Photo of chicken breast that shreds into spaghetti
A mother was completely shocked when the poultry she was preparing for dinner separated into stringy pieces resembling spaghetti.
Explaining that pasta was not on the menu that night, the mom shared a Facebook post showcasing the raw chicken she was washing, which unexpectedly fell apart in her hands,
“I think it’s that fake meat,” she writes on her now-viral post, inspiring online users to consider going vegan.
Continuing, Alesia Cooper from Irving, Texas, shared a troubling photo of a chicken breast seemingly protesting its fate on a dinner plate on March 21.
Cooper explains: “I’ve been debating on posting this, but since I had to see it, so do y’all.” The post, accompanied by an image of chicken shredding into spaghetti-like strands, continues: “I was cooking my kids dinner a couple of weeks ago and was cleaning my meat like I normally do, and when I went back to start cooking, it turned into this.”
The mother of two, who reveals she purchased the chicken breast from the budget supermarket Aldi, adds: “lol I think it’s that fake meat, but I’m not sure anyways…I ain’t made chicken off the bone since.”
Netizens flooded the comments section with their thoughts, with some suggesting the chicken was 3D printed or grown in a petri dish.
“That’s lab-grown chicken, it’s a new way they make chicken because of the last few years with the bird flu and resource shortages they didn’t have produce so last year they announced that they found a way to make chicken in a lab and that’s what’s in stores now,” one argues.
“GMO lab meat,” writes another user.
A third user decides, “It’s fake, I don’t buy it anymore.”
Offering a more logical explanation for the shredded chicken breast, another user suggests, “It’s not lab-grown meat or 3D printed meat. It comes from real chickens. The problem is when greedy chicken producers force-feed their chickens growth hormones so they grow way too fast.”
Regarding the issue of larger breasts, according to The Wall Street Journal, alongside the problem of hard, chewy meat known as “woody breast,” “spaghetti meat” is purportedly the result of breeding practices aimed at making big-breasted chickens grow faster.
So, there is more meat per bird and more profit to be made.
“There is proof that these abnormalities are associated with fast-growing birds,” says Dr. Massimiliano Petracci, a professor of agriculture and food science at the University of Bologna in Italy, speaking to the WSJ.
“Woody breast” and “spaghetti meat” may sound unsettling, but according to industry experts, consuming them won’t harm you.
However, it does harm the chickens, as their large bodies are too much for their small legs to support.
Chubby Chickens
According to data from the National Chicken Council, broiler chickens – raised for meat – now grow much faster than in the past. In 2000, the average bird went to market at 47 days old, weighing 5.03 pounds. In 2023, the average chicken still goes to market at day 47, but now they weigh in at 6.54 pounds.
Comparing these figures to nearly a century ago, broilers took 112 days to reach a market weight of 2.5 pounds in 1925.
These changes reflect the growing demand for white meat over the past century, driving the industry’s move towards producing chickens with “proportionally larger breasts.”
Dr. Michael Lilburn, a professor at Ohio State University’s Poultry Research Center, explains to the Washington Post: “If people keep eating more and more chicken, chickens will probably have to get even bigger…We’ll have to increase the proportion of breast meat in each bird, too.”
Lilburn adds, “What people don’t realize is that it’s consumer demand that’s forcing the industry to adjust. It’s a deceivingly small but vocal minority that are raising a lot of legitimate questions. The bulk of the U.S. population still doesn’t care where their food comes from, as long as its cheap.”
Fast food chains and certain grocery stores have contributed to the demand for larger breast meat. However, The New York Times reports that some companies are now requesting meat from slow-growth chickens, arguing that allowing birds more time to mature before slaughter will result in a healthier, happier life for the animals and produce better-tasting meat.
Meanwhile, online users are expressing their revulsion over the noodle-like chicken. One internet user asks, “It looks like worms! What are they feeding us?”
“I got some like that a while ago. It looked like that on the bottom. Things haven’t looked right like when we’re young. A lot fresher,” shares another.
Other internet users recommended shopping elsewhere: “You’ll find humanely raised and higher-quality chicken from a local butcher or co-op. I suggest going there instead for your meat.”
And some were motivated to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle.
“I’m going vegan!! Too much lab food around,” writes one, while another adds: “This is why we’re considering going pescatarian.”
It’s truly unfortunate that factory farming is subjecting these animals to so much suffering in their brief lives.
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