Slashdot Mirror
Fast-Growth Chickens Produce New Industry Woe: 'Spaghetti Meat' (wsj.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Chicken companies spent decades breeding birds to grow rapidly and develop large breast muscles. Now the industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with the consequences ranging from squishy fillets known as "spaghetti meat," because they pull apart easily, to leathery ones known as "woody breast." [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source.] The abnormalities pose no food safety risk, researchers and industry officials say. They are suspected side effects of genetic selection that now allows meat companies to raise a 6.3-pound bird in 47 days, roughly twice as fast as 50 years ago, according to the National Chicken Council.
That efficiency drive has helped U.S. meat giants such as Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride, Perdue Farms and Sanderson Farms produce a record 42 billion pounds of chicken nuggets, tenders and other products in 2018. Now, it's adding an estimated $200 million or more in annual industry expenses to identify and divert breast fillets that are too tough, too squishy or too striped with bands of white tissue to sell in restaurants or grocery stores, according to researchers at the University of Arkansas.
That efficiency drive has helped U.S. meat giants such as Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride, Perdue Farms and Sanderson Farms produce a record 42 billion pounds of chicken nuggets, tenders and other products in 2018. Now, it's adding an estimated $200 million or more in annual industry expenses to identify and divert breast fillets that are too tough, too squishy or too striped with bands of white tissue to sell in restaurants or grocery stores, according to researchers at the University of Arkansas.
your alternative source is literally just an article about spaghetti, you dinks.
Because the Slashdot editors are such stellar professionals and the "alternative source" to the paywalled site goes to an article on actual fucking spaghetti (with no connection to the main story at all) (ffs), here's the main article's text:
Fast-Growth Chickens Produce New Industry Woe: ‘Spaghetti Meat’
Jacob Bunge March 10, 2019
Chicken companies spent decades breeding birds to grow rapidly and develop large breast muscles. Now the industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with the consequences ranging from squishy fillets known as “spaghetti meat,” because they pull apart easily, to leathery ones known as “woody breast.”
The abnormalities pose no food safety risk, researchers and industry officials say. They are suspected side effects of genetic selection that now allows meat companies to raise a 6.3-pound bird in 47 days, roughly twice as fast as 50 years ago, according to the National Chicken Council.
That efficiency drive has helped U.S. meat giants such as Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. , Perdue Farms Inc. and Sanderson Farms Inc. produce a record 42 billion pounds of chicken nuggets, tenders and other products in 2018. Now, it’s adding an estimated $200 million or more in annual industry expenses to identify and divert breast fillets that are too tough, too squishy or too striped with bands of white tissue to sell in restaurants or grocery stores, according to researchers at the University of Arkansas.
“There is proof that these abnormalities are associated with fast-growing birds,” said Dr. Massimiliano Petracci, a professor at the University of Bologna in Italy, who leads a team of researchers investigating the chicken breast problems in breeds used in commercial farms.
Two poultry-breeding firms—Cobb-Vantress, owned by Tyson, and Aviagen Inc.—supply the bulk of breeding stock for the world’s chicken companies, industry officials said. Years of matching up genetic lines has boosted each bird’s yield of breast muscle, the white meat that sells for a roughly 13% premium to overall wholesale chicken meat prices, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data.
Researchers and breeders are still trying to pin down the exact cause of problems, a Tyson spokesman said. “While there are some factors linked to the occurrence—including bird weight, feed ingredients and the time of year the bird is grown—even a combination of these factors will not necessarily produce the same issues consistently,” he said.
An Aviagen spokeswoman had no comment.
Spaghetti meat—a name researchers have given chicken breast fillets that can be picked up and pulled apart by hand, or punctured easily with a fingertip—began appearing in 2015 and now can be detected in around 4% to 5% of breast meat samples, researchers said.
“It looks like spaghetti noodles,” said Dr. Casey Owens, a University of Arkansas professor, adding that the affected muscle fibers have a stringy texture.
Researchers also began observing white striping in commercially raised chickens around 2010, with woody breast appearing on the scene around 2013, Dr. Petracci said. Woody breast has been found in around 10% of samples, while white striping occurs in around 30% of chicken breasts sampled, he said. The severity of the problems can vary widely and often doesn’t affect the entire breast, researchers said.
Meat scientists said they suspect the rapid growth rate of commercially raised chickens may lead breast muscle tissue to outgrow the oxygen supply provided by chickens’ developing circulatory systems, at which point muscle fibers can degrade. That can alter the density and texture of the meat, they said.
Some restaurant and grocery companies aren’t waiting for chicken companies to solve the problems. Burger chain Wendy’s Co. in 2016 noticed toughness in some of its grilled chicken sandwiches. The chain in 2017
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
That's not saying much...
Today's chicken, like most other industrially raised foods has LOST pretty much all flavor.
Hell, I don't even buy tomatoes fresh in the grocery store anymore, they're just flavorless, and often horrible texture.
I long for my summer gardens for real tomatoes...especially more heirloom 'ugly' ones that you can just sit and eat like an apple.
I've been experimenting with hydroponic growing indoors for the off season grows...good results there too.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Like any process of selective breeding you have to go through each batch, and identify and selectively remove the ones that have genetic traits that are undesirable. Donald should read chicken industry has slacked off on their selective breeding quality control and it has resulted in undesired mutations. Always grow more than what you need because an uncertain number is going to be defective. And every so often you have to go back to going through the stock with a fine-tooth comb in order to filter out bad genetics
I first noticed what is now called "woody breast" about 7 years ago, but about 2 years ago it got some prevalent that I stopped eating chicken for a while. I eventually found a local farm producer that raises their chickens humanely and doesn't use the super-growing varieties. The cost is not significantly more than factory farmed chicken, it's better for the birds and the quality is night and day better. Plus, they butcher the birds to order - you can get backs and necks for stock for pennies and those birds were happily pecking away earlier that morning.
I listened to a podcast and did a little research on the subject and they're really stumped. The problem is that it's not unique to the fast-growing breeds - it occurs fairly regularly in the original stock too, so doing some cross-breeding to clear out the problem won't work. They have some new gizmo that can detect woody breast without contact (some difference in conductivity of sound?), which they're looking to bring online while they search for the genetic, environmental or husbandry basis of the condition. Right now, they have the processors feel the meat and redirect anything that feels hinky to the chicken nugget stream. (Apparently, the meat itself is fine, and the textural differences are obliterated by grinding.)
I suspect that there is some genetic component that has now become concentrated in the breed stock, because there is way more of it today than even a few years ago. Thank god for my local farmer!
Chickens (and other poultry) raised out of doors and allowed to choose their own favourite foods are obviously healthier, happier - and provide far tastier, more healthy meat.
The hideous fallacy of treating farming as an industry has caused an immense amount of unspeakable suffering for animals, while turning out unpleasant, tasteless meat that lacks vital nutrients - and may contain serious health hazards such as dangerous bacteria, viruses and antibiotics.
More is not always better. Cheaper is rarely better. Making very rich people even richer is not the purpose of farming.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
It's all good. When the economy collapses, and civilization falls shortly thereafter, I'm gonna be hunting healthy vegans.. No GMOs/pesticides for me, just tasty and healthy soylent green made from real vegans.