Patent ID: 8246429

Claim:
An apparatus for washing eviscerated poultry carcasses having legs, an exterior surface, abdominal fat flaps, a cavity having a rear end opening and a neck end, the apparatus comprising: a) a conveyor for conveying the carcasses, hung by the legs, through a housing; b) the housing having an inlet and an outlet through which the carcasses pass; c) a guide bar positioned in the housing and positioned to contact the carcasses and raise their neck ends to tilt the poultry carcasses from vertical; d) a first set of multiple spray nozzles aimed at the rear end opening of the poultry carcass, and having a ten degree or greater spray angle, for providing a diffused stream of cleaning fluid into the cavity from a direction and at a volume over time of 3 to 15 gallons per minute from each nozzle, so that a portion of the cleaning fluid is deflected out the rear end opening, the deflected cleaning fluid resulting in movement of an unattached end of the abdominal fat flaps near the rear end opening, outwardly and away from the rear end opening; and e) a second set of multiple spray nozzles for spraying the exterior surface with a cleaning fluid.