What has happened to the chicken breasts?

[GoingBackToNOWHERE]

I know how this is gonna sound but please hear me out, I’ve been thinking about this since last night!
I pretty much only eat chicken breasts over any other part of the chicken, obviously been buying them for years and recently I have noticed that they have so much more tendons and parts that you have to cut off compared to how it was before? I’m talking like years? I don’t remember being like this before? And after that you are left with maybe a half of breast. Seriously it’s been bothered me! Before I could maybe cut off a small side piece of tendon and that’s it but lately like I said I noticed there’s so much fatty bits and tendons and everything.
Am I crazy?

I agree OP. Chicken breast used to be “just” the meat, easy to slice up and could use everything. Recently I’ve had to cut off quite a bit too. I would say it’s been getting worse since around Covid?

The food industry is struggling for suitable workers. It used to rely on seasonal workers from Eastern Europe but brexit has fucked that

https://www.thesterlingchoice.com/blog/the-food-manufacturing-industry-has-a-major-talent-problem-heres-why/

Farage didn't put that on the side of a bus did he. Fucking charlatan

Yeah I’ve noticed that too! Also worked out that the ‘chicken filets’ are the stringy part of the breast which is nuts because you pay more for them to be ‘cut up’ for convenience but it’s the worse part of the meat. I switched to thigh filets. More flavour and they keep well when stewing in a sauce.

Sold by weight so the manufacturer's profit goes up despite the quality to you being lower.

The quality and taste has gone downhill. It’s probably the cheapest chickens fed the cheapest food and then less prep is being done to drive the prices down.

Even the ones from our local butcher are not great at times.

I hadn't noticed that, but I have noticed that the last time I bought any they were almost tasteless.

I've now started spending a bit more for a higher quality chicken, doing a roast and using the leftovers for any other chicken based meals. Much more flavour.

I agree about loss of flavour in the breasts, I buy more turkey meat..
Slightly off topic but the pork fillets are worse and tough.

At least I haven't had a woody breast for a long time. (It's as gross as it sounds.)

I stopped buying chicken breast which is the only type I like a while back, it’s been weirdly tough and stringy with a sort of rubbery texture no matter how much I pay for the supposedly higher quality. I blame Brexit.

YABU, for just eating the breast.

I've not had this, fortunately.
I do always make sure I buy certified British meat though. The awful stories about the way other countries process meat, bleaches, hormones etc.

We’ve said a few times about it being tasteless. We’ve started only having it marinated for some flavour.

This is why I prefer the thighs. Juicer with more flavor

I’ve noticed it too. I wondered if it was due to the avian flu outbreak so even free range chickens were being kept inside and not having such a healthy life.

If you buy free range chicken breasts then they are much better!

I pretty much only buy meat from the butchers now - the quality in supermarkets has become so poor. And whilst the meat from the butchers is more expensive, you get loads more for your money and it is so much tastier.

Try eating the thighs, they are much nicer.

I think it's because they've bred chickens to be so fast growing, so they go from egg to slaughter in a matter of weeks. The growth therefore isn't just through weight gain (putting on meat), they grow a lot more tissue that isn't meat, which is why everything is stringier and full of 'bits'.

I've noticed this too OP. The price has gone up but the quality has gone down. So many horrible stringy bits in chicken breasts now.

Absolutely!! This has been annoying me for ages! My son did a college course in cookery and loves to cook curry's with me but I insist on carefully trimming all the gross bits off the chicken first as he wouldn't and we get gross bits on the chicken. I miss the old days where a chicken breast is just a nice price of lean meat you can rely on. You could use frozen but they're gross

I gave up on chicken breast a couple of years ago. Always dry and flavourless. I just use thighs now. Cheaper and they actually taste like chicken.

I've wondered exactly the same over the past few years. The texture has completely changed and the amount that needs cutting off has doubled!

Why?

Crazy to eat chickens atall,they are wonderful creatures.theres been endless bird flu so even for free range they've been kept inside alot so maybe that's affected them.