Green chicken??

Question

When deboning an organic chicken last night, I found the meat right next to and on both sides of the breastbone was lime green with no off odor. We had eaten some of the outer meat before making this discovery and survived the night with no symptoms other than mental stress.

I googled it and found a few forums which discussed this but nothing authoratitve. The farmer said he had seen this a couple of times before but didn't know what caused it. 

Any ideas?

Answer

Was the meat inspected when killed, by a veterinarian? Or farm killed and sold by the grower? This is not a good sign but inspection of the organs would be informative.

Answer

Green in the meat of chicken whether it has an odor or not is a sign of rot and should be thrown out. 

I worked for the FDA and this has come up before and there are several attempted answers. As a rule it usually happens in the larger breasted chickens.

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It shouldn't be bacteria or mould because that would affect the outside before near the bone.

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I can't speak for British Columbia, but in Ontario all farm slaughtered animals have to be approved by an inspector. The only exceptions are those that do not leave the farm, for family use.

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Truly environmentally friendly , organic, "green" chicken, where do I get some? Hilarious....

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OMG! This just happened to us. While carving our organic baked chicken imported from England Eberley's brand (we live in Bermuda) we discovered that both breasts had a portion of bright green in the middle of the breast. The meat although bright green had no odor or difference in texture. We of course didn't eat the green part but we had already eaten half of the bird so hopefully we too will have no ill effects. Wierd, huh? Deep tissue necrosis? It was almost like the muscle was just discolored rather than affected in any way - any diet effect? Post in if this has happened to you!

Answer

this just happened to us... bot a nice 5lb bird from local grocery chain, and one side of the breast looked wonderful... my 14 yr old started eating. When we carved up the other breast, a portion of the meat was as reported above lime green with no odor. My son had finished his portion, we couldn't stomach eating anymore of the bird. Returned it to the store (my husband was adamant that they see the issue!) and we got our money back. Now I am afraid I will never roast a chicken again!

Answer

ME TOO! I just bought an organic from a great farmer I've been buying from for a year. When I carved the right side, by the breast bone the meat was pale green. It was extremely alarming. 

THANK GOD for Chowhound. I searched everywhere for an answer and only found it here. 
THANKS READERS for posting your experiences - as well as saying you didn't become roaringly ill - saved my dinner party! Now... what was that?!

Answer

Hi I bought a chicken at the farmers market today, locally raised, grain fed. I was done eating and I was pulling all the leftover meat off the bone when I found a green pocket close to the brest bone, I threw the remainder out. This was the first time I purchased a chicken there and now I am concerned, not to mention the price was significantly higher $22 vs $10 for a supermarket bird.

Answer

I think this is pectoral myopathy (aka Oregon disease). It happens from exercise (wing-flapping) in birds bred for large breasts, since these muscles are right up against the sternum. There's no room for the natural swelling to occur, and you get necrosis, because bloodflow gets pinched off.

Answer

This phenomenon is caused by a strain or tear in the breast muscles while the chicken is still alive. The muscle starts to die before the chicken is slaughtered and there's a chemical reaction within the meat that causes the green colour to develop during cooking. The muscle damage comes from excessive wing flapping, usually from rough or inexperienced handling by humans trying to catch the chickens. There are no visible signs of this muscle damage in the raw bird - you only discover it after it's cooked.

If the chicken is properly cooked, the green meat is not a food safety risk but most people find the appearance completely, and understandibly, unappetizing. You can eat the rest of the chicken without a problem if you so choose. 

I work for a group of chicken farmers in Manitoba, Canada, helping consumers with questions and concerns about chicken raised in Manitoba. I get few calls a year about green chicken. The chicken has always been purchased from a farm or farmers market, never from a grocery store or meat store. Chicken raised by our farmers is only available in stores. These birds are handled by experienced people which may explain why there isn't a problem in store-bought chickens in Manitoba.

Buying chicken directly from a farm or farmers market always has the caution "buyer beware". If you get a "green" chicken, complain to the person/place you bought it from and ask them to be more careful when they handle their birds. You may also want to take your business elsewhere.

K Armstrong RD
Manitoba Chicken Producers
Manitoba Canada

Answer

An Irish chicken?

