason behind that we move from clean area to dirty area.

Movement in the plant cannot be reverse. It was always unidirectional to assure maximum food

safety and bio security.

I will describe here the visit from bird’s entry to the shed so that it could be easily understand.

First point of the processing plant was Birds entry. This part was in the form of gallery which

had fans installed on both right and left walls and foggers are installed on the top of the gallery.

This management was due to the reason that if some vehicles have to wait until the unloading of

first vehicle, birds should feel comfortable environment in the baskets of vehicles. All the supply

of birds was in night because of the comfortable environment of the night. These all measures

were to reduce the stress because under stress condition meat quality can deteriorate quickly and

hence shelf life also will be minimized. After unloading birds were hanged from their shanks on

moving chain. Chain moved in slaughter room where 4 technical persons slaughtered the bird

with sharp knife by reciting Takbeer in loud voice. The Knives were continuously washed and

sterilized after 15-20 birds. In the area of slaughtering and hanging, there were blue lights

installed so that birds should remain calm because broiler’s vision in blue light is poor. They

gave 3 minutes for proper bleeding. After that chain moved next for washing of the birds. There,

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Birds were observed for proper bleeding. Some birds improperly slaughtered were rejected.

Chain moved in the scalding region in which feathers are removed automatically in machines

containing rubber fingers. After that chain moves towards evisceration region where visceral

organs like heart, gizzard, intestines, lungs etc. were removed by machines. After washing this

chain stayed in a cool chamber for 90 minutes at 0-4 oC so that maximum bacteria should die.

After that chain moved to next sections and further processed the chicken into different products.

Which are stored at -18oC. The shelf life of fully cooked product was 6 months and 1 year for

uncooked meat at -18oC. There were no preservatives added in the poultry meat or meat

products.

Conclusion

Poultry meat is a good alternative of red meat in the days when there is no surety of the meat

safety and halal meat. Poultry meat provided good quality protein and fatty acids which are best

for human health as compared to red meat. Poultry meat is available in low price. But marketing

system is traditional in nature and now progressively market is converting from wet market to

processed market. But there is a need to create awareness about importance of poultry and

further importance of processed poultry products. Processed poultry meat is safe and healthy as

compared to un processed meat. By providing different kinds of Products, Consumption level of

protein can be improved for healthy life of the citizens of Pakistan.

Acknowledgment

First of all I would like to Thanks ALLAH ALMIGHTY who had provided me an

opportunity to conduct research in a successful way and blessed me with such a kind advisors. I

would also like to pay special thanks to my supervisor Dr. Muhammad Tariq who has guided me

in my research and always told me the possible solution of problems. Then I would like thanks

Dr. Mustafa Kamal, Director Big Bird Group of Companies (one off the LEADING GROUP

POULTRY BUSINESS IN PAKISTAN) who has allowed me to take a visit of poultry

processing plant and thanks to Dr. Khalid Mahmood Shouq who has helped a lot to take

permission for visit. Finally I would like to thanks to all the respondents from the fast food

outlets and public of Lahore for giving their point of view about poultry meat.

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Pictorial View of the Study:

Consumers Survey

Fast Food Outlet Survey

Processing Plant Visit

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