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The Pros and Cons of Air Chilled Chicken & Which Brand is BEST? explores these very topics! The first several times I ate air chilled chicken it tasted old, but it was marketed as tasting better than water chilled. I was so confused. I did some deep diving and learned so much about chicken production in our country.
I found that one nationwide company is actually better than the others, and three of them, even though they’re organic, are better to be avoided.
Is Air Chilled Chicken Really Better? This article does not praise air chilled chicken like most articles on the topic. Instead, we look at the Pros and Cons of Air Chilled Chicken!
In this article, we’ll look at:
- What is air chilled chicken?
- Why air chilled chickens sometimes taste spoiled
- The gross alternative to air chilled: chlorine bathed birds
- Which companies actually use organic standards before slaughter and air chilling
- Where to get the better air chilled chicken brands (store locators)
- U.S. chicken production vs French or EU chicken production
- What to watch out for
What is air chilled chicken
Air chilled chicken is the new thing, especially amidst organic and gourmet chicken brands. But I wasn’t getting the better flavor being bragged about: For me, the new chicken on the market often tasted spoiled, bad or bland.
Air chilling is the process of cooling chicken rapidly after slaughter to prevent the production of bacteria.
The birds pass through several chambers where cold, clean air is used to cool the meat – resulting in no added moisture, the potential for stronger flavor and ideally, less chance for contamination. Europe’s air chilled poultry’s been in motion since the 1960s; the U.S. only introduced this process in 1998.
Prior to 1998, and still more commonly now, most U.S. chickens are dipped in chlorinated water.
What’s happening in our changing chicken market? Where is the American food system failing us when it comes to air chilled chicken — that it doesn’t always taste good?
Meanwhile, the outside of air chilled packages says:
- Taste the air chilled difference!
- Better taste and texture
Why air chilled chickens sometimes taste spoiled
Temperature control issues
My speculation is that during summer months, the quickly growing huge scale production of air chilled chickens means: Temperature control issues. It’s THE main challenge of any chilled or frozen food product: How to keep cold perishable foods cold enough amidst mass distribution all over the country!
Freezer trucks are expensive. And hot summers add a whole new challenge.
In this article, I look at the current sad reality of air chilled chickens: They are more natural, but if they are actually aging faster, they don’t taste good during the hot weather months.
We’ll also see behind the scenes that not all air chilled chickens are processed well, even when they’re organic.
The good news? — Air chilled chickens are great to try during the colder months, when keeping them cold in delivery trucks, is not an issue.
Storage time
My theory that air chilled chicken is not kept cold enough and ages too quickly is likely correct. When you look at national losses of chicken due to spoilage, the leading causes are:
- Prolonged distribution or storage time due to the fallible mass production process
- Inappropriate storage temperature making the expiration dates inaccurate (why chicken taste dangerously too old to eat even before it expires!)
It makes sense that these two factors weigh just as heavily, if not more so, on newer factories and newer models of production.
Called “temperature abuse”, this processing error can occur during distribution, storage and/or retail display.
While chlorine baths are not ideal, we do want chicken that’s safe and tastes good.
U.S. laws for chicken and food safety
Within four hours of slaughter, the USDA mandates that all poultry must be cooled to a temperature of 40°F or lower.
Behind the scenes: 99% of all chickens processed in the United States are processed in a chlorinated water bath.
Is air chilled meat safer
Sources vary as to which method is actually safer: air chilled or the less natural but more common chlorine bath.
Unfortunately, we have studies that contradict each other:
- One concludes, “The results indicate that chilling method had a minimal impact on the shelf life in terms of the microbial counts.”
- Another shares an increased risk of Campylobacter levels in the air-chilled carcasses.
- And a third finds, “… we demonstrated that air chilling resulted in a more diverse microbiome that we hypothesize may delay the dominance of the spoilage organism Pseudomonas.”
Noteworthy: Air chilling isn’t causing heightened cases of food poisoning.
Cheaper meat
EU countries refuse Americans’ chlorinated chickens, because they lower the standards of the meat industry.
But that chlorine bath is tempting because it means cheaper meat.
Why chlorinated food is bad
Conventional chicken is easier and cheaper for manufacturers to produce.
They make more money and are unregulated in the process.
In case you’re wondering what’s so bad about dipping your chicken in chlorine, let’s talk about that:
1. You’re paying for water weight
Surprisingly, in one sense, water chilled chicken is more expensive. The consumer pays for the company’s convenience: As one source reveals, “… chickens absorb up to 12% of their body weight in added chlorinated water which you pay for.”
2. Chlorine is a vapor that harms employees
Secondly, chlorine is actually a vapor. It’s so strong that breathing it in directly is fatal. This means that while eating chlorine washed chicken may not pose a noticeable risk to the consumer, the staff that work in chicken facilities are exposed to chlorine fumes all day everyday.
3. Chlorine kills good bacteria
Chlorine kills everything: germs, but also good bacteria.