Answer

I cooked a large Perdue chicken tonight. It had lime green meat on one side of the breast, it ran along the bone. so if I am not mistaken what you are saying is the bird was not slaughtered humanly?? 
....https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1810&c=kfcreba0510&s_src=padba

Answer

This was all very interesting. I would be interested to know the breeds of chicken people have seen this in. Was it just the typical 3-way crosses (same birds used on battery farms)?

Or have people seen this in heirloom birds as well, such as Buff Orpingtons and other non-hybrid birds which have not been bred to have the huge breasts (twice as big as I expect a chicken breast to be).
 
The "typical" hybrid is a three-way cross by the way, too complicated for individual breeders to bother with and generally purchased exclusively through poultry suppliers.

Answer

I was breaking down a free range bird just moments ago when I found green, cooked-feeling tenderloins in the center (I call them tenderloins, I don't know what they really are. Fingers?). The underside of the breasts were slightly tinged green. The two tenderloins beneath the membrane were greenish yellow and had a mealy, cooked texture to them. No smell, thank god. It's hard to make this more gross, but one of the first things I thought was "Zombie chicken flesh!" No, not zombie flesh, just necrotized pectoral muscles. Much less disturbing

I think I'm going to have to toss the bird, which is a shame because I didn't get a receipt at the store. My favorite part about this whole thing is that it's called Oregon disease and here I am in Oregon. I didn't even know we had a disease!

Answer

It's called Deep Pectoral Myopathy or Green Muscle Disease.

http://ps.fass.org/cgi/content/full/85/10/1843
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/205102.htm
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/236/deep-pectoral-myopathy

Answer

Wow! This is a very interesting subject. I've never seen or heard of this problem before. However, I generally buy fryers which are young and lighter (under 4 lbs). 
Based upon the comments, this sounds like a common occurrence for larger, mature birds.

Answer

I have/raise turkeys and chickens. I was just carving out thanksgiving turkey who has been a free range organic turkey his entire life and like described in the discussion had a portion right up on the center of his breast plat a bright green area. We ate the turkey and left the area around the "green meat" and so far were not sick. So I guess Turkeys can have it also

Answer

I'm in Northern California and just found the greenish patches in a Safeway-purchased, Foster Farms chicken. The bird weighed 5.13 lbs.

Answer

I have been raising chickens most of my life. Started having a problem with deep pectoral myopathy (green muscle) about 12 years ago despite the fact that my chicks were sourced from the same breeder for over 50 years and my family has never ever seen that problem before.
The vet first said it was a bruise and checked my birds for disease. They were disease free. Not a food safety problem he said then and the vets say the same thing now. I had my birds checked by the vet again when I started finding more of it to make sure it wasn't disease. I eat chicken from the same flock as my customers do so I sure don't want to be hurting my family either. I couldn't live with myself if I made someone sick from what I produced.
I have since learned it was DPM. My chickens are free-range, flap their wings -- always have, always will. 
I contacted the breeder who put me onto one of the two breeders for North America (yes there are only two that supply most of the genetics other than rare breeds in NA). They told me it was DPM and was due to management problems and sent me a pamphlet on it. When I explained my absolutely no stress system (the only time they are handled is 15 minutes before slaughter and they are not held by their feet either. I carry them squatting under my arm which is the only humane way to carry chickens), the conclusion was that the fact that I let my chickens flap their wings was the management problem!
Chickens are chickens. They must flap their wings. No matter how much I implored them not to they did. But the genetics in these birds, designed to maximize breast development, compromises their cardio-vascular systems so much that when they do exercise and flap their wings, sometimes the blood vessels that feed their breasts explode. This then starves the breast of blood and the tenders die. It takes at least two weeks for the "green" to develop. If it is recent, there can be a bloody site, later on it starts to turn pale and then greens up. It's yucky too because the tenders get almost fibrous.
So, mishandling during catching has nothing to do with it. These injuries will show up as bruising and blood spots on the meat. There is a lot of mishandling of chickens, especially in the factory units and killing plants.
The problem for me as a producer is that I can't see the DPM from inside the chicken or from the outside. They look perfectly normal. So I don't know if the chicken I'm selling is free from it or not. It is only when one cuts into them either raw or cooked that the problem can be detected..
So, folks, please don't blame the producer. It is the industrial chicken production system that wants fast growing birds and creates these genetics for birds that are confined in facilities where they can barely move. So factory farmed birds are less likely to exhibit DPM due to their restricted movement and also because they are killed quite young compared to free range, roaster sized chickens.
Also, I do the slow grow feeding thing. Whole grains, pasture and lots of exercise. I still have the problem.
I'm not happy nor are my customers and justifiably so.
I'm moving to foundation and rare breeds now and don't expect to have any problems with DPM.

