Published Mar 22, 2011

Poultry Nutritional Composition

By Suzi Howk

When marketing their pastured poultry, many farmers make claims about their products.  These claims are anything from lower water percentage, to a higher Omega 3 level.

This year Practical Farmers of Iowa is working on a project to test out the reality of those claims!  Working with a lab at Iowa State University, we are testing 2 birds from 5 different PFI farms, and 2 birds purchased in the grocery store (in Ames).

Testing general nutrient profile, minerals, fat profile, and water percentage will give our farmers the data to be able to back up their claims!  We will not have enough data to make an authoritative statement, but we are hoping that the data will be significant enough to warrant further study.

Look for the report on our website in the next few months!

Does pasture change a bird's nutritional profile?