Since the birth of modern chicken industry in Germany in 1950, it has long been a history that broilers need to be fed slowly for half a year before they can be released. After decades of development, the chicken industry has been released in about 40 days (referring to the weight long enough to be slaughtered), which is at a normal level all over the world. According to the calculation of FAO, by 20 12, most commercial broilers in the world will be released in 42-48 days, and the most common one is 45 days.

Der Spiegel reported that in Germany, the birthplace of modern chicken industry, and the United States, where agriculture is highly modernized, some chicken farms even have broilers that can be released in 33 days.

Through another set of data, we can see how the growth performance of broilers in the world has been steadily improved in recent 70 years. In 1935, it takes 90 days for broilers to grow to 1.3kg, while in 1986, it only takes 45 days for broilers to grow to 1.8kg, and according to the Technical Regulations for Commercial Broiler Production in China revised in 2005, it is 2.42kg in 42 days.

In fact, the rapid growth of broilers has gradually become a kind of "common sense" in recent decades, but many consumers do not understand it. Compared with Beijing roast duck, the raw material of Beijing roast duck, we may find that "instant chicken" is not so exaggerated. Beijing ducks weighed about 56 grams at birth, but after 42 days of feeding and stuffing, many ducks even reached 3 kilograms when they were released.

Broilers grow fast and produce rich meat, which is not "China characteristics", but the achievement of world aquaculture, and naturally it is not "exclusive" for China people. According to FAO data, in 2007, the United States, China, Brazil, Mexico and India produced 6.5438+06 million tons, 6.5438+million tons, 9 million tons, 2.5 million tons and 2.2 million tons of chicken respectively, most of which were "ready-to-eat broilers".

Take the United States alone as an example. There are about 20 thousand chicken farms in the United States, which produce nearly 9 billion chickens every year, and each American consumes about 40 kilograms of chicken every year. However, in the United States, the production of "organic chicken" and "ground chicken" only accounts for 2% of the total, and the rest are "fast-cooked broilers". The advantages of "instant chicken" are fast growth, quick listing, big size, tender meat and low price, but the disadvantage is that it loses a certain taste. The "instant chicken" exposed this time is a recessive white feather broiler, and it is also a representative variety of "fast and big" broilers used in modern chicken industry. This kind of broiler grows rapidly and has large pieces of meat. The reason why this kind of broiler has these excellent characters is entirely due to decades of careful cultivation and modern feeding methods, and has nothing to do with hormone ripening.

Scientific Breeding: White feather chicken is bred by Bailuoke (or Bailuoduo). The rapid growth of white feather chickens is mainly due to the continuous optimization and improvement of chicken breeds. From the early 1970s to 20 12, the growth cycle of 2kg broilers has been shortened from 63 days in 1976 to only 33 days in 2007.

In fact, breeder chicken breeding is still a high-tech industry until 20 12. It was not until the 1990s that China began to introduce white feather breeders on a large scale, and then the chicken production increased by leaps and bounds. Because of the difficulty in breeding, only a few companies have mastered the broiler breeding technology, and 75% of the broiler varieties in the world come from two companies, Anweijie and Cobfantes.

Reasonable feed ratio: White feather broilers have different nutritional requirements at different growth and development stages from hatching to slaughter. Different from the traditional method of saving a handful of rice for the last time, modern feeding methods will scientifically mix corn, flour, wheat, soybean meal, oil, vitamins, amino acids, minerals and other raw materials according to the characteristics and nutritional needs of white-feather chickens in each growth stage, and provide feed formulas suitable for each stage, thus providing necessary conditions for the healthy and rapid growth of white-feather chickens. The operation of breeding enterprises is also in line with the routine, that is, feeding broilers with three different feeds: "nutritional supplement", "long bones" and "long meat" in three stages according to needs.

Standardized management: In modern large-scale farms, the henhouse where white feather chickens grow is actually a fully enclosed environment that can automatically control temperature, humidity and negative pressure, providing a stable and suitable environment for chicken growth. Scientific feeding methods and management conditions, such as the establishment of lighting, feeding, water supply and ventilation procedures that conform to the growth law of white feather broilers, and feeding in stages according to the growth law of chickens, all ensure the rapid and accurate growth of white feather broilers from hatching to slaughter.

Broilers have no motivation to use hormones: hormones will increase mortality, but the effect of promoting growth is not obvious.