Answer

I don't know if this discussion is still active but a customer of mine just found some green meat near the breast bone of one of my pasture raised chickens. From this forum I have learned that it is called Deep Pectoral Myopathy and some have suggested that it is from rough handling, or strenuous exercise. Well, from an early age (two weeks) these Cornish Cross birds start to confront each other and vie for dominance in the flock. Every feeding time when I remove the feeders to refill them the males in Particular start to bump chests and flap their wings vigorously as a show of force. It lasts only a few seconds, but is so common I think nothing of it. I raise a few thousand birds a year on pasture on the Joel Salatin model and it seems quite possible that this posturing may be the cause of the muscle damage.

Karl Behr

Answer

This happnes when the chicken has an infection or sickness. USDA inspectors check for this in processing plants and slaughter houses. It is not uncommon, though chicken like this should be discarded. Personally, working in USDA inpected food manufacturing comapies, I wouldn't trust a local farmer when buying my fresh chicken. Just a thought, big companies get recalls because the meat is inspected, small farmers don't get inspected, thats why they have no recalls. ;)

Answer

The reason that it appears that organic chicken is the culprit with what is a condition called Deep Pectoral Myopathy has nothing to do with it being organic.
Generally speaking, organic farmers let their chickens free-range. The chickens live longer than factory produced chickens which are killed at 6-8 weeks. The chicken density in a barn is much less than in a factory barn or they get to run outside.
My family has been buying day old chicks for over 70 years. Only began to see this problem about 12 years ago. Vet tested and inspected. Disease Free. Safe to eat. Gross. Yes, even for me.
IT IS THE BREEDING.
Farmers used to raise their own chicks. We got lazy because it was and is more economical and easier to buy chicks than to keep chickens all winter and hatch our own chicks. hence we are dependent on the hatcheries. 
I tried to get away from this and raise my own, buying foundation breeds at great expense from an American hatchery and to get away from the breeding that causes DPM.
This didn't work because as Temple Granding and the leading poulty expert in North America said, these "heritage breed" hatcheries don't breed for quality and temperament. They breed for quantity. The chickens were marauding murderers, totally unnatural in their behaviour. no DPM but lots of murdered chickens. 
It's going to take a long time to build a flock that isn't murderous and doesn't have DPM.
Organic means what they are fed and not fed. Chickens bred for factory farms can be organic when raised with organic feed. They can be organic if kept inside all their lives. And they can also be organic if raised free range, allowed to run free but fed organic food.

Answer

Just checked with the Deli Mgr at my local CostCo - the green tinge is due to a condition called DPM (Deep Pectoral Myopathy) and is not harmful - just a bit off-puting when found. It's not gangrene and it's not rotted meat - I googled it - and it is safe to eat. The only place you will find it is near the breastbone.

Answer

Just had the same issue and found out from Perdue that it is what they call a "sports injury" or bruise. Chickens in coups try to fly and in so doing sometimes hit posts or ceilings and get bruised...the green color indicates that the bruise was healing, just as a human bruise changes color as it heals. Not very appetizing, but according to them, it would not be harmful to eat.

Answer

I bought chicken Breast Saturday from Winn Dixie, I cooked them on Bar B Q coated them with Bar b q sauce when done, I was eating mine pulling meat off, all of a sudden a pulled some meat off and then it was all green like fluorescent green, I took a picture of it took back to grocery store no one could tell me anything, I got a refund I kept a piece of the green put it in a baggy and put in freezer just in case I got sick, I put it on my face book, heard lots of things, like the Oregon disease, not slaughter right and it was bile, and also told it look like the chicken had cancer, so I wish they really would start testing all these chickens where people are finding the green I think they have done so much to birds that their all messed up

