How to decipher those confusing grocery store chicken labels

Grading

Just like for those in school, chickens receive grades. After inspection, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), a division of the USDA, awards a grade of A, B or C, which can be applied to either the whole bird or the individual cut-up parts. The poultry grade system only covers the physical features of a bird, including plumpness of its meat, distribution of fat underneath the skin and bone structure. It also checks for attributes that are the result of post-slaughter handling, like tears in the skin and the presence of feathers. Unlike for beef, poultry grading doesn’t establish much differentiation at the retail level. 

Free-Range

While it might seem to imply more, this USDA-regulated term allows for plenty of room for interpretation as it only states that animals have "continuous and unconfined access to pasture throughout their life cycle."

So that free-range bird you see in the market could have led a lovely life routinely roaming across grassy patches or just glimpsed its outdoor area, desirable or not, through a door.

Cage-Free

Another term that sounds like more than it is, cage-free, under the AMS definition, means that the birds were able to "freely roam a building, room or enclosed area."

This term is mostly only relevant for egg-laying hens as caging typically isn’t part of raising poultry for meat (it’s something producers are already doing anyway). So keep this in mind when you see the cage-free label on poultry products. 

No Antibiotics Administered

The AMS classifies poultry that has been raised without antibiotics as that which has "never received antibiotics from birth to harvest." That doesn’t mean, however, that no medications were used at all. 

No Hormones

Since 1959, administering growth hormones and steroids to poultry has been illegal in the U.S. So why do some purveyors include it on their labeling? Just another example of misleading advertising. If you see it on a label, it must be accompanied by the statement “Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones.” That wording is often in much smaller print.

Natural

One of the most widely used labels, the term means that no additives or preservatives were introduced after the poultry was processed (although certain sodium-based broths can be added; read the ingredients on the package label if this is a concern).

Take note: “natural" has nothing to do with standards of care, type and quality of feed, or administration of medications.

Certified Organic Chicken

This USDA-regulated term means that all feed must be certified organic, which means no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, animal by-products or other additives. Certified organic chicken must also meet "free-range" criteria. To qualify, birds must be brought up within these standards beginning on the second day of their life, right up until slaughter. While this label doesn’t guarantee a better-tasting bird, it does indicate some level of analysis was put into how the chicken was raised, fed and treated.

Pasture-Raised Chicken

While not a regulated label, Humane Farm Animal Care, a non-profit organization established to promote and administer its certification and labeling program, has created a standard for the term that it guarantees.

Birds must be outdoors year-round, with access to housing where they can go inside to protect themselves from predators or extreme weather.

Air-Chilled Chicken

Instead of cooling after being de-feathered by submersion in water, air-chilled chicken is cooled by hanging in open air. The water-chilling process causes the chicken to take on added water weight, which ultimately dilutes the flavor of the meat. As thus, air-chilled birds typically have more flavor.

Farm-Raised Chicken

This is not a regulated label, so it can technically be used on almost any poultry products. Don’t be fooled.