Causes of green muscle disease in your broilers

White broiler chicken in a Poultry Farm [iStockphoto]

Retailers and consumers of broiler meat are experiencing a greenish appearance on their poultry meat during processing. As consumers become concise about their health, it is only right that we shed more light on this condition called green muscle disease.

Also called Deep Pectoral Myopathy (DPM), it affects the inner pectoral (breast) muscle in broilers, green muscle disease is an economically important condition in broiler meat birds. The breast muscle is the most expensive part of the bird, and the loss of the breast muscle will impact the profit of the business. Despite the name 'disease', green muscle disease is NOT caused by infection but by management factors. It arises from a loss of blood supply to the inner breast muscle.