Why is the Southampton Chicken fat yellow?

This is how nature intended chicken meat and fat to look! For too long we have been fed grain or free range chicken with little access to grasses and bugs in the soil.

When the chickens are allowed to graze on natural pastures, they eat what the land has to offer such as the grasses, bugs and worms. These lucky chickens also get a protein boost with a special fermented feed designed to optimise their gut health.

Caged birds have pale flesh and fat that is very white. The darker meat and yellow fat is the result of a grass-based diet which is high in chlorophyll.

The cartenoid, beta carotene in the grass is the same as the orange colour found in carrots. This is what produces the yellow fat in chickens as well as the bright yellow yolks in pastured eggs.

The difference in the health benefits, including cardiovascular benefits of eating grass-fed chickens and eggs is simple - more nutrients. Pasture raised poultry is higher in Vitamin E, monounsaturated fat, Omega-3 and lower in the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 than grain fed chickens.