Woody breast, white striping and spaghetti meat are muscle myopathies increasingly prevalent in fast-growing broiler breeds. They cause pain and reduced quality of life alongside the product quality problem.
Breast myopathies in fast-growing broilers are both a product quality problem and a welfare problem. The muscle degeneration that causes woody breast results from the extreme growth rate outpacing blood supply to rapidly developing muscle tissue - the same physiological process likely causes chronic pain from muscle ischaemia in living birds. The welfare and economic incentives align: birds producing better-quality meat are growing at rates compatible with their physiology. The Better Chicken Commitment's slower-growth standard addresses multiple welfare problems simultaneously - leg health, cardiovascular welfare, lighting adequacy and myopathy reduction.