Good bacteria help meat to taste great by creating an atmosphere of life, which prevents aging. When you kill all the good bacteria (with the bad bacteria), you actually accelerate aging.
Flavor goes downhill fast after that.
4. Poison dipped food
But, just the fact that our food has been dipped in chlorine, aside from the beneficial bacteria being killed, is disconcerting.
How can dipping our food in a poison be good? No, it’s convenient for food manufacturers, but it’s not good food.
5. Chlorine baths hide bad practices
We’ll talk about this one more, because it’s actually the main concern.
The EU banned chlorinated chicken — Chlorine hides bad safety standards
The European Union refused to allow chlorinated chickens into Europe starting in 1997. Now, for almost three decades, the EU has cost American poultry farmers hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
The EU’s concerns include the lowering of food safety standards (hiding poor practices within chicken factories, that create more pathogens) and the carcinogenic effects of ingesting chlorine.
Their choice to exclude chlorinated chickens means more expensive chickens but a safer food system.
Food safety standards on U.S. chicken farms
Interestingly, American guidelines of safety for growing chickens are merely suggestions, not requirements. So issues like lighting, the amount of space chickens have and ammonia production can be ignored by U.S. chicken farmers. Chlorinated washes supposedly kill any excess pathogens that result.
Chlorine baths can cover up chicken abuse, over-crowding and poor hygiene during processing, where cross contamination often occurs.
Surprising conditions at chicken growing facilities
When I looked more deeply into the growing conditions behind some U.S. organic air chilled poultry companies, I was actually gobsmacked by my findings:
- Mass production has resulted in overcrowding of the chickens, and thus dust and ammonia production that endangers the farmers’ and their families’ health in a significant way!: “… evidence has established working in poultry confinements exposes farmers to numerous occupational respiratory hazards including gases, mold, dusts, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), endotoxins, bacteria, fungi, and, in rare instances, zoonotic viruses.” (source)
- As a result, personal protective equipment (PPE) is often used or required by staff, and it’s suggested children limit their time inside chicken barns because PPEs are not made to fit their size, and breathing is otherwise considered unsafe!
- One study I looked at observed a chicken farm of 40,000 chickens, that was plagued with these safety concerns. But two of the main Air Chilled chicken companies we’ll look at below in this article (Purdue and Rosie) routinely raise 200,000 chickens in one area!
In contrast, let’s look at France’s husbandry
In France, where chicken husbandry is at its finest for larger scale production, all birds must be grown for a minimum of 81 days. And, there is a minimum sanitation stage of 21 days between flocks.
In the States, to ensure financial success, chicken farmers must squeeze in 4 to 5 flocks a year. More naturally raised chickens are slaughtered between 6, 8, 10 (70 days) and less commonly, 12 weeks for some organic companies. A 2-week sanitation period is suggested between flocks.
Healthful husbandry and eating is an ethical, thoughtful art form in France.
Money making and minimizing losses, while trying to keep in mind animal welfare, is the approach for most “organic” chicken farms in the U.S.
As we’ll see, at least one large scale American chicken company really does care, but some cut corners wherever they can, for profit.
The Pros and Cons of Air Chilled Chicken & Which Brand is BEST?
Mass produced birds must be compromised.
Sometimes, we’ll get fresher birds and not be disappointed. Other times, like during the hot summer months, I now get old-tasting birds (that frankly are gross-tasting) whenever I buy air chilled.
It gives me no pleasure to discourage the purchase of a more natural product. And I’m not suggesting anyone buy conventional chickens just because they may have their refrigeration or aging of meat issues figured out better. (In fact, salmonella poisoning from conventional chicken is still a real problem in the U.S.)
But the spoilage of air chilled chickens does point to what we all know anyway: Ideally, we’d buy from smaller farms (or grow our own), so this isn’t an issue.
Air-Chilled chicken companies: the good, the bad and store locators
Here are some of the nationwide producers of air chilled chicken and news about each company:
- Bell & Evans — This company describes here how they’ve never succumbed to the chlorine temptation. They get better flavor from the original process, plus it’s kinder to chickens and produces tenderer meat.
- I did not know about this company until I started researching for this article. But I am impressed by them. For a major chicken manufacturer, they have made incredible efforts to be sustainable, which includes animal welfare. You can watch a truly interesting video about their huge (2 years) new organic chicken processing facility here.
- Where to buy Bell & Evans Air Chilled Chicken: Find their store locator here. When I used this feature for my area, I found their organic product is sold at Whole Foods. I look forward to trying this brand this summer when the weather’s hot to see if the birds taste good and are kept fresh during storage and distribution.
- Perdue — Purdue is a massive chicken producer. Their seemingly natural birds are raised in static barns that can exceed 200,000 per flock! The birds may or may not receive organic feed. One source sites, “Trusted sources note that Perdue … is implicated in buying fraudulent grain from overseas, calling into question their true organic status.” When I contacted Perdue with questions, they said they recently stopped air chilling their chickens; but see Rosie and Rocky below to see why this company is still relevant to our conversation.
