Black Spots on Frozen Processed Feet

[GreenMum]

Hi all, hope someone can clear this up for me. We processed meat birds last winter and I cleaned and froze the feet with the carcasses for stock making. I finally have the time to make some stock and discovered some black spots on the chicken feet. They definitely were not there when they were processed. Can anyone tell me what this is - it reminds me of mold but doesn’t come off. And also if it is still good to use for stock.
Cheers!

 

[cavemanrich]

I will be only guessing here. Those spots by your description, (not mold), can be a result of blood caused by nicks during processing. (yes, under skin blood spots) After a long time, the blood turned black from original red color.
I personally would not consume them myself, ,,,, but would boil them up, and feed to chickens.
How are the other pieces of frozen chicken pieces, other than the feet??
Lets see what others chime in on the spots.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[GreenMum]

I will be only guessing here. Those spots by your description, (not mold), can be a result of blood caused by nicks during processing. (yes, under skin blood spots) After a long time, the blood turned black from original red color.
I personally would not consume them myself, ,,,, but would boil them up, and feed to chickens.
How are the other pieces of frozen chicken pieces, other than the feet??
Lets see what others chime in on the spots.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Thanks for your reply the rest of the chicken looks fine, and it’s only some of the feet.
It’s an interesting theory for sure and I see how it’s plausible too. My only question is would there not have been indications during initial processing if these were resulting from nicks?
Also, I cut the black marks out on one foot; it seems they are for the most part superficial although one spot did go all the way to the bone. I don’t know if this makes a difference but they were processed completely by hand, plucking and all.

 

[FunClucks]

Thanks for your reply the rest of the chicken looks fine, and it’s only some of the feet.
It’s an interesting theory for sure and I see how it’s plausible too. My only question is would there not have been indications during initial processing if these were resulting from nicks?
Also, I cut the black marks out on one foot; it seems they are for the most part superficial although one spot did go all the way to the bone. I don’t know if this makes a difference but they were processed completely by hand, plucking and all.

How strange. Do the feet smell okay? If it has a normal healthy processed chicken smell that smells ok for people to eat, I'd boil them and feed them to the chickens. If they smell off at all or funky, I'd dispose of them instead of eating. I wouldn't raw feed them to my dog if they are at all questionable, and of course dogs don't get cooked feet.

Sometimes blood drains out incompletely and can leave splotchiness behind. But I've never seen it on feet. Not to say it couldn't happen, just that I've not seen it.

 

[GreenMum]

How strange. Do the feet smell okay? If it has a normal healthy processed chicken smell that smells ok for people to eat, I'd boil them and feed them to the chickens. If they smell off at all or funky, I'd dispose of them instead of eating. I wouldn't raw feed them to my dog if they are at all questionable, and of course dogs don't get cooked feet.

Sometimes blood drains out incompletely and can leave splotchiness behind. But I've never seen it on feet. Not to say it couldn't happen, just that I've not seen it.

They do smell fine, no off odour at all. Every thing else about them seems healthy…except those black spots. Very weird.