Editing Chicken nugget (section)

== Manufacturing ==
{{Further|Poultry farming}}
[[File:McDonalds-Chicken-McNuggets.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Fast food [[Chicken McNuggets]] from [[McDonald's]]]]

The processing required for making chicken nuggets begins with deboning. The chicken is cut and shaped to the correct size. This is done either manually, or by a series of automatic blades, or by a process called ''[[Mechanically separated meat|grinding]]'' (a 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Poultry Processing and Products|url=http://nfscfaculty.tamu.edu/talcott/courses/FSTC311/Textbook/24-Chapter%2024%20Poultry%20Processing%20and%20Products.pdf|last=Smith|first=Douglas P.|date=2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310021306/http://nfscfaculty.tamu.edu/talcott/courses/FSTC311/Textbook/24-Chapter%2024%20Poultry%20Processing%20and%20Products.pdf|archive-date=March 10, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/poultry-processing|title=Poultry processing|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=February 6, 2018|language=en}}</ref> While specific ingredients and production methods may vary between manufacturers, the above practices hold true for most of the industry.