Old-hen meat fed to pets and schoolkids

[Nagishkaw 510]

Pets might like it, but among most consumers, "spent-hen" meat isn't very popular.

It's tough, stringy and far less appealing than the more tender meat of broiler chickens. But that didn't stop the government from using the National School Lunch Program as an outlet for egg producers struggling to find a market for 100 million egg-laying hens culled each year.

From 2001 though the first half of 2009, USA TODAY found, the government spent more than $145 million on spent-hen meat for schools — a total of more than 77 million pounds served in chicken patties and salads. Since 2007, 13.6 million pounds were purchased.

Newsletters of a trade group representing egg producers regularly note the need to find new markets to "dispose" of spent hens. The primary options: pet food, compost — and schools.

Campbell Soup, for instance, stopped using spent-hen meat more than a decade ago. The reason: "quality considerations," company spokesman Anthony Sanzio says.

Because the hens are usually restricted to tiny cages, they often suffer from osteoporosis and have especially brittle bones that easily splinter. When schools reported bones in the chicken, the government stopped purchases for school meals in April 2003. After new provisions aimed at preventing bone splinters — and lobbying by the trade group, United Egg Producers — purchases resumed that July.

Besides the bones issue, some scientists believe spent-hen meat is more likely to carry salmonella, which can be especially dangerous for children. A 2002 study by Washington State University's Avian Health and Food Safety Laboratory found that spent-hen carcasses were four times more likely than broilers to be contaminated with salmonella. The spent hens in the study were from a single plant, so the results offer no proof that similar problems occur on a broader scale.

Still, "it suggests spent hens are significantly more likely to be contaminated with bacteria that can cause … diseases," says Michael Greger, a physician who runs public health programs at the Humane Society of the United States. Because the hens are stacked in pens from floor to ceiling, they are exposed to high levels of fecal dust and subject to heavy stress, which can contribute to higher infection rates, he says.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture say spent-hen meat is safe and nutritious. "Mature hens must comply with the same safety standards as any other chicken processed and sold to consumers," says Rayne Pegg, head of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.

Still, the USDA is buying fewer spent hens today. In 2006, it purchased 30% of all spent hens processed nationwide; now, it buys less than 10%.

Craig Brooks, who oversees food distribution at the South Carolina education department, isn't sorry to see fewer spent hens. "The taste," he says, "just didn't go over."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/200...ool-lunch_N.htm

[Staashi 371]

All I know is that I have friends who are poor and they'll tell you that hen boiled tastes just like a full-priced chicken.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Waste not Want not.

[Nagishkaw 510]

I'd rather waste than want.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Andrew Zimmerman considers spent-hen a delicacy.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Cows, most of its meats are consumed. Gelatin made from bone, you don't want to know what meats are combined to form the hot dog (e.g cow #######), tripe, stomache, heart, intestines, etc...I think I have never seen a cow brain sold, but, it maybe combined into hot dogs.

Such a waste to produce a cow just for the muscles (e.g steak). Heck, the skin is used for leather. Why stop with cows.

Hint to the reporter: Salmonella is just as spreadable as new hen meat.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Better or worse than squirrel?

[SMR 368]

Adding to the list of sayings that are valid responses to this post, beggars can't be choosers.

[Peikko 1,575]

When I was growing up, boiling fowl were a popular choice because they were cheap. They make excellent stews/soups and there is nothing inherently inferior or wrong with using it for that purpose. Of course, it would not be a great choice for say pan fried breasts but I can't see those being offered to kids. Mind you, I don't think battery farming is acceptable whatever way you slice it.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Cows, most of its meats are consumed. Gelatin made from bone, you don't want to know what meats are combined to form the hot dog (e.g cow #######), tripe, stomache, heart, intestines, etc...I think I have never seen a cow brain sold, but, it maybe combined into hot dogs.

Such a waste to produce a cow just for the muscles (e.g steak). Heck, the skin is used for leather. Why stop with cows.

Hint to the reporter: Salmonella is just as spreadable as new hen meat.

Actually, the brains are considered a delicacy in many countries, although the prions that cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy are also found in the brain and spinal columns of infected cattle, so I doubt I would eat them.

I've never heard the phrase 'spent hen' before, but we used to get boiler hens from the farmer from whom we bought our eggs when I was a girl - the hens that were no longer productive. Mom had a way of preparing them that made them tender and tasty.

[john & jean 37]

Cows, most of its meats are consumed. Gelatin made from bone, you don't want to know what meats are combined to form the hot dog (e.g cow #######), tripe, stomache, heart, intestines, etc...I think I have never seen a cow brain sold, but, it maybe combined into hot dogs.

Such a waste to produce a cow just for the muscles (e.g steak). Heck, the skin is used for leather. Why stop with cows.

Hint to the reporter: Salmonella is just as spreadable as new hen meat.

ummm, COWS do not have a #######, and should not try milking a bull either!!!

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

Cows, most of its meats are consumed. Gelatin made from bone, you don't want to know what meats are combined to form the hot dog (e.g cow #######), tripe, stomache, heart, intestines, etc...I think I have never seen a cow brain sold, but, it maybe combined into hot dogs.

Such a waste to produce a cow just for the muscles (e.g steak). Heck, the skin is used for leather. Why stop with cows.

Hint to the reporter: Salmonella is just as spreadable as new hen meat.

ummm, COWS do not have a #######, and should not try milking a bull either!!!

sure is easy to spot the city folks

[john & jean 37]

Cows, most of its meats are consumed. Gelatin made from bone, you don't want to know what meats are combined to form the hot dog (e.g cow #######), tripe, stomache, heart, intestines, etc...I think I have never seen a cow brain sold, but, it maybe combined into hot dogs.

Such a waste to produce a cow just for the muscles (e.g steak). Heck, the skin is used for leather. Why stop with cows.

Hint to the reporter: Salmonella is just as spreadable as new hen meat.

ummm, COWS do not have a #######, and should not try milking a bull either!!!

sure is easy to spot the city folks

from a country boy to another

[ScottThuy 140]

Close to 2 bucks a pound for old hen?

[Captain Oates 911]

When I was growing up, boiling fowl were a popular choice because they were cheap. They make excellent stews/soups and there is nothing inherently inferior or wrong with using it for that purpose. Of course, it would not be a great choice for say pan fried breasts but I can't see those being offered to kids. Mind you, I don't think battery farming is acceptable whatever way you slice it.

Feel quite randy now...

Me and my dad used to keep 300 hens and we had one for lunch every Sunday. We used to go into the shed Saturday night in the dark while they were perching and feel their breasts to see if any had 'gone light' (They do that if they are sick). I guess a few years of that made me such a great lover.

We killed and ate the sick ones. Never had a fit hen, I wonder what they taste like

Also, on bonfire night, they would die of a heart attack with all the explosions. We would go to the shed on the 6th November and eat those too. Full of rigor mortis and looking startled.

Road kill pheasant is nice too

Edited December 10, 2009 by saywhat