Why we grow our own chicken meat.

[GaryD]

Hi,

I watched a segment on River Cottage Spring a few nights ago where they featured Professor Michael Crawford who is a leading researcher on the effect of nutrition on brain development.

I subsequently found a Sunday Times article on his research around chicken meat and the impact of intensive rearing on its nutritional profile.

While we most frequently associate Omega 3 (which is essential for brain development in children) with fish, it turns out that chicken is a much more important source, given that it usually comprises a much larger proportion of many diets.

The article reveals how, in the past 30 years, Omega 3 levels in chicken meat have diminished by 80%.....while fat levels have increased by 30%

Like most people, I always sensed that free range chicken meat was better.....better for the chicken and better tasting meat.....but I'd have struggled to quantify it in nutritional terms.

I now understand what makes free range chicken meat so valuable.....and what is needed to produce meat with the right nutritional profile.

You can read the full article......here. Alarming stuff!

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

It seems that, not only is intensively-farmed chicken meat not what it used to be (nutritionally-speaking) but it can also make you sick according to some research conducted at Bristol University in the UK.

I found this article published in Mother Earth News.

There's another article in a similar vein.....here. This article relates to research done at Johns Hopkins Medical Research Center in the US.

I've never heard of campylobacter before......turns out to be a kind of gastro-enteritis. The interesting part for me, is the relationship between stressed animals (of the sort to be found in intensive sheds) and the disease.

Gary