USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on Wednesday published a notice providing disposition information for conditions occurring in the breast muscles of broiler chickens referred to as “woody breast” or “white stripping.”
The notice states that public health veterinarians, inspectors-in-charge, front line supervisors and supervisory consumer safety inspectors, as appropriate, are to correlate with inspection program personnel on how to identify and verify that poultry establishments are removing tissues that may be associated with woody breast or white striping.
Breast muscle that does not show active inflammatory signs, such as white striping only, are considered a quality issue and do not require trimming, FSIS said.
The FSIS notice provides background on woody breast and white striping as well as outlining the responsibilities of the inspection program personnel. The notice is available here FSIS Notice on Woody Breast.
