Is it really worth it to buy organic chicken?
filbo132
Posts: 956 Member
I usually but my chicken breast at Costco and they have now started selling organic chicken breasts at the same price as the regular one with the only difference of having much more chicken in the regular one vs the organic one, about 10-15 more pieces. Healthwise, am I still better off buying the regular chicken. For sure pricewise, the regular wins.
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Better is a word we can't define. I try to keep away from anything named Tyson - preferring to buy from local places because I hate, HATE the chicken industry and what they do to the poor birds. Same with other meat animals, actually.
Keep in mind "organic" is a buzz word now used to sell product.9 -
You have to know how to interpret those labels and its very difficult when the companies are so deceiving. It can say "organic" but it can still have been given antibiotics. "All natural" is the worst label it basically means sucker, and if it's "no antibiotics" it means just that, non at all. There's probably a lot more info on Google and could explain it better.2
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Oh and don't get me started to the Angus beef movement!0
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Not particularly. It depends on if you're allergic to any of the additives and preservatives they add to meats. Also, many organic meats don't add the salt water that you find in other meats to preserve it. People that are on low sodium diets may benefit from organic meats. That might be the reason why you see more meat in the organic package than the non-organic. Most frozen chicken has been pumped full of salt water to plump them up, thus making it look like you're getting more meat and bigger chicken pieces but the added weight is just water.2
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Produce & meat may be better for you due to the lack of insecticides and chemicals added but I never buy organic anything because of the higher price for all things organic.
Haven't noticed any health or other problems caused because of this choice in my case.0 -
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BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
My thoughts, exactly. This quote from that article pretty well sums things up: "Not only is there no tangible reason to buy organic, but it contributes to the sad weakness of America’s critical-thinking skills. The organic industry perpetuates the “natural is better” fallacy."
I've actually been shopping less at Costco because they keep increasing their organic stock to the exclusion of other foods. It's making Sam's Club or the regular grocery store a cheaper option for some of the foods I buy.
As far as antibiotics, I would certainly hope that sick chickens would be given them! Otherwise, that's cruel. There is a withdrawal period for any animal given antibiotics so that their systems are cleared of the medicine before their eggs can be collected for sale or the animals slaughtered for meat. That's true of any farming method.0 -
Organic chicken? No.
Chicken that is not pumped full of saline solution during packaging? Yes. At least for me. I can't stand the texture of that type of chicken.6 -
Organic, yes. Anything organic is regulated. Anything other than organic, NOPE.
They can still call a chicken 'organic' by simply feeding it organic feed - an organic chicken does not mean the chicken lived a care free, all natural chicken lifestyle. This chicken may never see the light of day and still be grown at a crazy pace to get it to market quickly, and yet it can still labelled organic. Maybe OP was wondering only about health benefits from organic vs non-organic meat, but I know many people pay more for organic livestock thinking it was raised humanely or given a chance to roam outside foraging, which is not necessarily the case.6 -
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I think it's worth the extra money to buy meat that was not raised on antibiotics, but I do not feel it's worth the extra money to buy organic.1
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BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
My thoughts, exactly. This quote from that article pretty well sums things up: "Not only is there no tangible reason to buy organic, but it contributes to the sad weakness of America’s critical-thinking skills. The organic industry perpetuates the “natural is better” fallacy."
I've actually been shopping less at Costco because they keep increasing their organic stock to the exclusion of other foods. It's making Sam's Club or the regular grocery store a cheaper option for some of the foods I buy.
I've noticed this from Costco as well and been irritated. I also recently moved from a lower income area to a higher and the local grocery store has much more Organic food than my old one. I have to hunt for the non-organic produce.1 -
Organic, yes. Anything organic is regulated. Anything other than organic, NOPE.
They can still call a chicken 'organic' by simply feeding it organic feed - an organic chicken does not mean the chicken lived a care free, all natural chicken lifestyle. This chicken may never see the light of day and still be grown at a crazy pace to get it to market quickly, and yet it can still labelled organic. Maybe OP was wondering only about health benefits from organic vs non-organic meat, but I know many people pay more for organic livestock thinking it was raised humanely or given a chance to roam outside foraging, which is not necessarily the case.
How does one grow a chicken at a crazy pace?0 -
I think so, if only for the more humane tendencies of organic meat producers. The chickens can't be kept in cages, must have access to the outdoors (although, you have to research the company that you're buying from to figure out if the chicken actually ever went outdoors), and are allowed more floor space in the chicken houses than conventional meat production allots. Plus, they can't be given subtheraputic doses of antibiotics, so the chicken houses generally have to be maintained better.
The optimal scenario is that you would be able to find a local producer that raises his chickens on pasture and never uses chicken houses, even if that farm isn't considered USDA Organic. But, when that isn't avaliable, organic is the next best option IMO.0 -
If you are buying Coleman Organics from Costco, Google the company. In their FAQs on their website, they explain what the animals are fed and how they are housed. As far as antibiotics, I think people have a problem with "preventative" antibiotics being given to livestock because they feel that the practice can lead to antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.
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its all personal preference. Im lucky that in San Diego we have so many options. I buy dairy from local California farms that only milk their cows once a day (all other times are spent out to pasture)... our chickens come from a farm that "ethically" kills the chickens and they also have a ton of space (i actually visited the farm they have more room then my dogs and our backyard is .6 of an acre). Keep it mind this is shopping at whole foods and its super expensive. I can afford it and I care about the animals so its cool, but man its expensive.0
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Better for what? Taste? Environment? Cruelty? If you're just taking about nutrition, it don't matter.
