Why are some chickens yellow skinned and some white?
A chicken's skin color comes from the diet it was fed
and the same bird could have a white skin or a yellow skin,
depending on what it ate. The diet that produces a yellow
skin is more expensive than the usual diet, but the people
at Perdue Farms feel it's worth it because a yellow skin
color is one of the fastest ways Frank's inspectors have of
finding and disqualifying an inferior bird. If a bird is
sick or off its feed, it doesn't absorb nutrients well and
won't develop the rich golden color that is characteristic
of Perdue birds. Also, if part of a bird's outer skin is
"barked", that is, rubbed off due to rough handling during
processing, the Perdue inspectors can detect it more easily
than with a white-skinned bird. Detecting and removing and
chicken with a barked skin is important because damaged
skin shortens the shelf life and dries out and toughens the
meat. No white colored chickens get by the inspectors.
Sometimes when I open a package of chicken, there's a
pungent odor that doesn't smell spoiled, but it's
definitely unpleasant. Should I throw the chicken out?
If the odor lasts only a matter of seconds, your
chicken is probably fine. Meat is chemically active, and
as it ages, it releases sulfur. When you open a bag that
doesn't have air holes, you may notice the accumulated
sulfur, but it will quickly disperse into the air. In fact,
I've heard of cases where a wife will lean over to her
husband and say, "Smell this, I think it's gone bad."
He'll take a deep whiff and find nothing wrong with it.
She'll take another sniff and then wonder if it was her
imagination. It wasn't. It's just that once the package