Image via WikipediaI went to ShopRite in Hackensack this morning to buy Readington Farms chicken for my wife and son, who have resumed eating meat. But I bought Coleman organic chicken instead, because it was nearly half the price.
There was nothing in the sales circular about the organic chicken, and I figured it was a misprint. And there were only skin-on legs available. But at 99 cents a pound, a tray of four legs came to around $1.50 or less, so I bought seven trays, most for the freezer.
Readington Farms legs were selling for the usual $1.89 a pound. And the store was having a 40%-off sale on crappy Perdue chicken. ShopRite rarely has a sale on drug-free chicken.
Both Readington Farms and Coleman raise their chickens on vegetarian feed and without antibiotics. All bets are off on how Perdue chickens are raised, but the parts are much bigger than their naturally raised cousins -- likely as a result of the antibiotics they receive.
My wife likes to rub drug-free chicken legs with Grace-brand jerk sauce (hot), put them in the refrigerator for several hours, then roast them in the oven. We use a meat thermometer, because they take less time to cook than conventional legs.
FYI, Perdue Chickens are now fed an all-veggie diet and are going antibiotic free soon. They're raising the bar across the board, yet again, so don't cross them off your list just yet :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.perdue.com/products/pvp/
In 2011, you wrote Perdue is going antibiotic free "soon," but that separate line of drug-free chicken didn't show up for about five years. And some ShopRites don't carry it because it would compete with the store brand of antibiotic-free chicken, Readington Farms.
DeleteYou sound like a stockholder or executive. See this week's posts on Perdue.
ReplyDeleteI'm neither - I just an activist & foodie who read up on some of their efforts recently and was somewhat impressed at what they're doing. I only got to your page because I was comparing Coleman products to Perdue's new "Processed Verified" line. The fact that Perdue is rolling that out across ALL of their products in the near future is pretty impressive... and I honestly think it's tough to argue otherwise. It's easy to be a pessimist but you've got to applaud improving something across the board.
ReplyDeleteOK. I haven't seen any recent change in Perdue packaging -- not that I spend that much time going over there now that I don't eat poultry -- but will take a look.
ReplyDeleteCompanies only do something to improve their product when they start losing sales to competitors who, in this case, don't administer antibiotics.
Quick response! The organics are definitely gaining market share, there's no doubt about that, but I think mid-tier brands like Perdue are being squeezed from the bottom as well from crappy store-brand, private label chicken. You either have die-hard organic fans that will always buy top-shelf, or you have consumers hit by the economy who are buying bottom-shelf value products. So in a way, I think it's a healthy push for Perdue to refocus on being a big player in the top-shelf... probably because of the higher margins. I work in the Dairy industry and I know grain prices are killing pretty much every ag-based company right now. Dramatic times call for dramatic responses.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous.If you work in the Dairy Industry are you aware of the two most destructive foods that has caused many physical problems for many people? These two foods are animal flesh and dairy! Information to confirm this claim is www.heartattackproof.com or www.hacres.com.
ReplyDeletePretty much the same points are made in a film, "Forks Over Knives."
Delete^ and basically BS! I eat organic but I don't believe all the BS I read or see either. Many people that live on farms have eaten poultry and dairy for many generations and most live to a ripe old age.
ReplyDeleteWhat's you're point?
DeleteI think your post is being invaded by poultry lobbyist, they always gonna say that their product is healthy.
ReplyDelete