consumption

So, how much chicken do we really eat? Just visit any restaurant - there is probably chicken on the menu. Let alone the all American breakfast - it can't be done without eggs. Chicken is one of the most popular foods. According to US Poultry and Egg association just in the United States each American ate almost 70 pounds of chicken! In addition each American eats about 230 eggs each year. Because chicken and eggs are such a popular food there are many producers as well. There are commercial farms that are designed to produce broiler meat. Other are designed for egg production. In 2005 USA produced 6.70 billion eggs !

According to the Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, around 65 million tons of chicken are produced each year around the world.Most chicken that reach restaurants and grocery stores are raised on special commercial farms. These are created to raise only chicken for meat. Brazil and the United States are the world's largest exporters of chicken meat. Most of the chicken is exported to Asia and Middle East. Brazil has a very new chicken industry and is becoming the world largest producer quickly because of new equipment and management. In the past few years demand for chicken increased. This may be because of the mad cow disease which made people avoid beef. Also, diets that ask people to eat more protein increase demand for chicken.

Usually, chicken that we buy in the stores do not have a label to show us what breed they are. However,chicken that are raised for meat are several types. This depends on the age at which chicken are slathered

POUSSIN - 4 to 6 weeks old	Have you ever heard of "spring chicken"? That's the other name for poussin. Poussin is a tiny young chicken. Usually one person can easily eat the whole poussin.People eat them because they are very tasty. This is because they are given special grains to eat.They are 4 to 6 weeks old and weigh about one pound.
BROILER - 7 - 13 weeks old	Most chicken made for meat are broilers. This is because broilers can be used for different types of cooking. This is the chicken most used in barbecues and grilling. It can also be roasted or fried. These chicken are also called fryers. One reason why farmers like to raise broilers is because they are slaughtered young at about 7 to 13 weeks. Broilers are usually 1.5 to 4.5 pounds heavy and have soft meat.
CAPON - up to 8 months	These are roosters whose reproductive organs were cut off.They are big, plump and full of meat. They can sometimes be as big as 9 pounds.They have a lots of meat and taste great. One problem with capons is that they have more fat than other types of chicken.They are usually used for roasting. Usually they are less than 8 months old when they are slaughtered.
CORNISH HEN - 5 to 6 weeks old	Cornish hens are slaughtered when they are only five to six weeks old. They are very small. Most of the time they do not weigh more than 2 pounds. They are called Cornish because that's their breed. Also, the can be crossed with other breeds.
ROASTER- 3 to 5 months old	Roasters are only 3 to 5 months old when they are slathered. They are best for roasting and have plump soft meat. They are 3 to 7 pounds heavy.
STEWING HEN - more than 10 months old	Stewing hens are older than other types of chicken. They are more than 10 months old.They are usually used for soups or stews. This is because their meat is not as soft as broilers and roaster. They weigh 4 to 7 pounds.

China is the world's largest egg producer. They produce about 20 tons of eggs each year. China, USA and the European Union have the most egg laying hens. People are eating more eggs and the egg production is increasing. Some people believe that this has a lot to do with the fact that it was found that cholesterol in eggs is not as dangerous as people thought before. Currently, scientists are working to make eggs even more nutritious. They are figuring out the way to have less cholesterol and more nutrients through different types of feed. One thing that is still a problem is that eggs are not available to some people living in poverty. According to the International Egg Commission, people in more developed countries consume more eggs than those in poorer countries. For example, people in Italy consume 233 eggs a year and people in India only 40!