On a pathological level it results in vein inflammation, muscle degradation, muscle death (necrosis), and lesions in the muscle. Barf. no more wal mart. Why does my chicken breast have a weird texture? I actually googled this and your same query came up on this site. Just SO gross! The chicken felt the same as the last chicken I bought which was probably 2 weeks ago. Texture is an emerging challenge within the poultry industry. I asked my husband to taste it and he tasted the flowery taste too. If you're aware of what to look for, it's pretty easy to avoid purchasing chicken like this. The texture really is disgusting. Agree with Susie S. It does appear to be two separate issues. Thank you for using the word "crunch," as that is exactly how I describe it. Same! It seems too simple to be true, but eating or drinking something hot may temporarily cause your sense of taste to get weird. I recall them being more saltybut this was back in the land before time, so probably shouldn't have included them. I am so glad that my boyfriend and I will not be getting food poisoning! I am shocked that there is not more talk about this issue. With all that said, just woke me up to what is and what isn't when it comes to buying "all natural". Its a genetic issue with the mass producers, i.e. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. I havent had that problem anymore. I see it just about every time I'm out there shopping for chicken breast, and now know what to avoid. And those farmers who continue to breed these fast growing breeds so that they can get the meat to market faster will just go out of business because no one wants to be eating this crap. I try to avoid red meat (especially fast food burgers) and chicken breast is about the only thing on the menu i would order.not any more. Almost sort of.deflated in a way. I'm so glad I found this thread. It has an odd "bite" to it, like your biting into a piece of rubber, like a silicone type rubber. That is Frankenchicken. I bought my first pkg of Red Bird chicken, boneless breasts. Your reply is very informative, but with a little research I have learned that both dark and whit chicken has changed, and not for the best. We spit out those pieces. I'm guessing that, like cv said, your product has been pre-brined. Ive been purchasing frozen 10# boxes of 5 or 6 oz. Its not you, its genetic altering gone wild. I don't know the answer as to how to address this issue, but just glad to know it wasn't just me that thought the chicken being served these days has changed dramatically. It is nasty but supposedly safe - the meat industry would say that though. If I hard boil them, they are difficult to peel, the whites have a weird texture and the yolks are like rubber balls. Oh my goodness I thought I was crazy!!! And yes, it tends to be the larger ones sold at the butcher counter as singles (by the piece, boned, skinless). . Except the neighbors heirloom tomatoes sprayed with 7 dust every 5 days. I found this piece from 2016: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woody-breast-could-bite-the-chicken-business/. Oh, I know, we arent eating those, but funny how our big sick looking Chicken Breasts came at the same time they gene edited chickens. Overcooking might play a role in your chicken's tire-like texture. Thank God I'm not crazy! When I cut into the chicken I feel resistance (like you would when butchering raw chicken rather than cutting/carving cooked chicken) and there is a strange almost squeaky mouth feel. Someone below mentioned something about chicken being injected with water to increase weightI think this is plausible. Why does my chicken have a rubbery texture? I am so turned off by all meat and poultry that I am reduced to pasta and fish. I only ate a few pieces before throwing it away. I think it is Woody Chicken breast as the other poster pointed out. What a world we our creating for ourselves! I have had better success using 'Just Bare' brand chicken breasts or just resort to cooking more whole chickens. I'm sure you're right, creamtea. It is troublingits kind or rubbery and 'squeaky' when you start to chew. The . Usually if you see a large piece in a tray you know it's going to be bad. We couldn't eat it; those fibers are too weird and crunch in the most unappetizing way. We had this happy many times with chicken, turkey breast, and pork chops/loin. This is extremely common in Springer chicken. Well there is insecticide in cereal..and not only foods should raise red Flags. Just saying! Both meals had this texture problem and were very unenjoyable to eat. I have only run into this issue with breast meat. This brand of Chicken is used in many major restaurants in the US. Then, dredge it in seasoned flour and shake off the excess. My oven is a convection with a built-in thermometer option. - kettultim The food has always been great but me, trying it get on track with my diet ordered grilled chicken. I think I have some form of PTSD now from eating it. I genuinely thought I hadnt cooked it properly. So I guess we all need to just start returning the meat or the