Weird and kind of gross meat question...

[snewman]

Last night I thawed a whole breast from one of last year's cornish X birds. It was the breast bone with both breasts and wings attached. I thawed it in cold water. Prior to cooking I cut the breasts off the bone. On one side, the muscle closest to the keel (I believe people call this the "chicken tender") had a greenish tint, and the texture of cooked chicken. It was isolated in that one muscle, on one breast. What in the heck was that? There was no smell, and the rest of the meat looked fine. I had one previously that had a small isolated spot of green smack dab in the middle of the breast muscle. There were no puncture wounds or other injuries to these birds. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[Teach97]

cooked texture would be freezer burn in chicken

green...that would be infection or injection site or containation or...not real sure either

 

[CoopCrazy]

I know I have heard of finding green in your meat birds but honestly dont rememeber what caused it .. i'll look and see if i can find the post

 

[chicks4kids]

I can't remember what it's called either, but it's common in meat birds....lack of oxygen to that particular area...Just cut that area out-the rest of the bird is just fine!

 

[WingingIt]

We have it happen when we butchered ours. As I was processing them one had bright green all down there. I read up on it and it's because they get so huge so quickly and their bodies can't sustain support to all areas. I'm sure we could have avoided it by processing them a week or two earlier, but we had to wait until after the fair.

 

[jaku]

Green muscle disease/dead tissue. Be sure to cut it all away, and the rest of the meat is fine.

 

[Dogfish]

Pictures, while gross, would be educational for us first timers.

 

[snewman]

Thanks for your replies. I kind of thought it might have something to do with the excessive growth and poor blood supply to the underlying tissue. I did NOT tell my husband about it, cut out the green and ate the rest. It was fine. I was a little late in processing these last year, so maybe that contributed to the problem. If I find another one like that I'll try to get pictures.

 

[SteveH]

Here's an old post from onthespot :
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http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/ … d-products

Here is a part of the article that expains green breast meat in high yeild lines of meat poultry.

Cobb is also pioneering in DNA gene marker technologies which will enable its R&D group to select even more effectively against poor meet quality in its products. Another meat quality concern is Green Muscle Disease or Deep Pectoral Myopathy, which is the necrosis of the Pectoralis Minor (tender) muscle of poultry. Necrotic tenders appear yellowish-green in color. Green Muscle Disease results from vigorous activity of both major and minor pectoralis muscles, but only the tenders are afflicted.

During contraction, muscles normally swell with increased blood flow to supply needed oxygen and nutrients. The tenders compared to other muscles have a more rigid muscle cover and are confined to a tight space within the body such that they can’t expand to accommodate this increased blood flow. The net result of the muscle being confined and compressed is self strangulation, suffocation and eventually necrosis.


The incidence of Green Muscle Disease increases with market weight in broilers, and more cases are reported in higher yielding crosses and in males. Increased bird activity induced by factors such as feed or water outages, lighting programs, catching and live haul and even excessive noise may result in increased incidence of Green Muscle Disease in broilers.

Our geneticists select against Green Muscle Disease in the same way they select against PSE by careful identification during routine dissections and selection against families with a high incidence of this disorder and by research deigned to identify gene markers for selection against this characteristic.