3 Reasons to Appreciate Hand Trimmed Chicken

You can tell Smart Chicken® is a whole different bird just by looking at the package. We don’t have to tell you that we take pride in how our birds are raised and processed—you can see (and taste) the difference for yourself. But, there’s a lot to know about the chicken industry, and the fact that every single chicken is deboned and trimmed by hand, by trained staff members, is something altogether unique.

1. Better Value
When you buy fresh chicken, you pay for every pound. With commodity chicken, this means you pay a high cost for chicken that often ends up in the trash as trimmings. “My family started buying Smart Chicken after a few chicken packages from other brands required so much trimming of boneless skinless breasts that there was hardly any meat left,” says Kayla, a Smart Chicken consumer from Kannapolis, North Carolina. Choosing Smart Chicken ensures that every cent you spend goes toward fresh, flavorful chicken, rather than excess fat and connective tissue that you can’t use. Every cut of Smart Chicken is diligently trimmed to deliver value to the customer. “Not only do I never have to trim Smart Chicken,” adds Kayla, “the taste is above and beyond other brands.”

2. Less Mess
Diligent food safety practices are especially important when it comes to handling chicken at home. The fact that Smart Chicken goes straight from the package to the pan means it touches fewer utensils and fewer kitchen surfaces. Recently, chicken has made food safety news under the misconception that it should be rinsed before cooking. In fact, the FSIS (Food Safety Inspection Service) notes that “washing raw poultry, beef, pork, and lamb before cooking is not recommended,” noting that bacteria in raw meats can spread to surfaces, utensils, and other foods surrounding the sink. When you don’t have to stop and trim it, poultry and other meats are certainly less likely to contaminate your work surface.

3. More Convenient
It goes without saying that eliminating an extra step in any cooking endeavor is certainly a convenience. The simple fact is that Smart Chicken goes the extra mile so that you don’t have to—from deboning, skinning, and trimming thighs to thinslicing boneless skinless breasts for consumers who prefer a smaller portion, and from removing unusable viscera from whole chicken to even trussing them before packaging. Smart Chicken transfers right from the package to the grill or pan, and the convenience of ready-to-cook chicken means you’re able to get a healthy, hearty, flavorful dinner to the table faster and without the fuss—so you can sit down and enjoy it.