AAAP: Woody breast not linked to infectious pathogens

2012-06-28 09:53:48 epa03285133 Thai factory workers process chicken meat dressed in protective clothing during a work at the Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), Thailand's largest chicken manufacturer and exporter to Europe and Japan, in Saraburi Province, north of Bangkok, Thailand, 28 June 2012. Thai poultry industry emerges from bird flu scare stronger as the EU will lift ban on raw chicken meat exports on 01 July, after Thailand fulfilled an EU requirement of staying HPAI free for three years as of February 2009. Eight years ago the European Union slapped a ban on Thailand's raw chicken meat exports after the local industry was hit by an outbreak of avian influenza in late 2003 that would claim the lives of seven people and 60 million culled birds. In 2011, Thailand's cooked chicken meat exports amounted to 435,000 tons, (200,000 tons of which was shipped to the EU) and 27,000 tons of raw meat. Prospects for chicken exports brightened this year when the EU decided to lift its ban on Thailand's raw 'salted' meat, providing the kingdom with a 92,000 ton quota at favourable tariff rates. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK

Three well-defined, degenerative breast diseases of broiler chickens — woody breast, white striping and deep pectoral myopathy — are not associated with infectious or pathogenic agents, nor do they present a threat to food safety, according to a new report by the American Association of Avian Pathologists (AAAP). All three breast diseases have been seen in all breed crosses of broiler chickens as early as 2 weeks of age, with varying prevalence under a wide-range of slaughter weights, manage