Poultry products are any food items derived from domesticated birds raised for meat or eggs. This includes whole carcasses, individual cuts, egg products, processed foods like nuggets and deli meats, and even non-food by-products like feather meal and rendered fat. The category is broader than most people realize, spanning everything from a fresh chicken breast to the dried egg powder used in commercial baking.
Which Birds Count as Poultry
Chicken and turkey dominate the market, but the official definition of poultry covers a wider flock. Duck, goose, guinea fowl, and squab all fall under poultry regulations. So do ratites, the large flightless birds: emu, ostrich, and rhea. Game birds like quail, pheasant, and partridge occupy a smaller niche, often sold through specialty retailers and available seasonally. Wild Scottish pheasant, for example, is typically only in stock from October to February.
Global chicken production alone reached 104.2 million metric tons in the 2024/2025 marketing year, with projections climbing to 107.55 million metric tons the following year. That ten-year average sits just under 100 million metric tons, reflecting steady growth driven by poultry’s relatively low cost and high protein content.
Whole Birds and Standard Cuts
The most straightforward poultry product is the dressed whole carcass: a bird with feathers, head, feet, and internal organs removed. From there, the carcass gets broken down into standardized cuts that you’ll find at any grocery store.
A whole bird splits into two halves along the breastbone and backbone. Each half yields a front quarter (the breast quarter) and a hind quarter (the leg quarter, sometimes labeled “leg, back attached”). Beyond that, the familiar retail cuts include:
- Breast: the white meat portion, sold whole, halved, or boneless and skinless. Contains roughly 20% protein per 100 grams raw.
- Leg: the thigh and drumstick together, sold jointed or as one piece.
- Wing: includes the drumette (the meatier upper section), the winglet or flat (the middle section), and the wing tip.
- Thigh: the upper portion of the leg, separated at the knee joint.
- Drumstick: the lower leg. Drumsticks with shank bone extending more than a quarter inch are classified as “No Grade” under USDA standards.
Labeling rules require that fresh or frozen whole birds display the kind of poultry (chicken, turkey, duck) along with a maturity indicator like “young” or “mature.” Parts cut from mature birds must include that designation on the label. Skin is considered excessive on any cut when it extends more than 1.5 inches beyond the meat, and products without skin don’t need to say “skinless” unless the meat isn’t visible through the packaging.
Egg Products
Eggs in the shell are the most obvious poultry product after meat, but the egg product industry extends well beyond the carton in your fridge. Commercial egg products come in liquid, frozen, and dried forms, and they’re used heavily in foodservice and food manufacturing. Prepared mayonnaise, ice cream, baked goods, and pasta all rely on processed egg products as ingredients.
These products start as whole eggs, whites, or yolks, then get pasteurized to reduce bacteria before being sold in bulk. Dried egg mix, for instance, blends whole eggs with nonfat dry milk, soybean oil, and a small amount of salt, creating a shelf-stable product that reconstitutes with water. The USDA also produces an All Purpose Egg Mix with a higher proportion of eggs for institutional use.
Processed and Value-Added Products
A large share of poultry never reaches consumers as a raw cut. Instead, it’s transformed into further-processed products. This category covers a huge range: chicken nuggets, turkey deli slices, chicken sausages, pre-marinated wings, breaded tenders, smoked turkey legs, canned chicken, and fully cooked rotisserie birds. Mechanically separated poultry, where machines press remaining meat from bones after hand cutting, is used in hot dogs, bologna, and other processed items. If the product includes excess skin beyond what naturally occurs on a whole carcass (20% for raw chicken, 15% for raw turkey), the label must disclose that.
Cooked and further-processed poultry products carry a “Prepared From” inspection logo rather than the standard inspection mark. USDA grading for poultry uses grades A, B, and C. Only Grade A poultry can use premium terms like “prime,” “choice,” or “select” on its label.
Preserved Poultry Products
Fresh poultry has a short shelf life, so preservation methods expand the product range considerably. Freezing is the most common approach, and flash-frozen poultry retains quality well when kept at consistent temperatures. Beyond freezing, poultry can be canned for long-term shelf stability, dried into jerky-style strips (typically at 140 to 150°F after initial cooking), or smoked for flavor and preservation. Cured poultry products like turkey bacon and turkey pastrami use salt and other curing agents to extend shelf life while creating distinct flavors and textures.
Organ Meats and Edible By-Products
The parts most shoppers skip are still valuable poultry products. Heart and liver are the most commonly sold organ meats, often packaged together as giblets and tucked inside whole birds. Gizzards, the muscular stomach organ, are popular fried or stewed in many regional cuisines. Chicken feet are widely consumed in East Asian and Latin American cooking, typically prepared in soups or braised dishes. Together, feet alone account for 3.5 to 4% of a bird’s live weight, and gizzards represent another 3.5 to 4.2%.
Industrial and Non-Food By-Products
Poultry processing generates substantial non-food products. Feathers make up 7 to 8% of a chicken’s live weight and get converted into feather meal for animal feed, used as fertilizer, or processed into bedding material. Blood (3.2 to 3.7% of live weight) becomes blood meal, a high-nitrogen feed supplement. Rendered poultry fat, sometimes called poultry grease, comes from feet, intestines, and other trimmings. It’s used in animal feed and some industrial applications.
Even hatchery waste has uses. Infertile eggs, eggshells, and unhatched eggs get processed into hatchery by-product meal, which can be incorporated into animal feed at levels of 3 to 5%. Eggshell meal specifically serves as a high-calcium dietary supplement for livestock. Poultry litter and manure cycle back into agriculture as fertilizer or, in some operations, as a component of recycled animal feed.
Specialty and Game Bird Products
Beyond the mainstream chicken and turkey market, specialty poultry products cater to restaurants and home cooks looking for something different. Quail is the most accessible, available both from U.S. farms and European producers in whole or semi-boneless forms. Guinea hen, with its leaner and slightly gamier flavor, typically serves two to four people per bird. Squab (young pigeon) is sold as single-serving whole birds, often semi-boneless for easier preparation.
Wild game birds sit at the premium end. Wild Scottish wood pigeon is generally available from September to February, while wild pheasant runs from October to February, with supply depending on hunting success. Farm-raised pheasant offers more reliable availability. These birds are typically raised to around 22 weeks on forage and grain diets, with no antibiotics or hormones.