One of the most long-standing and widely-held myths about chickens has been busted once and for all due to recent research commissioned by The Australian Chicken Meat Federation (ACMF).
New research has revealed that, although six in 10 Australians believe that chickens are fed hormones and steroids, experts have confirmed that this myth is far from the truth.
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Dr Vivien Kite, Executive Director of the The Australian Chicken Meat Federation (ACMF) says, “It’s time for Australians to get their facts straight about chicken meat production”.
“Australian chickens are not given hormones or steroids in any way. Their size and robust growth occurs naturally due to selective breeding, animal husbandry and optimal nutrition.”
The research also indicates that more than a quarter of Australians are making a move away from red meat consumption for various reasons including health; budget and the environment.
Dr Sonia Liu, Senior Lecturer in Poultry Nutrition at the University of Sydney, says the production of today’s meat is a combined effort from genetic selection breeding programs; better health and farm management practices; and advances in nutrition and feed formulation.
“The industry hasn’t and doesn’t need hormones or steroids to achieve these improvements. Importantly, they are not approved for use in poultry meat production in Australia, which means that it is illegal to use them,” says Dr Kite.
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Dr Kite also explains that the popular myth may have come about in the 1950’s when a synthetic form of the female sex hormone oestrogen started to be used commercially in some parts of the world to increase the growth rate of cattle and young male chickens.
“Quite a few years later, media started speculating that the observed early sexual development in girls in Puerto Rico may be linked to the feeding of hormones to cattle and chickens, and despite the fact that subsequent investigation of the Puerto Rican incident discounted this theory, perhaps that’s where the hormone myth was born,” said Dr Kite.
Despite the facts, the myths around the use of hormones and steroids have lived on over the decades, and the recent research commissioned by the ACMF sought to understand how these myths have been perpetuated.
“With this new research finding around 64 per cent of Australians sourced this misinformation from media or online, it’s now time for every Australian to get their facts straight,” says Dr Kite.