packaging to the stores . Why does chicken taste weird all of a sudden? I ate one small piece of chicken which was fully cooked but had this raw feeling texture. For me, the taste of perfume or cigarette smoke in my food is the biggest turn off. After breaking down 3 Springer chickens for regular dinner meals in the last few weeks--- and each time when it came to the breasts, the distinctive and unpleasent "rubbery crunch". There is a new-ish problem with some chicken called "woody breast" that seems to fit your description. Then I started tasting it in frozen chicken entrees - some pieces good, some pieces not. I bought 2 chicken breasts from our local higher welfare butcher in Toronto and when I asked if the meat was free range I was told it was Mennonite chicken. Whole Foods, among others, carries it. The plus of that also is they are forgiving and rarely get overcooked or dry unless you let them go too long. Hope American families wise up, its not like we have French oversight checking farmers animals & crops constantly, because they dont want our unhealthy GMOd crap we factually are trying to slip into their country. I will follow up on this but it is still happening and it is disgusting. Last night (20 Oct 2021), is my first time ever with this weird texture. Oops, read all 161 comments and hope find a bit of information about todays Nancy chicken. ive noticed this once or twice in the last few years, but more so since weve been in quarantine (past 6 months.) I have had this multiple times in random packages of chicken from. It is also enjoyed as a snack food. Cooked chicken that has gone bad will usually be slimy, sticky, and overly soft. Either way, it's not normal. I wish I could find a brand of organic chicken breasts that are not crunchy. I have stoped eating chicken breasts completely because of it. . First time poster- all because of gross rubbery chicken! Weve purchased Tyson in a pinch without issue as well. Americans have no idea that 98% of what they are eating is cloned and genetically altered, strait from Transnational Capital to your table. I wish I knew the answer You're the first person I've encountered who's experienced this! Never had a problem with Whole Foods regular antibiotic free Rotisserie chicken. Yup, this is something I've experienced recently - it's horrible. Pimples Or Sandpaper Shells Kathy Shea Mormino I buy organic chicken breasts and taste horrible. We wind up throwing out half of our dinners each night. I don't think it was dry. SO glad I looked this up. Stephanie , you are exactly right. I was searching for the same problem and now see all these comments. I'm sure that its not overcooked. Tyson, just in general, should be crossed off the ole grocery list as it isits the probably the worst as far as product quality, and that's even excluding the "woody breast disease" issue. I referred to the #1 in another post below. Got a response from @roguecookers that helped. omg. It had such a horrible texture, like almost crunchy but was cooked all the way through! Trader Joes heirloomchickens are tough tasteless and dont feel cooked they used to be great now no good terrible & rubbery. I bought them fresh today from a local farmer style market. The chickens are being grown for market too fast. I have experience that with Wendy's multiple times and it is a fatty chicken. Wish we knew what this was about ! Can this make you ill though? Edit: as some of you have suggested I believe the cause of the weird texture in the chicken was bromelain. this must be rooster or rat meat. First off, they are HUGE, like a turkey breast. It happened months ago and just happened last week again. this Is not chicken. I've been having difficulty lately eating chicken and I this may have been the end for me. So we figured the vendor must have changed distributors. Thanks for relieving me of guilt for not finishing the half eaten plate in front of me! . I too have had this issue. My friend reassured me it all looked done as far as what she saw. We buy all our meat at Fresh Market, a local speciality grocer. Even cooking it for an extra hour does nothing for the texture. The chicken is fully cooked through (I can tell based on internal temp, time in the oven, color of the chicken and juices), but the texture of the chicken is funny, almost like it hasn't been thoroughly cooked. I haven't had this issue with local market that sells fresh chicken (not previously frozen and not injected). No thanks. It is like a rubbery tough texture that kind of snaps as you finally bite through it. Pay attention to what is really going on! It's interesting to me that it's so hard to find any information on it. This weird phenomenon is known as woody chicken breasts. This causes a texture that is described as "woody" when cooked. Ill leep reading all the responses on this thread to see what everyone else thinks . But I would say, dark meat just a bit under is pretty close to that rubbery "crunch-like" unpleasant texture. so unappetizing. Same thing happened to me when I made chicken parm last week..I thought it might be the pounding or the