The health consequences of consuming chicken, turkey, duck and goose meat

White meat – from chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese – has become the meat of choice for manypeople living in the West. The average consumer will eat at least 1,226 birds in a lifetime. Of all types of meat, chicken is especially popular, accounting for one third of all meat consumed inthe UK.

Recent fears over bird flu, food poisoning, dubious foreign imports and chicken meat pumped up with beef protein and water knocked sales a bit, but the birds’ ‘healthy’ image remains largely untarnished. White meat is perceived to be a low-fat food; something to be eaten in quantity by top athletes.

However, modern farming’s focus on high-energy feed, little exercise and breeding for rapid weight gain means that even organic meat is not even close to being low-fat – even after removing the skin and scraping away the subcutaneous fat. A medium-sized chicken contains almost a pint of fat! And contrary to popular opinion, animal protein is not essential for building muscle or for children’s growth.Turkey has even been called a ‘superfood’. However, white meat contains no fibre, complex carbohydrates, nor vitamin C.

When white meat takes the place of fruits, vegetables, wholegrains and pulses in the diet, the result is less vitamins, fibre, and unwanted dietary fat and cholesterol –increasing the risk of a number of chronic diseases, which are discussed in this report. In the UK, 95 per cent of chickens, 95 per cent of ducks, and the overwhelming majority of turkeys are raised on large factory farms. Crowded together indoors, these animals eat, breathe and excrete in the same physical space every day.

The overcrowded, unsanitary conditions mean that infectious illnesses spread rapidly through the birds. Death rates of five to 15 per cent of all birds are common onintensive units – they fail to live to even their very young slaughter age.

The amount of meat that the world eats is expected to rise by over 55 per cent in the next 20 years. Chickens, as the most intensively farmed animals, are expected to be on the front line of this change. Human health – and the environment – will be on the front line, too.

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