With so much talk about GMOs in food, many people assume modern chicken must be genetically engineered. It isn't.
The short answer: no
The chicken you buy is not genetically modified. There are no genetically modified chickens approved or sold for meat production. The birds raised on farms today are conventional animals.
Improved by breeding, not engineering
The gains in modern poultry come from conventional selective breeding — choosing parent birds with desirable traits, generation after generation. It is the same principle farmers have used for thousands of years, accelerated by better record-keeping and science. It is not genetic modification.
GM feed is a separate question
In some markets chickens may be fed rations that include GM crops such as soy or corn. That is a question about the feed, not the bird. The chicken itself is not a GMO, and the meat is not genetically modified.
Today's chickens are the product of breeding, nutrition and good husbandry — not genetic engineering.
