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I am a new member. We are relatively new to the US, moved here 8 years ago.

I've purchased the chicken brands Foster Farms, Costco/Kirkland, Save Mart, Safeway, and more, but no matter the label, it seems that the taste of the meat goes bad really fast, within 12-24 hours after cooking. It's almost like the fats went rancid or the meat would just taste quite funny/fishy or different in no time.

**EDIT**: Sorry, now I realize it really does taste quite "GAMEY". I didn't want to use the word since it's not gamey like how I find Turkey meat gamey. But there is a little bit of gamey off putting taste to it.

When I was younger, the chicken tasted fresh, it doesn't have to be the free range, native or organic all the time, it never tasted funny like what we have now.

Is it that the chickens are processed for a long time here?

I would appreciate your input. Thanks very much and happy advanced thanksgiving to my fellow American members.

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    I've rarely, if ever, had Foster Farms brand chicken go bad that quickly (nor have I had the level of bad luck you describe with any of various stores' regular, non-brand chicken), although I'm very careful about pull dates. Have you checked the temperature of the refrigerator and/or freezer in which you store your meats? Do you notice if other meats go faster than what you would expect, even if it isn't as marked a difference as you're experiencing with chicken?
    – MargeGunderson
    Nov 18, 2012 at 3:08
  • Hi, Marge it's just chicken. Beef and pork are fine. Beef sometimes do taste funky too, that after taste is so distinct. For some reason, the brined ones don't taste like that, maybe because it is being masked by the salt or it acts as preservative.
    – Peet
    Nov 18, 2012 at 7:46
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    @Peet Could you provide some more detail about how you store the chicken? I assume you're refrigerating it? After how long? Is the chicken still warm?
    – Eric Hu
    Nov 26, 2012 at 9:09
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    +1. I've always wondered about the same thing. Moved to US 3 months ago
    – segfault
    Dec 6, 2012 at 20:15
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    I know exactly what you are talking about with the chicken. It's ok right after its cooked but it nasty after like a half hour! I don't know why. I started noticing this about 2 years ago. All brands!
    – user22706
    Jan 22, 2014 at 5:46

1 Answer 1

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I think what your experiencing is the difference between our factory farmed chickens and "normal" chickens. If you do a side-by-side comparison of something like a purdue chicken and an organic free range chicken it'll taste nothing alike. Chicken, eggs, and to a certain extent beef taste immensely different (better IMO) when they're not factory farmed. Now your going to obviously pay more money for an organic bird but i think it's worth it to avoid going through what you've described above.

I remember experiencing the same phenomenon but in reverse when visiting other countries where you may be eating proteins hours after slaughter.

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  • Thank you, sir. I have to note, though, that I've only had US/California free range organic chicken once, awhile back, and I can't remember if it tasted "gamey" afterwards but it was great.
    – Peet
    Dec 6, 2012 at 22:05
  • i've gotten to the point where I don't even look at organic chickens for their nutritional potential (which really may or may not be true depending on the article you read) but for the sheer fact that any protein is going to greatly benefit from what it feeds on and factory-farmed chickens don't get good food compared to most well farmed organic chickens from reputable farms.
    – Brendan
    Dec 6, 2012 at 22:08
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    +1. I've started buying chicken from a local farm, where I can see the chickens wandering around in their yard. The difference in quality and flavor is night and day from supermarket chicken. I know exactly the smell the OP is talking about, and I no longer get it with fresh, local chicken.
    – JoeFish
    Dec 6, 2012 at 22:17
  • So is there no way of concealing that taste? at all? I've tried searching and people have brined, marinated, smothered in onions, etc but to no avail. Is this inevitable?
    – Peet
    Dec 19, 2012 at 1:23
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    All this is very intriguing - I'm in the UK and, although cheap, frozen chickens, mass produced, sometimes taste fishy (they've probably been fed fishmeal) I have never noticed any difference in 'gamy-ness' between those and fresh, organic chickens. There must have been some change in the US chicken rearing practice if, as someone has said, all ordinary chickens taste this way since about two years ago.
    – bamboo
    Jan 22, 2014 at 13:15

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