3.3.2008 9:22 AM

Surprise! Organic Chicken Tastes Like...Chicken

Australian Foodies Say No Taste Difference Between Birds

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30 Days to Green Your Diet - Look for cage free eggs.

Photo: Istock

By Annie Bell Muzaurieta

You might choose to buy organic chicken because you want to know your bird contains no antibiotics or hormones. Perhaps you're willing to pay more for that poultry because it comes from a producer who raises his birds in a humane way.

Some Australian food experts say, that's all fine and good, but you won't taste a difference between organic or factory raised chickens. According to a Reuters article, a consumer advocacy group lined up four food experts and had them taste eight different roast chickens: two organic, two free range, one corn-fed, and three regular factory-farmed birds. The experts could not tell the difference in taste among them.

They all agreed, however, that chickens just don't have as much taste as they used to. The consumer advocacy group suggested that the range in breeding stock now used in almost all chicken production is so narrow, that differences among poultry are indistinguishable, regardless of production methods.

In order to find poultry with any real flavor, the group advised finding a smaller producer who raises traditional breeds and lets the chickens live longer.

For more on traditional breeds, check out our coverage of heritage turkeys in the article Greener Gobblers.

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