Chicken is the most commonly eaten animal in the US, surpassing beef or pork. And with dietary recommendations that Americans eat less red meat, the obsession with chicken—which has lasted more than 30 years already—shows no sign of stopping. Maintaining that appetite, though, is already pushing the bounds of what’s biologically possible—and perhaps what’s humane.
To get a sense of how many more chickens Americans are eating compared to before, take a look at the chart below. The average American eats more than four times as much chicken today as he or she did in the early 1900s, according to data from the USDA. Currently, that amounts to more than 80 pounds per year.
This chicken and couscous dish is a winning weeknight dinner
Our collective appetite for chicken isn’t sustainable—not given how much of the protein we demand today, and, much less, the amount we’re slated to gobble up down the road. And chickens—their genetic makeup, anyway—will likely be forced to adjust.
New technologies in the 1940s, which allowed for better nutrition and disease control, as well as improved production management, helped the industry produce broiler chickens more efficiently. Later, advancements in both packaging and transportation further facilitated the growth of commercial poultry companies. But largely the industry has made do by selecting for certain economically advantageous genetic traits. Specifically bigger birds with bigger white-meat-filled breasts.
A study published last fall chronicled the troubling changes seen in broiler chickens over the past 60 years. Birds, which once weighed just over 900 grams (or roughly 2 pounds) when full grown, now weigh more than 9 pounds. The graphic below, which is based on a graphic created by the study’s authors, shows the relative weight of three different breeds. The first was the most commonly used in the 1950s; the second, the most commonly used in the 1970s; and the third is the most commonly used today.
