Livestock producers typically want to get their animals to market weight quickly so they can sell them and make money. But in poultry, there’s rising interest in broiler chickens that take longer to mature and are more expensive to raise, with the trade-off of tastier meat, says The New York Times.
“A fast-growing cohort of companies that buy vast quantities of poultry … are demanding more meat from slow-growth chickens, contending that birds given more time to grow before slaughter will give them a healthier, happier life — and produce better-tasting meat,” says the Times. Poultry giant Perdue Farms is trying out Redbro, a chicken variety that takes 25 percent longer to reach market weight.
The big challenge for producers, and by extension for retailers, is to find a slow-growing variety that is not unduly expensive to grow. “Consumers would also have to accept some trade-offs: While the new chickens have a fuller flavor, their meat tends to be distributed differently … with more generous thighs and smaller breasts than the chicken most Americans are used to. Aside from Perdue, the major poultry firms have expressed little interest in slow-growth birds, says the Times.