Adding hormones to broiler feed can be said to be thankless. According to Zhang Hongfu, director of the Animal Breeding and Standardization Research Office of the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, "hormones are not only costly, but also have complicated technical requirements. According to many experimental data, adding hormones does not promote the growth of chickens, but also increases the risk of diseases such as heart disease and ascites in broilers and increases the mortality rate. " (Broilers will secrete enough growth hormone by themselves during growth. However, the effect of hormone on broiler growth is limited, that is, it will not promote growth after reaching the threshold, but will cause other uncontrollable physiological reactions. )

At the press conference held by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2007, Li Jinxiang, inspector of the Veterinary Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, also confirmed that adding hormones is harmful. He said: "If hormones are added to promote growth, the mortality rate of chickens will increase, and the high mortality rate is unbearable for any chicken farm. Therefore, even if the use of hormones promotes the rapid growth of broilers, high mortality will offset this benefit. It is unrealistic to say that broilers use hormones. " In terms of nutritional value, whether it is meat or egg products, there is no significant difference between Chai chicken and fast-growing broilers. According to the paper "Effects of Different Layers on Nutritional Components of Eggs" published in Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Today in June 2008, the fat content in free-range eggs is only about 1% higher than that in eggs, and the cholesterol content is slightly higher, but there is no significant difference in unsaturated fatty acids content. On the contrary, the analysis results of the article "Comparative study on the nutritional components of eggs under the conditions of large-scale free-range and large-scale breeding" in contemporary livestock and poultry breeding show that the contents of vitamins and minerals in eggs raised in chicken farms are slightly higher than those in free-range eggs because of the rich vitamins and minerals provided in compound feed. In terms of meat quality, the paper of Hebei Agricultural University found that there was no difference in nutritional value between the two kinds of chicken through the comparative study of Chai chicken and chicken cage.

Yun, a famous food safety science writer, described the controversy of antibiotics in an article: "The production method of broilers is naturally controversial. The space utilization rate is greatly improved, but the crowded henhouse will inevitably lead to poor air quality, and the high ammonia concentration in the exhaust gas will easily cause harm to the eyes and respiratory tract of chickens. Moreover, a large number of chickens are crowded together, which is easy to cause and infect diseases, so antibiotics have to be used. " It can be seen that the role of antibiotics is only to deal with the inevitable bacterial infection, so the academic controversy is limited to the impact of antibiotic use on the environment and ecology, and has nothing to do with weight gain. In the United States, the growth period of carnivorous chickens from chicks to finished chickens is indeed 6 to 7 weeks, which is about 45 days. This is because the food processing in the United States has been mechanized, so the requirement for broiler weight is between 3 and 5 kg, and the machine is too big or too small to handle it. In addition, in the United States, food chain groups such as KFC or McDonald's do not actually have their own farms or chicken farms. The chicken and other poultry products they use are purchased and processed by several largest food processing enterprises in the United States from contracted farms.

The United States is currently the largest producer and consumer of poultry products in the world. As the largest meat consumed by American residents in daily life, the quality and safety of poultry meat have always been highly valued by the government, scientific research institutions, food processors, and even the media and consumers. The United States has a relatively complete national food quality and safety supervision and management system and a special poultry product inspection law. As the department in charge of supervising the production safety of poultry food, the requirements for food safety run through every link from farm to table.

In chicken farms, the US Food and Drug Administration has strict regulations on feed additives, and the US Environmental Protection Agency has also set higher standards for the treatment of sewage and poultry manure in chicken farms. The federal and local governments have also controlled the epidemic pathogens of poultry and carried out stricter prevention and monitoring in the controlled areas to prevent the export of sick poultry.

In the broiler slaughterhouse, the food safety inspector of the US Department of Agriculture should inspect the live chickens entering the market to ensure that there is no outbreak of avian influenza or other infectious diseases in their producing areas. If they come from a highly pathogenic avian influenza control area, but with the permission of the Ministry of Agriculture, these broilers will be sent for a series of avian influenza antigen tests, and those who find problems will be detained immediately and notified to the regional office of the Food Safety Inspection Bureau for handling.

In addition, there are food safety inspectors sent by the Ministry of Agriculture on the food processing assembly line. Wearing uniforms different from those of factory workers, they sat in the middle of each assembly line, looking over every passing broiler with rapt attention. Every once in a while, they will take a chicken off the conveyor belt and send it to the inspection room for slicing.

In addition, bribing food safety inspectors will be punished by law. In some states in the United States, in addition to fines, they may be sentenced to 1 to three years in prison. Similarly, inspectors will be fined or even imprisoned if they take bribes. Of course, their jobs will definitely be lost, so it is rare to know the law and break the law. This chain measure ensures the safety and hygiene of food.