Seventy-five percent of U.S. adults have serious mistrust about where their food comes from, recent data suggests.
According to a poll conducted by the University of Minnesota in 2022, only 25% of U.S. consumers trust sources about how their food is grown and packaged.
Additionally, millennials and Gen Z-ers have even less trust than their Boomer counterparts, with many stating they would pay more for sustainable and responsibly sourced food.
Online discussions suggest quality concerns could be a major factor in this mistrust.
People are reporting suspiciously stringy chicken, Costco eggs with roundworms in them, and “triple-washed broccoli” with small bugs in its crevices–and the reports keep on coming. And now, chicken meat is under scrutiny.
Are chicken breasts getting bigger?
In a recent TikTok video, creator Kalani (@kalanighosthunter) ran an experiment by weighing chicken breasts purchased from his local butcher shop, Walmart, and Perdue to identify any major differences.
Kalani starts by reassuring his audience, saying, “Before we open these packs, I wanted you guys to see that they were legitimate chicken breasts from the stores that we say they’re from, and they’re still in the packaging.”
Before beginning the experiment, Kalani notes, “Visually, you can see there’s a huge difference between what we’re getting at our local butcher from a farm compared to what they’re giving us at Walmart.”
There’s a caveat In the Walmart packaging, as Kalani points out, in the form of a little note that states the chicken breasts “could be retaining up to 5% water.”
To ensure the experiment is fair, Kalani states he will weigh the largest chicken breasts from each package to compare their size differences.
Upon weighing, the difference is immense. The largest locally sourced farm chicken breast weighs just 187 grams (around 6.5 ounces), compared to 392 grams for the Walmart chicken breast (around 13.8 ounces), and 347 grams (around 12.2 ounces) for the Perdue chicken breast.
Percentage-wise, the Walmart chicken breast is approximately 109.6% heavier than the butcher chicken, while the Perdue chicken breast is about 85.6% heavier.
According to Kalani, this is concerning.
“I’m not an expert in this, but this is alarming,” he says.
Finishing the clip off, Kalani urges his informed audience to weigh in, saying, “Let me know… if you have any other theories as to why the breast at Walmart is double the size of the breast they get at my local butcher.”
@kalanighosthunter THIS IS SCARY- Comparing chicken breast from my local butcher to Big Chains…
♬ original sound – Kalani Ghost Hunter
So why is the Walmart chicken so much heavier?
Walmart has come under fire in a class-action lawsuit for inflating the weight of the meat contents on its packaging. This led to a multi-million dollar settlement in 2020.
In the comments of the TikTok, users don’t seem too surprised at the result, with many offering explanations as to why this might be happening.
“It’s injected with water plus preservatives that makes it bigger,” one user chimed in. “But when cooked a lot of water is released.”
“Worked at a chicken plant…depends on the store you buy it from,” shared another. “It’s all the same chicken they just clean more fat off for higher priced stores.”
“They’re grown too quickly and the muscle doesn’t keep up with growth,” wrote a third.
We’ve reached out to Kalani via Instagram direct message, Walmart via contact form, and Perdue via email for further comment.
