If chicken is part of your diet, you have probably noticed that some pieces of this meat are rather light in color, being almost pink, while other slices come in rich yellow hue. This probably makes you wonder what is the reason behind this and whether the color actually has to do anything with the quality of the chicken you buy.
Is one more delicious than the other? Or maybe one is treated with additives and the other one isn’t?
At first glance, color can feel like a useful clue. Consumers often rely on appearance when judging food, and chicken is no exception. In practice, however, color is a poor indicator of quality since it offers more insight into the bird’s diet, living conditions, and farming methods rather than freshness or taste.
Pale chicken is most often associated with industrial farming
These birds are bred to grow quickly and are fed carefully controlled diets. They are also kept indoors with limited space to move. This approach allows producers to supply cheap chicken in huge volumes, which is why light-colored meat dominates supermarket shelves. While the color alone doesn’t necessarily mean the meat is unsafe, it does point to a system built around speed rather than natural living conditions.
Yellow chicken usually suggests a different background
This color indicates that the chickens were fed plants containing carotenoids, such as corn and marigold. The color also comes from spending time outdoors and feeding on grass and insects.
When chickens grow more slowly and move around more, the meat tends to be firmer and more flavorful, similar to how chicken used to taste years ago.
The thing is, however, that some producers enhance the yellow color by feeding the chickens with foods that help achieve that yellowish color even though they are raised under intensive conditions, just packaged to look more natural.
This is one of the reasons why color shouldn’t be the sole indicator of how healthy or tasty the chicken meat is.
Now, while color isn’t the best guide, the labels are. Words like pasture-raised, organic, or free-range offer insight into a chicken’s diet, living conditions, and overall quality.
Fresh chicken should smell neutral and feel firm. If it smells off, the color doesn’t matter. Ultimately, the best choice depends on what you care about most. Is it the price, the taste, or how the animal was raised.
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