# Organic vs non-organic meat **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251 "2015-11-11T03:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251/41 "2015-11-12T14:36:27Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > I’m in favor of free range because I like happy animals. Also because I like happy animals, But think about this. Is it truly better to have animals live happy lives, only to be cut extremely short, and in their prime, so as to be turned into delicious things for us? Or would it actually be better for them to be so miserable that they welcome death’s sweet release? It’s a conundrum for sure. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251/42 "2015-11-12T14:45:46Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > WHAT?! > > ::Throws lunch banana away:: Now if that was a Free Range banana, free to roam and scratch and do banana-y things… 😉 I refer to the apples from my backyard orchard, unsprayed, no insecticides or pesticides, as “free range” as a sort of joke, sadly, only a couple co-workers got the joke… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251/43 "2015-11-12T15:25:01Z")
What gets me is that some of the premium egg brands actually brag on the packages that the hens are fed a 100% vegetarian diet. The only reason to feed hens a vegetarian diet is because it’s he cheapest, but it’s absolutely terrible for the hens. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251/44 "2015-11-12T15:53:32Z")
Yeah, that bothers me, too. All the best-tasting chickens I’ve eaten had access to bugs to supplement their diet. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251/45 "2015-11-12T17:49:40Z")
Yeah - chickens are _omnivores_, as are quite a few other birds, and are healthiest when they get some bugs or bits of meat in their diet. That’s one reason they’ve been so popular around the world for a good part of history - they’re a way of converting kitchen scraps back into usable food. Sort of like how pigs can likewise “recycle” kitchen scraps. I mean, of course, you don’t want them eating 4-day road kill or anything else putrid (unless you like eating vultures) but a vegetarian diet isn’t at all natural for chickens. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251/46 "2015-11-12T20:43:15Z")
Someone from America’s Test Kitchen was on NPR a while ago and one of his tips was to look for chicken that says it was \*air chilled \* instead of _water chilled._ Air chilled chicken is stored in a giant freezer after it’s slaughtered while water chilled chicken is dunked in icy water. His point was that unlike a label like ‘free range’, there’s no ambiguity where you have to guess what the conditions of the chicken were really like. Also, since air cooling is significantly more expensive for the supplier, they are often a little bit better birds all around,. Ever since I’ve only bought air chilled chickens. I haven’t had gross rubbery chicken since! ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251/47 "2015-11-12T21:28:02Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > What does matter is what the pigs eat. Mine live on a large pasture. They eat what they root up, along with a special feed that my local feed mill and I concocted that includes peanuts, corn, oats, etc, but absolutely no soybeans or lysine. They also eat acorns and walnuts when they fall out of the trees. My butcher also says that the slogan “the other white meat” tells you that you are getting crappy pork. It should be pink. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organic-vs-non-organic-meat/737251.md?page=2)