You might remember the post I did questioning what happened to the dark meat on chicken. To refresh your memory, you can see the post by clicking here! I was questioning what happened to the dark meat on chicken. The photo below shows a thigh and a breast and you can see very little difference in the color of the meat. I had sent Foster Farms a note questioning why the change.
Can you tell the difference?
Here is the response from Teresa Lenz at Foster Farms, which I was given permission to post:
“Thank you for your interest in Foster Farms. We wanted to help address your question regarding white and dark chicken meat.
Different parts of the bird may have differences in color due to the locations and types of muscles. Actual differences in color vary naturally from bird to bird. While dark meat parts are generally deeper in color due to the muscles containing more myoglobin, the actual amount of this natural protein and resulting color varies by bird. Physical appearance alone does not dictate whether the piece of meat is from a white meat or dark meat muscle, and color of the cooked meat may also be influenced by cooking method, temperature and lighting.
At Foster Farms, our chickens are raised in large poultry barns (without cages) that allow the birds to move around freely and to exhibit natural behaviors. Foster Farms prioritizes the care and wellbeing of its birds and all Foster Farms fresh chickens are American Humane Certified. For more information about our commitment to the humane care of our birds, please visit our website at FosterFarms.com.”
Thank you Teresa and Foster Farms for responding.
I do appreciate the response but I have been cooking their chickens for more than 40 years and have only recently experienced what the photo above shows us. My cooking technique has not changed, nor has the temperature at which I cook it. As far as lighting goes, I did not mess with the photo I took, and you can clearly see that the dark meat is no longer dark.
I am thinking free range and maybe organic is the way to go now for dark meat on a chicken!
Of course, you can always bring the meat you prefer to be dark to a tanning salon.
Their answer seems as though they probably received the same question from others. To me it seems odd that what has been dark meat forever, in my lifetime anyway, is now white in color. And – as you pointed out in your blog about this – this is not the first occasion of having dark meat be white…… I don’t think their answer is the full story!
Me too! Which is why I posted their reply as promised. I think it was a non-answer. I addressed the issues with the differences in tissue muscle. I have made no change in my cooking methods, and my lighting in the house has been the same over the last 6 years here. It was the same for all previous 34 years too. Something has changed and they do not want to address what it is that they are doing. My opinion…