Abstract: To avoid the passage of contamination from one bird to another at a poultry inspection station in a poultry processing shackle line and to eliminate the necessity for the inspector to touch the birds during the inspection, each bird in succession at the inspection station is automatically engaged and tilted to a breast-up, back-down generally horizontal position with the eviscerated body cavity facing the inspector. In such position, the body cavity is automatically expanded to a wide open condition for easy visual inspection while each bird traverses the inspection station, following which the bird tilting and body cavity expanding units are removed from contact with the birds and thoroughly cleansed near the back of the inspection station prior to automatically engaging other oncoming birds at the inspection station.