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So long as it's affordable, I tend to go by what is better for the chicken and which tastes best. Organic isn't always a guarantee of a huge increase in welfare, though and not all "free range" chicken is equally free range. Meat quality wise, the difference there is more apparent in the thighs, as thigh muscle that has been used to walk about a bit tends to be darker and quite gamey.
In fact, if cost is consideration for you, go for higher welfare skinless boneless thighs over bog standard breast. It's just a much nicer meat.0 -
Organic chicken you buy at costco is not worth it IMO. If you are getting organic chicken from a local farmer & know that person's farming practices fine. To mass produce anything there will be trade offs.2
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Organic chicken? No.
Chicken that is not pumped full of saline solution during packaging? Yes. At least for me. I can't stand the texture of that type of chicken.
This. Chicken is expensive enough. If I'm going to pay that kind of money, I want actual meat and not water or chicken broth. If I wanted those things, I can add them in myself.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Organic, yes. Anything organic is regulated. Anything other than organic, NOPE.
They can still call a chicken 'organic' by simply feeding it organic feed - an organic chicken does not mean the chicken lived a care free, all natural chicken lifestyle. This chicken may never see the light of day and still be grown at a crazy pace to get it to market quickly, and yet it can still labelled organic. Maybe OP was wondering only about health benefits from organic vs non-organic meat, but I know many people pay more for organic livestock thinking it was raised humanely or given a chance to roam outside foraging, which is not necessarily the case.
How does one grow a chicken at a crazy pace?
As another poster noted, by feeding them like crazy and not allowing them to move around much. For example, a broiler chicken can be raised to maturity in 6-7 weeks, often times being unable to walk more than a few steps because their breasts are so enlarged but their legs are not developed enough to handle that extra weight. http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/05/the-difficult-lives-and-deaths-of-factory-farmed-chickens/1 -
Cutaway_Collar wrote: »
This sounds more like OWS, anti-elitist sentiment than facts about the organic movement. The author sounds very emotional and is not presenting any real evidence against the organic movement.BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
We buy Bell and Evans chicken mostly. We don't shop completely at whole foods except a few things such as milk, eggs and tomatoes. I am not hellbent on the organic movement but I also don't buy irresponsibly from the conventional grocery store coz much of what they sell is junk.
I'll agree that this post is something of a personal rant but the title should have conveyed that pretty clearly. It isn't a scientific article.
I'm quite familiar with Kavin Senapathy's work. She's very committed to exposing pseudoscience and quackery in all its many forms. Here is her page on Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kavinsenapathy/#28b17bad124d 0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Organic, yes. Anything organic is regulated. Anything other than organic, NOPE.
They can still call a chicken 'organic' by simply feeding it organic feed - an organic chicken does not mean the chicken lived a care free, all natural chicken lifestyle. This chicken may never see the light of day and still be grown at a crazy pace to get it to market quickly, and yet it can still labelled organic. Maybe OP was wondering only about health benefits from organic vs non-organic meat, but I know many people pay more for organic livestock thinking it was raised humanely or given a chance to roam outside foraging, which is not necessarily the case.
How does one grow a chicken at a crazy pace?
Lock them up, stop from moving around much and feed feed feed. Same way you or I can gain weight very very quickly
That would make them fat, not grow quickly st to get to market quickly. People aren't going to the market to by overly fat baby chicks.
Chickens grow at a pretty rapid pace anyway. It varies by breed, but they will be full grown and laying in 5-7 months.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Organic, yes. Anything organic is regulated. Anything other than organic, NOPE.
They can still call a chicken 'organic' by simply feeding it organic feed - an organic chicken does not mean the chicken lived a care free, all natural chicken lifestyle. This chicken may never see the light of day and still be grown at a crazy pace to get it to market quickly, and yet it can still labelled organic. Maybe OP was wondering only about health benefits from organic vs non-organic meat, but I know many people pay more for organic livestock thinking it was raised humanely or given a chance to roam outside foraging, which is not necessarily the case.
How does one grow a chicken at a crazy pace?
As another poster noted, by feeding them like crazy and not allowing them to move around much. For example, a broiler chicken can be raised to maturity in 6-7 weeks, often times being unable to walk more than a few steps because their breasts are so enlarged but their legs are not developed enough to handle that extra weight. http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/05/the-difficult-lives-and-deaths-of-factory-farmed-chickens/
That article doesn't say they are overfed. it says they have "...are the product of genetic manipulation that has drastically increased breast and thigh tissue (the most popular parts of the animal) and produced a very rapid growth rate..."0 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »Organic chicken? No.
Chicken that is not pumped full of saline solution during packaging? Yes. At least for me. I can't stand the texture of that type of chicken.
This. Chicken is expensive enough. If I'm going to pay that kind of money, I want actual meat and not water or chicken broth. If I wanted those things, I can add them in myself.
Expensive? Conventional boneless/skinless breasts are $1.88/lb at my local Kroger. That's super cheap. Then again, I'm used to paying anywhere between $2.50-$4.00/lb for a broiler.0 -
Jealous....In the uk even the cheapest breast meat around here is £8 a lb.....organic £10 for a couple of pieces.0
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