Answer

Hi,
I've been raising chickens for the past 20 years and my family collectively has raised them for over 70 years. About 12 years ago I found the same thing in a couple of chickens. The problem has been increasing over the past 10 years.
I bought my baby chicks from the same hatchery all this time. They are truly free range, always have been and managed with low stress. The only time they are handled is 15 minutes before they are slaughtered and we carry them under our arms because carrying them by their feet is painful and inhumane.
I spoke with the hatchery about 4 years ago who spoke with the breeders. The problem is one of breeding.
Cornish giants have been bred to maximize the amount of breast meat that can be gained from a carcass. There is a price to pay for focusing so much on lots of breast meat. The chicken's cardiovascular system can't handle the amount of muscle in the breast relative to its body and system so, when it flaps its wings or exercises too much, the blood vessels that feed the "tenders" in the breast explode, cutting off the blood supply.
When it first happens, there is blood staining in the area. Over a period of days, the meat will become a pale white -- looking almost like cooked chicken and start to harden. After a couple of weeks, it will turn green and have the consistency like wood.

According to my vet, it is not a food safety problem. Just don't eat that part. It certainly isn't palatable.

I raised foundation breed heritage chickens who never had that problem.

Now the hatchery is selling a different breeding of the cornish. One that has been crossed back to the heritage breeds in an attempt to try and fix the problem. Of course, these chickens will grow slower and their breasts won't get as big.

In factory chicken farms, the poor chickens are crammed in barns, don't get much exercise an are killed at about 8-10 weeks of age. My chickens live for about 5-6 months before they are slaughtered. I was told to kill them younger and to change my management practices by not letting them flap their wings.
Funny thing. No matter how often I implored them not to flap their wings they just squawked and said "What do you expect me to do? I'm a chicken. It's in my nature to flap my wings outside in the fresh air when I'm chasing after grasshoppers and bugs." 
I would never stifle the nature of a chicken by cramming it into a space with thousands of others so they can only move to eat and drink and then plop down to sleep.

I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of this. I wish I could find the document that the hatchery sent me so that I could share it with all of you folks. Google deep pectoral myopathy and see if you believe what I'm saying then.

Farmers like me need to find a good source of heritage chickens and breed our own to eliminate this problem. It is factory farm breeding, the genetics of which are controlled by two or three companies in North America. All commercial hatcheries get their cornish genetics from these giant companies.

That's all folks.

Answer

Hi,
I just opened up a package - a roaster, Harvestland, and found green on a part of the innards, I guess on the liver. One place I looked said that this could have been caused by the gall bladder bursting. I've never seen this before and am thinking it's getting returned and after Frontline the other day (re salmonella, etc.) I'm thinking of just giving up chicken.

Answer

Mickie44, I don't think this is the same problem that started this discussion, which was green meet around the breastbone thst was determined to be pectoral myopathy. I would certainly err on the side of safety.

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so is this the same issue you guys are talking about? This about ruined my plans for fagitas tonight.

Answer

That's what's known among restaurant inspectors as the Hippie Chicken of Death.

Answer

This phenomenon is caused by a strain or tear in the breast muscles while the chicken is still alive. The muscle starts to die before the chicken is slaughtered and there's a chemical reaction within the meat that causes the green colour to develop during cooking. The muscle damage comes from excessive wing flapping, usually from rough or inexperienced handling by humans trying to catch the chickens. There are no visible signs of this muscle damage in the raw bird - you only discover it after it's cooked.
If the chicken is properly cooked, the green meat is not a food safety risk but most people find the appearance completely, and understandibly, unappetizing. You can eat the rest of the chicken without a problem if you so choose.

Answer

Thank you for this great discussion. I found the same thing tonight on our home raised chicken as well. The only thing that was a little different than what many have described is that this green meat had a large red spot in it too. So, the idea that it is deep pectoral myopathy makes total sense. This chicken probably nailed herself really hard on something (not sure what, maybe another chickens beak, but our ladies are pastured and well protected and not crowded etc, etc, you get the idea) and gave herself a massive bruise right next to her sternum. She was otherwise very healthy as she finished at 6# 2oz and is quite tasty. I'm saving the green part and the red dot for my dog, who prefers her chickens raw and still flapping, but she'll take what she can get. We'll eat the rest and chock this up to some additional farm life learning.

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