Method and system for harvesting knee meat together with thigh meat from a poultry leg

A system for harvesting knee meat together with thigh meat from a defeathered whole leg poultry product, wherein the defeathered whole leg poultry product comprises:

• a thigh comprising at least thigh meat;
• a drumstick comprising at least a tibia bone and drumstick meat, wherein the tibia bone has a knee side end and a tarsal joint side end;
• and
• a knee joint comprisings at least knee meat, the knee cap and a connection between the thigh and the drumstick, the defeathered whole leg poultry product having a front side, which is the side on which the knee cap is located, and a rear side, which is the side opposite to the front side, wherein in the defeathered whole leg poultry product, a transverse cut has been provided at the knee joint that extends generally in a direction transverse to the tibia bone, the transverse cut extending from the rear side of the defeathered whole leg poultry product to a cut end located adjacent to the rear side of the knee cap so that the thigh and the drumstick remain connected to each other and the knee cap remains intact, by which transverse cut a drumstick side cut plane and a thigh side cut plane are created,
• wherein the system comprises:
• a poultry products conveyor, comprising:
• a track;
• a plurality of poultry product carriers spaced apart from one another in the direction of the track and movable along said track, wherein each poultry product carrier is adapted to hold at least one defeathered whole leg poultry product at the tarsal joint side end thereof such that the poultry product is conveyed hanging suspended from said carrier,
• a knee meat and thigh meat harvester device arranged along the track of the poultry products conveyor, the knee meat and thigh meat harvester device comprising:
• a knee meat scraper device, comprising:
• a knee cap scraper;
• and
• a counter element arranged at a distance from the track of the poultry products conveyor that enables to arrange the defeathered whole leg poultry product adjacent to the counter element, with the drumstick side cut plane facing the counter element, while the defeathered whole leg poultry product is suspended from said poultry product carrier, wherein the knee meat scraper device has an open state and a closed state, wherein in the open state the knee cap scraper and the counter element are spaced apart from each other, allowing the knee joint of the defeathered whole leg poultry product to be introduced between the knee cap scraper and the counter element, and wherein in the closed state the knee cap scraper engages the front of the defeathered whole leg poultry product at or adjacent the knee cap on the drumstick side of said kneecap and the counter element engages the defeathered whole leg poultry product at or adjacent the rear of the knee cap in order to allow scraping of the knee meat from the knee cap;
• a scraping motion device adapted to cause a relative movement of the drumstick and the knee cap scraper away from each other, thereby moving the knee cap past the knee cap scraper while the counter element engages the defeathered whole leg poultry product at or adjacent to the rear side of the knee cap, thereby inducing the scraping of the knee meat from the knee cap while leaving the knee meat connected to the thigh, wherein after the scraping the knee meat and thigh meat are present on a first side of the knee cap scraper and the knee cap on a second side of the knee cap scraper.