The Fluoride Content of Commercial Broiler Backs and Necks

THE practice of selling broiler chicken as cut-up parts and the extension of the cutting up operation back to the processing plants results in the accumulation of large quantities of relatively unmarketable backs and necks. The prospect of using some of this excess as a finely comminuted combined meat and bone in sandwich spreads, sausages, and other specialty items raises the question of possible deleterious substances in the bone that would add to the consumers’ diet. Bone contains high and variable concentrations of fluorine, in contrast to the muscle and other tissues. However, the average and range of fluorine contents of typical broiler-aged chicken reared under the management practices normal in the United States is not known. This paper reports such data, together with the fluorine distribution in the carcass, and the influence of several types of phosphorus supplements on fluorine content of the carcass. These data are necessary for…