It’s rare for me to leave the grocery store or butcher shop without some form of chicken in tow. Whether it’s to make roast chicken on Monday, grilled chicken breasts on Tuesday, chicken cutlets on Wednesday, or wings on football Sunday, it’s one of the most reliable and versatile staples in my household.
If you’ve ever found yourself standing before the array of poultry options in a state of confusion, wondering what on earth each label means, you are not alone. Which elements of the label are marketing jargon, and what should we really consider important? Luckily, Steven Kim, owner of Montclair Meats in Montclair, New Jersey, is helping us decode the labels.
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Understanding Chicken Labels
From “antibiotic free” and “no hormones” to “organic” and “natural” to “farm raised” and “free range,” what exactly does it all mean? Well, according to Kim, not much. “If you go down the rabbit hole of all of these terms—free range, organic, and all of these new ones always coming up—they don’t really mean anything.”
For example, being organic doesn’t necessarily mean the chicken is better, as this label does not disclose the chicken’s diet or potential processing methods. Additionally, living free-range still means the chickens were caged—just in a bigger space to move around—as opposed to being cramped up in one tiny cage.
Never Buy Chicken if the Label Doesn’t Tell You This, Says a Butcher
According to Kim, only one label on chicken has substance and maintains full transparency: pasture-raised. He explains that this means the chickens lived freely on a pasture, “able to run around with space to walk, dig, and live as close a life as possible to the wild.”
The quality of a chicken’s life determines the entire chemistry of the animal, and ultimately, the quality of the poultry you’re buying at the store. “Cows need to graze, pigs need to wallow, chickens need to scratch and dig,” says Kim.
While he says many factors help shoppers spot high-quality chicken—for example, the meat should be pink and never slimy or smelly—looking for this term can quickly help narrow the options. The bottom line: Aim for fresh, pasture-raised poultry. “The fresher the chicken, the better it’s going to be,” affirms Kim.
Read the original article on Simply Recipes