The picture of this is going to be way down on the page and if you don’t want to see anything really gross, or if you ever want to comfortably eat chicken again, you might not want to look at this.
I buy most all of my chickens from the Amish, already butchered and cleaned and bagged and ready for the freezer or ready to be canned. The meat tastes different from regular storebought chickens and even though the Amish chickens are more expensive, we get them the same day they’re butchered and . . well, that’s just how I choose to buy my chickens.
But, I’m not at home and my only choice to get a chicken I was going to fix for dinner today was to buy a chicken at the grocery store. The sell by date is December 12, 2010 and it’s a name brand . . a brand all the groceries stores carry. But inside, something just doesn’t look very appetizing! The chicken may be perfectly safe to eat but I doubt I’ll be able to think of anything other than this green organ. The chances that these particular organs came out of this particular chicken are probably slim but still . . it’s gross and this confirms that paying more for the chickens from the Amish and stocking up once a year when they have their chickens for sale is what I will continue to do in the future.
This company has employees that had to see this and surely I’m not the only one who thinks this should not have been in my chicken! I’ve written to the company and will let you know if I hear back from them.
Becky says
That just can’t be right but I’ll pretend I didn’t see it until I read what the company has to say back to you.
I probably would not eat that chicken.
Pat says
Oh, my…I have NEVER seen anything like that inside of any chicken before. I sure hope the company gets back to you about it.
sus says
it’s just the gall bladder and yes, it is usually no there in store bought but no harm just toss it and cook the chicken
Lori in SD says
I’ve butchered lots of chickens, I think that is the gall bladder. I can’t say that liver looks very healthy though, maybe the gall leaked out on it. Bitter icky stuff.
Diana W. says
I could have gone all year without seeing that! It is disgusting……
….yeah, yeah, I KNOW you warned me. YUCK!
Linda in NE says
You’re right, it’s gross. Looks like a grossly enlarged & leaking gall bladder. Should have been thrown away when the chicken was cleaned but the goal is to make us pay for weight & throwing it and the liver away would have make less weight in the final package……a little corporate thinking there. LOL
Kelly Ann says
it is wicked gross….
Judy D says
Yuk! I would bag that thing up and return it to the store! Yuk!
This makes me thing twice about maybe raising fryers this spring. I wish we had an Amish farm around here!
Marilyn says
As a science teacher, I would have totally taken that chicken to school for the kids to dissect! We never get to dissect anything anymore because of stupid budget cuts. And they don’t intentionally sell stuff like that in the stores. Somebody just messed up and probably looked down to tie his/her shoes for 2 seconds when that chicken went past his/her inspection spot.
I never get lucky like you do Judy 🙁
Mary-Kay says
One time my older son went to a concert and brought home some PETA pamphlets. My younger son, who is a vegetarion, looked at them and promptly threw up all over the floor. But I must say there was nothing gross like that green organ in your chicken.
Henrietta says
Perfectly normal and healthy looking gall bladder, normally removed before packaging and hopefully none of the bile spilled on the other organs. I would probably toss them this once as it makes them very very bitter.
carol c says
yep gall bladder
seen that on my cancer drs display papers
but yuck, pancreas maybe>? or what the others said
someone messed up and you sure better get a good explanation!
i dont buy whole, i buy skinless, boneless thighs and breasts
ugh
poor Judy!
Donna in KS says
I wanted a baking hen; was just hungry for a good, old fashioned, fat hen with some stuffing baked in my own oven. Husband brought one, well two, actually home with the grocery shopping. I baked one a couple days ago. Between the disappointment of it and your picture here, it will be a much colder day before I have chicken again. We ate chicken all the time when I was growing up, fried, baked, stewed, in soup and I miss it. Of course, dad would bring them home in a small “chicken box” and mom would “dress” them, cook one that day and freeze the other one or two. I should have known, I hate processed, store chicken!
Elaine says
Ewwww, DIS-gusting!! I wouldn’t eat it. But then, you know me, I wouldn’t eat one of your crawfishes either! Um, I’ll take a steak, medium rare, please!
Linda Steller says
Ewwwww!
Tamera says
You’re right, Lori, about the gall bladder. When it breaks open and leaks out the bile, it turns everything around it a greenish-yellow color like that. ISH!
I’ll be anxious to see what the company says, too.
Sally H says
I help a friend butcher chickens about once a week in the summer. What you have there is a liver with the gall bladder still attached. It is a perfectly NORMAL gall bladder and liver. Don’t eat it — not that it will harm you, but it won’t taste good. Whatever meat (including the liver) that the bile has spilled onto will be bitter. Please check the inside of your chicken to see if bile has spilled there (the meat will be stained green), because if it has that meat will be bitter as well.
From what I can see in the picture, that is a perfectly normal (read “healthy”) liver, not that I eat livers from commercially grown chickens. All the commercial chicken company did here was not remove the gall bladder, and that’s only a problem if it leaked bile onto the meat.
Doe in Mi says
Yup, SALLY H. is right. I was brought up on a farm and helped with canning
the chickens we raised. So I learned about “that green thing” when I was a teen ager. Sure does look yucky tho if your not aware!
Eileen Keane says
I buy my chickens in the supermarket all the time (no other choices around here) and I can tell you I’ve NEVER seen anything like that before. YUCK!!
Bonnie says
Sally and Henrietta both rationally called it right. I worked for a poultry plant the summer & fall after high school grad. Every chicken has one ;). I’m guessing it just was overlooked by a distracted employee on the Q.C. (quality control) line. Yep, distraction, kinda like the driver behind me eating a bowl of mush(?) this morning – glad she didn’t hit me or anyone else. Thanks for sharing the photo and bringing back memories lol.