Allowed? Allowed by whom?
Also, are you sure that the grocery stores are injecting the meat, or is it the suppliers?
Bigger, meatier fowl will feed more people just as increasing crop (corn, beans, etc.) yields will feed more people. Population numbers keep increasing.
I used to work for a company that sold a machine that injected saline solution plus enzymes into pig meat before boiling it. The sales pitch was that they would end up with a ham that was the same weight as the original meat, whereas the old-fashioned method (no saline or enzymes) meant that the ham lost up to 20%. The enzymes were there to tenderise the meat.
I have no idea if the same process could be used on chicken, but it does seem likely.
Okay, it is not genetic engineering, but selective breeding. The problem is, as with so much of today’s food, the end result is to maximise profit rather than improve the experience of consumption.
There is a dilemma here though: These fast-growing, cheap to produce, very big chickens are a cheap source of protein for millions. If you are poor, you are more concerned with filling bellies than producing gourmet meals.
I’ve noticed that grocery store chickens are bigger now, too. Bigger chickens mean tougher, chewier breast meat, so I take care to buy whole small chickens. These are usually the fancy free-range air-chilled type, so yes they cost somewhat more, but I’m tired of tough chicken breasts.
The thighs on the larger chickens are just fine, though.
I don’t think you can really say that though; they DO improve the experience of consumption in a sense; people tend to want white meat, and a lot of it. So they breed chickens that have enormous breast muscles so they can sell more of it cheaper.
I’m getting kind of tired of the notion that somehow consumers don’t have a choice and that industrial producers are forcing all sorts of unpalatable stuff on them for the sake of profit. It’s thorough bullshit. There are multiple substitutes- people can eat beef, pork or fish, or they can choose not to get breasts and get thighs, or they can get breasts somewhere else.
Nothing is forcing anyone to buy those breasts; if they’re continuing to be the default in grocery stores, it’s because they’re popular. Same thing with other foods like tomatoes- people like cheap and pretty, not expensive and flavorful. Even at my local Kroger, which is utterly unremarkable, I can get dull old Romas or some nameless hybrid tomatoes, or I can get vine-ripened greenhouse ones, or when in season, heirloom varieties. Or I can go to the farmer’s market and get locally grown ones, or grow my own. The vast majority of people choose the cheaper, prettier, less ripe and bruised ones over the ones that actually taste good.
I’ve actually cooked the stewing hens- as a matter of fact, it was an old egg-layer from a local artisanal-type farmer who had stopped producing eggs. While it was extremely flavorful (we made soup out of it), the breasts were really too small for a reasonably sized dish, and even after stewing, the meat was still more chewy than from a commercially raised chicken
If not for profit, why would the industry foist such unpalatable stuff upon us? It’s good that you are in a position with so many options. However, there are many people out there who don’t have that luxury. That’s no bullshit.
Most people are stupid. They think that if it looks better, it will taste better. You can’t do a taste-test of food before you buy it–at least not in the typical supermarket, where most people shop. So they buy the food that looks good, and never know the difference.
What you find unpalatable, others are buying and consuming in serious quantity. What you deem “foisting”, others see as offering a good selection (e.g. of tomatoes, as bump has noted).
A big part of making a profit is producing what people want to buy.
As a whole, we have far more food options today than we did years ago. If people didn’t like the big chickens, people would buy other foods instead, and the chicken industry would feel the pinch.
The reality is that people like the big chickens. Liking flavorful chicken is like buying local, people SAY they miss their local store and the helpful people there, but when time comes to pull the trigger on a purchase, they’re going wherever it’s cheapest.
To your OP, is it consumer demand or producer benefit? It’s both. The producer benefits because consumers are happy with the bigger lower cost bird.
When I was a kid, you sent gifts of oranges fercrikiessakes to relatives outside California, “Mission Pack”, and they were much appreciated.
The Chicken Of Tomorrow!
Now for the rest of the day I’ll be imagining the Chef Of The Future bit from The Honeymooners.
Years ago I read somewhere that bigger chicken breasts were a better bargain than smaller ones because the meat-to-bone ratio was higher. It seems to me that this is true.
Also, I think many people prefer chicken breasts that are less flavorful because seasonings have a larger effect on the final dish. You can serve that inexpensive chicken on Monday as barbecued chicken, on Tuesday as Cacciatore, and on Wednesday as chicken tacos, and family members aren’t all that likely to whine, “Chicken? Again?”
That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking!
Thanks for the earworm. I hadn’t thought of that commercial in decades.