Why an Animal Welfare Group Doesn't Want You to Buy Chicken with White Stripes

When you pick up a package of chicken breasts at the grocery store, you probably don't look beyond the expiration date and the price tag before throwing them into your cart. But according to new research from an animal welfare group, we should probably look past the label and examine the meat itself.

Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) has released a report and an accompanying video in order to highlight "white striping," a muscle disorder that may be present in that chicken you just bought. (It isn't just a clever name: the disorder is characterized by a series of thin white stripes that run parallel to the muscles in the meat).

CIWF is focusing its efforts on the farming conditions that could potentially contribute to white striping, and the organization wants people to know that those conditions might result in chicken that isn't as lean or healthy as consumers are led to believe.

Previously published studies have suggested that the disorder could affect the taste, tenderness, and quality of the meat, and also increase its fat content. (CIWF cites a study that claims that chicken breasts with white striping have 224 percent more fat than their unaffected meat-department counterparts).

"There are recent scientific reports of an increase in the incidence of myopathies (muscle tissue disorders) in broilers, including conditions known as wooden breast and white striping; it is believed that selection for fast growth and increased muscle mass in broilers has played a key role in this increase, declining nutritional value of factory-farmed chicken," CIWF said in its report.

Although factory farm conditions are believed to increase the likelihood of this disorder, one of the other contributing factors might be us, especially those of us on high-protein, paleo, or other low-carb diets, who have collectively chewed our way to a significant increase in annual chicken consumption.

According to a report from the National Chicken Council, in 1960, the average American ate an average of 28 pounds of chicken every year. This year, that average is projected to be almost 92 pounds per person, and as Buzzfeed noted, the increased demand has led to younger—but much bigger—birds being sent to market.

In 1960, the average broiler was 63 days old and weighed 3.35 pounds, which means it gained a pound of body weight roughly every 19 days. In 2015, those broilers were 48 days old when they went to market, and weighed 6.25 pounds, which means they were gaining weight at twice the rate of those casual developers from the 1960s— one pound every 7.7 days.

A spokesperson for the National Chicken Council told Buzzfeed that the white striping affected "a small percentage of birds," but it would stand to reason that the number would only increase, unless farming methods are changed. That's what CIWF is hoping for, by asking poultry producers to improve the environment for their chickens, giving them more space, and improving the genetics of the birds they raise to prevent them from growing at such ridiculously fast rates. If you're concerned about how your chickens were raised—and whether what you're eating might be affected—CIWF says that Chipotle, Panera, Starbucks, and Whole Foods Market have all "committed to better chicken."