4 Tips for Choosing Fresh, High-Quality Broiler Chicken Meat

When you buy broiler chicken meat, you naturally want meat that is healthy and of high quality. Some people believe that eating broiler chicken is bad for your health, but that belief is not entirely true. When broilers are raised properly, slaughtered with hygienic equipment and distributed with hygienic equipment, the meat will be healthy and of good quality.

As long as you do not overeat it, chicken meat is good for the body because it is rich in fat and animal protein. To get those benefits, you need to choose fresh, high-quality broiler chicken meat.

Also read How to Raise Meat Chickens for Quality Meat

Why Should You Eat Fresh Chicken Meat?

Some dishonest traders today sell tiren chicken (from birds that died before slaughter), glonggongan chicken (pumped full of water to add weight) and formalin-laced chicken. Fresh chicken meat contains the fat and protein the body needs. Glonggongan, tiren and formalin-treated chicken is different: the meat fibers are already damaged, so the fat and protein content is reduced or even gone entirely.

Be careful if you often eat tiren meat, which is essentially carrion. What happens if tiren meat ends up in your stomach? It can upset your digestion and, worse, cause food poisoning and loss of consciousness. Tiren chicken has a slightly fishy smell and meat that looks bluish and pale. The meat does not look smooth, yet the skin feels slippery to the touch because it has been treated with formalin.

Also read 5 Things to Consider When Raising Laying Hens

How to Choose the Best Broiler Chicken Meat

You certainly do not want to eat tiren or formalin-laced chicken. Consuming these substances over a long period can cause serious health problems and may even trigger cancer cells in your body. To avoid tiren, formalin-laced and water-injected chicken, here is how to choose the best broiler chicken meat:

Buy Directly from the Farm

The first way to choose broiler chicken meat is to buy it straight from the farm. At the farm, all the chickens are fresh and still alive. Chickens with good, quality meat are those that are alive and healthy when slaughtered. If you want to buy meat in bulk, it is best to go directly to a chicken farm.

Meat Color

You can tell whether chicken meat is fresh and of good quality by its color. Fresh chicken has bright white skin with a slight yellowish tint. Be wary if the chicken on sale looks bluish, because the meat may no longer be fresh.

Firm, Springy Meat Fibers

When you press fresh chicken, the meat fibers are springy and intact, unlike the fibers of water-injected or otherwise injected chicken, which break apart and fall to pieces easily when touched. Meat in good condition feels moist but not sticky. Formalin-treated meat has a hard texture and is difficult to break apart.

No Strong Odor

The last tip is to choose meat without a strong odor. While tiren chicken has a pungent, fishy and rotten smell, fresh chicken smells slightly raw but not rotten. If the meat has been treated with formalin, you will not be able to smell anything at all. At traditional markets, flies will not swarm around formalin-laced meat, unlike meat that is still fresh.

Also read How to Check Chicken Meat Quality Before You Buy

That is how to choose quality broiler chicken meat. We hope you find this information useful.