pan, but same thing you describe.cooked but textremely is raw feeling in the mouththought I was crazy. Absolutely horrible here in AZ. "It's something all poultry producers have been working to resolve.". While Im normally hurt when they insult my food, I couldnt help but agree!! So, maybe if a parent chicken had antibiotics/chemicals/etc but a baby chicken did not and was raised differently, it would still be affected by this disease. It is designed to remove all traces of blood to make foul or meat fit for consumption ("kosher" means "fit", kosher salt which is coarse and has no additives is intended specifically for this purpose). The chicken wouldn't brown, but eventually the liquid evaporated and left a brown scum/skin in the bottom of the pan. Unfortunately, if you're buying frozen chicken breasts, you likely won't know if any are woody until you defrost them. My description has been feels raw- some how under cooked but also rubbery the way it gets when it has been over cooked. The processing of preparing chicken for the market place is being injected with water!! The chicken breasts were unusually huge (850g for 2 breasts) and Ive made two different meals out of them. Exact description too. When chicken breasts are overdone, the texture becomes rubbery. Thanks for making me laugh, though you are right.it isn't funny anymore. I was thinking it's got to be something either in what the chickens are being fed or what companies are doing to them. Raw chicken shouldn't be slimy, sticky, or tacky and should be glossy and somewhat soft. Really strange and sad. As long as it's not dangerous, they may remain quiet. I buy an occasional Bell and Evans, WF 365 branded and two local farms here in NH that do a nice job. Why does chicken sometimes have a weird texture? It's always the same. The owner said they were having problems with their suppliers and quality of chicken trouble and assured me that all chicken had temperature gauges in them and were done. NAHHHHH So now Im sitting here hangry af looking at a juicy hard woody with Extreme disappointment. They definitely are. We need to complain to our representatives about this filth, you cant even become a vegetarian because of all the pesticides, genetic engineering and radiation thats used. . A couple of years ago I was getting it quite often at Arby's. . I even got a letter from the owner of Springer Farms who was very honest, but also a bit graphic in the details of why this is happening. That is interesting and it's clear why I have never run into Jessica's problem: I buy smaller birds. We used to eat chicken 2 or 3 times a week. Hope whatever they're using isn't harmful to humans. Ugh - this is happening to me right now (which is what brought me to this thread). These factors can reduce your sense of taste (called hypogeusia), take it away completely (ageusia) or cause foods and drink to taste different (called dysgeusia). It'll look cooked and be most, but has a slight variant look to it where you can actually see that it's a funky texture. Negative. In our household, we call this texture chirm as in eating chicken but with the sensation of biting into an arm. We talked to the owner and he said he hadn't changed vendors for many years. I thought it was the injection or saline or something, but it's actually a deformity of the chicken's muscles called "woody chicken" or "woody breasts". I will try to find smaller breasts to see if that works! We get our chicken from Gelson's, an upscale market here in the Los Angeles area. I just had a chicken cutlet sandwich from a deli that had the same issue. Manager asked me to call right away if it happens again, so they can trace the provider. At this time it is unknown exactly what is causing it but the culprit may be due to breeding practices. Yes! I made that mistake with a dish in which the chicken was supposed to marinade for an hour in a mixture based on fresh lemon juice. Omg I am having this same issue! I again panicked and asked if she could bring back a piece that they took back so I can look at it in the light. Overcooking might play a role in your chicken's tire-like texture. I only purchase breast fillets now as they tend to be thinner than the full breast and haven't had the issue since. Usually when this happens to me, there are some pieces of chicken that are fine, but others that are decidedly not. This is bad, i am going to talk to two local butchers about this issue. I'm hopeful all of these posts become recognized and addressed. YES!! Yes!!! Not all pieces though, and even parts of one piece may be affected but not the whole piece. I will be buying fresh and if I get the same reaction I don't know what to think. I guess I will have to start buying organic chicken breast. One had already told me about a term called "woody breast". I have been coming across the same problem for a while now and I find it gross and disgusting. I'm here in TX, just had the same I'm-definitely-sure-it's-not-raw-p-but-the-texture's-raw-and-rubbery-and-fatty experience with skin-on leg quarters. What does our FDA do with our tax dollars?