Inglewood Organic Chicken is Australia's leading Certified Organic Chicken farm, where 250,000 chickens roam free & are raised 100% organic - one of the only chicken farms in Australia to do so. This is because it's very difficult and expensive for Aussie chicken farmers to obtain Australian Certified Organic status, so very few take on the challenge. In fact, it's so difficult it took us over a year to find Katrina at Inglewood and start including chicken in our range!
Chicken Inglewood Organic Chicken started with Katrina's desire to feed her kids good quality produce, after one of her children was suffering from food allergies as a youngster. She investigated heavily into organic product and the health benefits for her own family, and knew many other families were in the same boat.
Since then, Inglewood Organic Chicken has grown to be a leader in Australian Organic Chicken farming, and for good reason - their treatment, farming practices, and processing techniques are world-class. We're so proud to work with Katrina and the team at Inglewood to supply you with the best quality organic chicken in Australia.
We didn't offer chicken at Our Cow for a long time because we struggled to find a chicken producer who aligned with our values and who we could trust to do the right thing by the animal and the environment. There's a huge difference to health, quality and ethical treatment of the animal depending on farming and production practices.
I don’t know about you, but I'd much rather pay a little bit more for my chicken knowing it hasn't been submerged in an ice bath containing chlorine!
For a chicken farm to be 100% Australian Certified Organic, it must prove that not only the animals are free to roam in the great outdoors ("free range"), but that each animal is raised in a completely organic environment, from birth to finished product. Inglewood Organic takes this one step further still, and employs a method called ‘Air Chilling’ as part of their chicken production process, to further improve the health, nutrition and taste of their chicken.
The majority of Conventional and Free Range processing methods involve a step called 'Spin Chilling', where birds are tumbled in a chlorinated ice slurry bath to rapidly reduce their core temperature, and results in a percentage of chlorinated water absorbed in the bird. The process allows for faster mass portioning and production of the birds.
Inglewood Organic instead uses a much more natural alternative called 'Air Chilling', whereby the core temperature of the birds is reduced over time without the inclusion of chlorine. It takes longer for portioning and the following processing tasks to begin, but it ensures excess water doesn't pool in the packaging or while cooking as the birds have been dry-cooled, and it makes for a crisp and crunchy skin that browns nicely when cooking.
Air chilling is preferred to achieve a higher quality end product, avoiding processes that cause the chicken to absorb the chlorinated water used in Spin Chill processing.
It takes a lot more time, effort and expense, but the benefits to your health and the ethical treatment of the bird is worth it - and you can taste the difference!
Choose some organic free-range chicken from Katrina’s farm in your next order and you’ll taste the difference too! You can find some delicious recipe ideas on how to cook up your favourite chicken cuts in our recipe section.
