Is it really worth it to buy organic chicken?
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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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Hopefully this works.
I work for a french based cheese making company and this was an article that one of our marketing managers sent to us. Food for thought I guess.
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Hopefully this works.
I work for a french based cheese making company and this was an article that one of our marketing managers sent to us. Food for thought I guess.
I don't see anything wrong with rich people spending money to feel better about their purchases. It's not as if their buying organic is preventing non-organic farming. Or that if they buy non-organic produce the non-organic growers will suddenly start shipping produce to the world's poorest inhabitants.2 -
I would say if you are absolutely sure of what you are getting, it may be worth the extra price.
I think it is definitely worth buying fresh over frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts, especially if you are watching sodium intake.0 -
Hopefully this works.
I work for a french based cheese making company and this was an article that one of our marketing managers sent to us. Food for thought I guess.
This is essentially what I have been learning lately. The organic food business is just that - a business. They push the idea that regular food is bad for us, or "toxic," to encourage people to pay astronomical amounts for organic food.1 -
Strawblackcat wrote: »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.
In the SF Bay Area, I am often able to buy whole chickens, legs and/or breasts for just 99 cents/lb and seldom have to pay more than $1.19/lb otherwise.
Currently have 10lbs of whole chickens that I bought for 99 cents/lb in my freezer. When I'm ready, I'll roast them up, freeze the parts and use the left overs to make chicken stock. Still working using up some other roast chickens and stock I made previously.
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Strawblackcat wrote: »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),
This is not true. You're conflating organic and free-range. "Free range" are the chickens who must have access to the outdoors (though, unless raised on a small farm, are usually too scared to actually go out there; chickens like familiar places and tend to stay put).0 -
Personally, I'd go with non-organic. But I don't like paying more for organic when I feel the regular stuff is just fine. If I'm going to buy organic chicken, I'll go to the specialty shop and get a really good free-range one.0
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I'm so confused by the organic label and what it means, that I don't bother. Everything I've read about nutritional benefits are usually to do with fatty acid content and fat-soluble vitamins in pastured/grass-fed animals. So, when buying lean cuts (especially chicken breast, its so lean!), I get conventional and get my fat from other sources. When pastured chicken is on sale, I'll buy a whole chicken. That way, you get fat plus some organ meats, if that's your thing.1
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TrickyDisco wrote: »
according to the farm they slit the throat which is a pretty well known "ethically" way to kill an animal.0 -
according to the farm they slit the throat which is a pretty well known "ethically" way to kill an animal.
Rather than "ethically," I believe what you mean to say is that the chickens are killed "humanely."
Any quick kill would be considered humane. Slit the throat, break the neck or chop off the head, it's really all the same.
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