Poultry perspective
By: Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton
Hospital Food
(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)
I have been defending the poultry industry for some time now and at the same time complaining that the industry doesn’t do a good job of telling its side of the story. This week, I found a new way to tout the benefits of readily available chicken. My Dad was in the hospital for 5 days during which I ate at least one meal a day in the cafeteria. I was offered chicken fried, baked, barbequed, in soup or in a variety of salads in the cafeteria. As I stood in line, I started to notice the percentage of people ordering the chicken. It was by far the most popular entrée. Meanwhile, Daddy had chicken broth for 3 days as a part of a liquid diet. Then, when he was able to get solid food again, he had baked chicken and oven fried chicken. Chicken dominated the hospital menu choices.
There is good reason for this, as chicken can be made to fit just about any diet. It works for tasty low fat, high protein, and low salt and liquid diets. Thanks to the industry, it is readily available at a reasonable cost even with $6 corn. This can only be done with modern practices. Thanks to these practices, high quality feed can be made with minimal cost, allowing for efficiencies in production including hatchability, and growth. Genetics plays a major role in growth, yield and disesase resistance. Further, modern housing methods and vaccines protect them from disease while keeping them safe from predators. .
This applies not only to chicken but also to turkey and eggs — high quality affordable protein in a variety of tasty forms suitable for any diet. Sometimes, defending modern practices causes me to lose sight of the goal of feeding the world.
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