Fact Check: White Striping

What is white striping in chicken? Does white striping affect the nutritional value of chicken meat?

The NCC claims that white striping is a “quality factor in chicken breast meat”—and that’s true. White striping lowers the quality of chicken meat to such an extent that more than half of participants in a 2012 study at the University of Arkansas said they would not buy chicken with white striping. And it’s no wonder. In 2016, scientists from the University of Bologna concluded that “there was a large worsening of nutritional value of chicken breast meat following occurrence of white striping,” which “might impair consumer attitude towards poultry meat.” In other words, besides looking unappetizing, white striped chicken has less nutritional value, with higher fat and lower quality protein. Chicken with white striping also performs poorly in the kitchen. Another study found that it holds less marinade and loses more weight during cooking.

The NCC also claims that white striping is not a disease—and this is where the NCC is wrong. According to scientists, white striping is a muscle disease—or “myopathy”— widely discussed and documented as such in peer-reviewed journals like Poultry Science, which published research on it in 2016 and as recently as 2021.). Unlike something like bird flu, which is contagious to humans, white striping is a type of disease that solely affects chickens who grow faster than their muscle fibers can handle. Though it’s not contagious, it is extremely common—and it’s clear that consumers don’t want to eat low-quality, diseased chicken breasts.

What causes white striping on chicken breasts? Do bird sizes or faster growth rates matter?

White striping is so common because of the chicken industry’s breeding practices over the last several decades. Chicken breeders select for fast and large growth, prioritizing bird sizes and high growth rates over animal welfare and product quality.

However, study after study also ties this kind of fast growth to a number of other muscle diseases (or, as the NCC refers to them, “quality factors”) like woody breast, spaghetti meat, and green muscle disease. In 2021, scientists from the University of Guelph published research that specifically compared the rate and severity of white striping in "conventional breeds"—which are the fast growing breeds used in commercial farming—to the white striping in slow-growing breeds. The slow-growing breeds had the least white striping, while conventional chickens had the most.

Is the white striping in chicken fat? Is chicken with white striping harmful or dangerous to eat?

Just like the NCC says, white striping is a “quality factor” that lowers the quality of the meat by increasing its fat content, lowering the quality of its protein, and making it less capable of holding flavor. Eating white striped chicken is not dangerous. It’s just less healthy and less appetizing, which is why most consumers don’t want white striping on their food.

Although white striping is similar in appearance to marbling in beef, white striping and marbling are two completely different conditions. With white striping, increased fat deposits replace damaged muscle fibers, and this occurs primarily in white muscle (breasts) rather than in red muscle (thighs and drumsticks). Marbling, by contrast, is associated with increased fat deposits near blood capillary networks, in the perimysial layer of red muscle, and, unlike white striping, which scientists consider a myopathy, marbling is not related to any disorder or disease.

How common is white striping in the US poultry market?

The NCC cites a study from 2013 to answer this question, but this science is extremely out of date: the rate of white striping has gone up considerably in the last decade. The most recent studies (including this 2021 study sponsored by the US Poultry & Egg Association) suggest that white striping is now a “high incidence” disease that’s present in 90% of chickens), with a steady increase in frequency since 2012.

Ultimately, the science tells a story that you can confirm for yourself the next time you’re at the grocery store. White striping is easily visible to the naked eye on boneless skinless chicken breasts. In fact, it’s often so easy-to-spot that, the NCC points out, “severe white striped chicken meat” often receives “further processing.” In other words, white striping is so common—and in many cases so intense—that the chicken industry hides the worst white striping in products where you won’t be able to see it, like chicken nuggets or other processed foods.

Does white striping cause pain and suffering in broiler chickens?

White striping is clearly a meat quality issue, as well as a disease, but the pain or discomfort caused by myopathies is still undetermined. While white striping is apparently asymptomatic, chickens affected with woody breast—a disease connected to white striping—struggle to right themselves when they fall over, are generally less active, and have mobility issues. Also, the degenerative process that leads to breast myopathies in chickens is similar to Duchenne muscular dystrophy in humans, a painful and debilitating condition. It may be possible that chickens raised for meat—also known as “broilers”—who develop white striping experience a similar kind of pain and discomfort.

Regardless of whether white striping itself hurts chickens, white striping is a visible side effect of unnaturally fast growth in chickens. And fast growth is linked to leg disorders and cardiovascular diseases like pulmonary hypertension syndrome, which can result in abdominal swelling, as well as sudden death syndrome—all of which definitely do cause chickens to suffer. According to Emeritus Professor Donald M. Broom from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge—who is one of the leading authorities on animal welfare—health disorders in broilers caused by fast growth are “the greatest animal welfare problem in the world.”

The NCC admits that “chickens affected with white striping are often the larger birds in a particular flock,” but they also make the misleading claim that a chicken must be healthy to become so large. This is simply untrue. Numerous scientific studies have shown that, for chickens, heavy weight and fast growth come with a range of serious and sometimes life-threatening health problems. The same harmful selective breeding practices that cause chickens to grow so large also increase flock mortality on chicken farms—from heart attacks, ascites, and leg problems that become more prevalent at the end of their short lives. The heaviest chickens are also most likely to die during transport to slaughter.

Ultimately, in order to protect its interests, the NCC is leaving out the most up-to-date science on white striping disease, which clearly shows that white striping is more than just a “quality factor”—it’s a widespread disease caused by fast growth, which has serious health implications for chickens raised for meat.