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Taiwan's down processing leads the world; the Council of Agriculture guarantees humane electric stunning slaughter means no blood down

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Taiwan's down processing technology leads the world, with humane electric stunning slaughter to obtain down; the Council of Agriculture guarantees: you will never buy "blood down"

When it gets cold, you just want to curl up under a light, warm down comforter. How exactly is a down comforter born? Where does down come from? The market is flooded with all kinds of down jackets and down comforters, making your eyes swim. How can you pick a product that is genuine and worth the money? Follow NewsMarket to explore the secrets and production process of down!

Light, soft down is hard to come by. Most of it comes from ducks and geese, because down feathers can retain heat and repel water, letting ducks and geese float on the water's surface; filling a comforter with down allows it to store heat quickly. In the past, many people believed that obtaining down was a bloody process, but in fact, 90% of down products on the market today are obtained after electric stunning slaughter, not plucked from live birds as blood down.

The Taiwan Feather Exporters Association believes that the down market is rife with confusion and imitation, with many operators using terms like "feather silk down" and "tech down" to mislead consumers. Consumers must be careful when buying, confirming the fill power of down products and whether they bounce back when patted, and choosing CAS-certified products can further ensure the source of raw materials.

Duck and goose down obtained only after 12 rounds of washing, beating and other steps (photo / Lin Yijun)

The down hidden beneath the feathers looks like a dandelion; most down on the market is duck down

Feathers and down can be divided into feathers and down. Close to the upper back and wings are large feather pieces and wing feathers; the upper breast area has medium feather pieces and down; the belly, which is close to the water, has small feather pieces and down. Most of the down is found in the belly area close to the water.

Because feathers have a flatter structure with a quill in the middle, they are highly supportive, so they are usually made into pens and shuttlecocks. Down, by contrast, hides beneath layer upon layer of feathers; whereas feathers stand upright one by one, down looks like little dandelions, a radial structure in which many fine filaments radiate outward from a central point. Because plenty of air remains within the structure, it retains heat well.

They are all feathers, so why can't chicken feathers be made into down comforters? Because the feathers of land fowl have no oil and rot easily, they are usually not used as filling. Ducks and geese also differ in the characteristics and price of their down. Because geese are raised for more days and are larger in size, goose down is bulkier than duck down and retains heat better; geese are also vegetarian, so goose down has a lighter natural odor. But fewer geese are raised, so goose down costs more than duck down, and most down on the market is still duck down.

Feathers and down (photo provided / Hoplion Feather Collection)

Down production process: electric stunning slaughter and plucking, then 12 rounds of washing, beating and grading

To obtain warm, fluffy down, it must first go through 12 processing steps, including washing, drying, cooling and beating, and grading and inspection. Only then can it be filled into comforters and delivered into everyone's hands.

The source of the down production process is the slaughterhouse. After ducks and geese are electrically stunned and slaughtered, they are sent into a plucking machine, where centrifugal force strips 90% of the feathers and down from the body surface; the remaining 10% of fine body-surface feathers are removed with wax. The resulting feathers and down then undergo rough washing, giving the feathers, which carry a great deal of mud, sand and blood, a preliminary cleaning, sterilization, feather separation and packaging, ensuring the freshness of the feathers.

Afterward, primary processors sell the feathers to feather raw-material manufacturers, who then carry out "fine washing." Chen Yahui, manager of the raw materials department at Hoplion Feather Works, explains that feathers and down need repeated washing, drying, cooling and beating.

"Beating" uses airflow, shaking and the like to remove dust. Through the viewing window of the cooling and beating machine, you can see countless down feathers drifting up and down, dancing like falling snow. After washing and beating, the down must also be graded by weight. Inside the grader, which is as large as a house, there are S-shaped pipes. Chen Yahui explains that as down flies through the pipes, the lighter the down cluster, the farther it flies; the longer the distance, the higher the grade. After grading, the down clusters undergo quality inspection.

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