- Rosie — BIG surprise with this one! Rosie is the first organic chicken brand I ever purchased. It cost a lot more, and I assumed by the name, label and brand appeal, that it was a small privately owned caring chicken company. Guess what? Turns out, Rosie is owned by Purdue! As mentioned above, Purdue has been accused of “green-washing” their product. What’s labeled Air-Chilled is mass produced, compromised chicken. Roxie shares the same description: mass produced, very questionable origins and processes.
- Mary’s — After more recent updates, Mary’s chicken is now air chilled. This company seems to care somewhat about their chickens and quality. Their huge flocks of birds are both conventional and organic, live in static barns, with limited but some exposure to the outdoors, foraging and real sunlight; they are fed soy. Mary’s has their own farms and does their own processing. Their chickens are slaughtered at 6 to 8 weeks. Overall, they still get high ratings for their transparency, low cull and death rates; they do not cut the chickens’ beaks, and they get their chicks from their brand’s own hatcheries (instead of buying them from China). Use Mary’s store locator here.
- Trader Joe’s — TJ’s organic birds are all air-chilled. Unfortunately, their summer chickens taste very bad (spoiled). Hopefully this will improve this year? However, Trader Joe’s buys from factory scale producers to cut costs. They have zero relationships with farms, and zero transparency about how “their” chickens are raised. As a company Trader Joe’s does not care about husbandry or the environment, as they sell all kinds of conventional products, use huge amounts of plastic in their packaging, and profit is their primary goal.
Mass production of chickens means they age
In conclusion, why do American air chilled chickens taste inferior? It’s because of mass production and distribution.
While air chilled chickens in France taste great, why am I surprised that the American version isn’t anywhere near as good? We always have to go HUGE-scale. And mass producing of meat means compromise: Freezing, shipping, defrosting, sitting in the store … basically, aging.
The main problem I discovered in studying this topic is that America mass produces chickens. At every stage, we invite compromise of quality.
Speaking of two of the better chicken farms:
- Mary’s has two plants, one in California, and one in Utah, and ships their chickens nationwide. Bell & Evans has just one facility in Pennsylvania and ships nationwide.
In France, no more than 17, 600 birds can be grown per farm, divided into four separate groups. Between the farm and processing plant, there must be no more than two hours traveling time, or 64 miles. All birds are air chilled. And then: the shelf life — Birds must be sold fresh within nine days of slaughter!
American birds are frozen, and the shelf life for that bird is one year.
Freezing birds is not a bad thing, by any means. Many small family farms do this, of course.
But the lack of emphasis on selling fresh, plus the mass production and transport of birds across thousands of miles is in stark contrast and leads to issues of spoilage.
Of the 9 billion chickens raised in the US annually, 180 to 360 million are lost due to spoilage.
Wow, this was my favorite part of researching this topic. The disparity between American-raised birds and French-raised birds is shocking, and inspiring. We see how one country maintains the highest husbandry standards. And we see how U.S. chicken farms prioritize profit over quality — even with air-chilled birds.
The truth about air chilled chickens
While air chilled chickens are healthier than chlorine-bathed chickens, they are not anywhere near as healthy as most European raised birds, or chickens raised intentionally on small farms.
The brand of chicken you buy matters a lot! While Bell & Evans seems to really care about its birds, companies like Rosie, Roxie and Purdue do not.
Regarding the latter companies, these American air chilled birds rarely see sunlight, they live in cramped quarters, their food is quite possibly raised in China and only labeled “organic”, and the term air chilling is used as the EU feared: to cover up really bad factory standards. And yet, this term allows them to market their birds as better tasting.
Lastly, poorly raised air-chilled chickens pose a health risk to American workers who are exposed to airborne contaminants in the rank mass production barns where chickens are raised.
Benefits of air chilled chickens: Conclusion
Air chilling does indeed mean the birds have absorbed less water during processing, so you get more chicken for your money (and less water).
The plant workers are not exposed to the toxic chemical chlorine.
Some companies, like Bell & Evans, truly do care, and are doing a good job at delivering a better product, even if it is mass produced.
Final Conclusion: Which chicken to buy
In short, it can be a discouraging prospect to buy chicken in the States.
While very affordable and most likely very safe, in one sense, to consume, it would be better if we could all afford to buy from small farms ($20 to $30 each, not including shipping, when necessary) — or grow our own.
If you’ve been looking for that final reason to raise your own birds or buy locally, I hope that the real story behind even air chilled chickens has given you that incentive.
Lastly, when you go to buy chicken (very understandable that we can’t all buy expensive chickens or grow our own!), use the store locator features on the good farms’ websites to see where you can buy the best air chilled chicken:
- Bell and Evans store locator
- Mary’s store locator
And, avoid Rosie, Rocky and Purdue chicken.
The ideal is to encourage a hundred farmers or small holders to maintain fifty head of stock apiece upon their land, rather than for one worker to keep five thousand. — Wil Brown (1909)
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