Turkeys Are Twice as Big as They Were in 1960 (theatlantic.com)

Alexis Madrigal, writing for The Atlantic: A turkey today is not the turkey of yesteryear. For decades, animal breeders have been transforming the genomes of turkeys to make them grow larger. Since 1960, the weight of turkeys has gone up about a quarter of a pound each year. The average weight of a turkey has gone from 15.1 pounds in 1960 to 31.1 pounds in 2017. And most of that change has been genetic. In one study of a representative strain of turkeys, poultry researchers fed the same diet to turkeys from 2003 and to a control group of turkeys that were representative of that strain's genetic pool from 1966. On average, the 2003 females grew to 33 pounds. Their 1966 cousins only got to 16.3 pounds.

Comments

Selective breeding

[Geoffrey.landis]

The phrase "transforming the genome," although accurate, may be a little misleading to the non-science public. What this means is "selective breeding," not "genetic engineering."

It is interesting to compare farm-bred turkeys to the wild ones. We do get wild turkeys in our backyard-- they are quite impressive birds, not at all similar to the big-but-dumb coop-raised turkeys.

I don't know about turkey

[rsilvergun]

since I've always hated the stuff, but modern fruit is just awful. Oranges especially. They grow to the size of grapefruits and as a result the tree can't get enough sugar or flavor to them. They taste like balls of fiber and wax. I stopped buying them. I can by the various breed of tangerines I guess but it's just not the same. I miss real oranges.

Re:And yet

[PopeRatzo]

The ONLY ways I've found turkey to be remotely flavorful are: Injecting it and deep frying it, or smoking it

I tried smoking a turkey, but I couldn't keep it lit.

It doesn't taste the same either

[jenningsthecat]

Same thing with chicken. For a long time during my 30's I had the impression that chicken didn't taste like it used to, but I dismissed it as the 'good old days' syndrome. Then I visited a town on the savannas in Guyana and ate free-range chickens that didn't look as though they'd been cross-bred with beach balls. Wings, legs, and breasts were much smaller than I'd grown used to, but they tasted wonderful - just like I remember chicken tasting in my early years.