Beef lovers know all about beef, we can tell a good piece of beef from a not so good piece of beef just by looking at it. We know that not all USDA Choice is equal and that for certain cuts and occasions it is definitely worth it to pay for Prime, Prime+ or Wagyu beef (as long as you can afford it)... and yet when it comes to Chicken, we are usually clueless.
All major Meat Purveyors focus on high quality Pig, Lamb, Beef and even Pork.. but everyone ignores Chicken. Chicken is cheap and it is not sexy. Nobody really seems to care or wants to care... but you should. We all assume all Chicken is equal, but it isn't.
FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CHICKEN
You may have heard that unlike beef, Chicken is not graded... that is false. Chicken is graded, but the grading is not as good as the labeling for beef. Chicken is Graded A, B or C.It is very unlikely you will see anything but Grade A chicken at the retail level.So it is up to independent third parties and customers to decide what Chicken is high quality and what Chicken isn't...
All Chicken is Hormone Free
Hormone-Free is nothing but marketing (yes, we are guilty of using it because people want to see it). When you see a "hormone free label" it makes it feel like that particular chicken is healthier and more natural than other options, it's probably not. The FDA hasn't approved the use of hormones for raising any type of birds (or pigs) that will be used for food, so the hormone-free label is completely unnecessary. All chicken legally sold in the US is hormone-free.
Antibiotics matter
On the other hand antibiotics matter as they ARE legal and can be added to Poultry. Are anti-biotics bad? Not necessarily...The FDA and CDC blame antibiotic use in farm animals as a reason for growing human resistance to the drug, but there have yet to be any regulations set by the FDA about their use. At Meat N' Bone we choose to sell antibiotic-free Chicken because we believe that if we can avoid consuming unnecessary antibiotics, well, that's better.
Organic Chicken may not be worth the premium.
If you compare Organic Chicken vs your average non-organic chicken, it definitely is worth it..The organic label guarantees certain standards.
However, compared to high-quality All Natural, 100% Air Chilled Chicken such as the one Meat N' Bone Sales, the "organic label" loses its value as the main differences are palpable, often related to location of the actual plants.
An organic product means hat it's been certified to meet the qualifications that the USDA has set for organic products. But that certification is expensive... Some producers feel as though they go above and beyond the organics standards, yet aren't certified due to costs and other issues. That is where we fall, we do not see a reason to pay a premium for the certificate.
The reality is that its nearly impossible to distinguish the taste of an organic chicken from a high-quality non-organic one and there is no significant nutritional difference.
There are other foods worthier of your organic dollar. We suggest you start with fruits and vegetables which typically have the highest pesticide residue.
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