Most of chickens for egg production are just discarded when they get old and their productivity decreases, because quality of the meat is low compared with broilers'. On the other hand, chicken meat is well known to be rich in physiologically functional dipeptides such as anserine and carnosine. In order to add value to culled chickens, a new extraction system which can produce high quality chicken extract with physiological functionality from carcass of the culled chickens was studied. Extraction with hot water (103°C) under slightly pressurized condition provided mellow chicken extract with high yield. By sterilizing the extract with a polymeric microfiltration membrane, whole chicken soup suitable for distribution at room temperature could be obtained. Product after microfiltration kept its original chicken flavor and taste because it had not been exposed to excess heat treatment, and no change in appearance was observed after storage at room temperature and 55°C for three months.
