Poultry is any domesticated bird raised for meat, eggs, or feathers. The official U.S. definition covers more species than most people realize: chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, pigeons, doves, pheasants, quail, grouse, partridges, swans, and peafowl all qualify. If you’ve been wondering whether a particular bird “counts,” the answer likely depends on whether you’re asking from a legal, culinary, or nutritional standpoint.
The Official USDA Definition
Under the Animal Welfare Regulations, the USDA defines poultry as chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, swans, partridges, guinea fowl, peafowl, pigeons, doves, grouse, pheasants, and quail. That’s a broader list than many people expect. While chickens and turkeys dominate grocery store shelves, birds like quail, pheasant, and guinea fowl are just as firmly in the poultry category from a regulatory perspective.
Large flightless birds occupy an interesting gray area. Ostriches, emus, rheas, and cassowaries are covered under the National Poultry Improvement Plan for breeding and disease surveillance purposes, meaning federal regulators treat them as poultry for flock health. However, the broader USDA framework sometimes classifies these ratites under livestock improvement programs, reflecting the fact that their meat is red, lean, and nutritionally closer to beef than to chicken.
Common Types You’ll Find at the Store
The vast majority of poultry sold commercially comes from just two species: chickens and turkeys. Within the chicken category alone, the industry uses specific terms. A broiler is a chicken raised to a target weight for meat. A hen (or layer) is a mature female kept for egg production. Pullets and cockerels are young females and males that haven’t reached sexual maturity. Roasters are older, larger birds sold whole.
Turkey follows a similar split between birds raised for meat and those kept as breeders. Beyond these two staples, duck and goose are widely available in many markets, particularly in Asian and European cuisines. Niche poultry like squab (young pigeon), quail, and guinea fowl appear more often at specialty butchers and high-end restaurants, but they’re gaining ground in mainstream cooking.
White Meat vs. Dark Meat
The color difference between a chicken breast and a chicken thigh comes down to muscle use. Muscles that work constantly, like legs and thighs, contain more of a protein called myoglobin that stores oxygen and gives the tissue a darker color. Breast and wing muscles, used less frequently in domesticated birds that rarely fly, have less myoglobin and appear lighter.
This distinction carries real nutritional and flavor differences. White meat is leaner, milder, and drier in texture. Dark meat has more fat, which makes it moister and more flavorful. A 75-gram serving of roasted chicken breast (without skin) has about 119 calories, 25 grams of protein, and just 2 grams of fat. Add the skin, and fat jumps to 7 grams while protein drops to 19 grams per serving. Turkey follows a nearly identical pattern: light turkey meat delivers 116 calories and 2 grams of fat per 75-gram serving, while dark turkey meat comes in at 139 calories and 6 grams of fat.
Duck and goose, by contrast, are almost entirely dark meat. Their muscles are built for sustained flight, so even the breast carries significantly more fat than chicken. This is why duck breast is often served with the skin rendered crispy, taking advantage of the thick fat layer rather than trying to minimize it.
How Poultry Is Graded
When you see “USDA Grade A” on a package of chicken, that label reflects a visual inspection based on several physical factors: the bird’s overall shape, how much flesh covers the frame, the amount of fat under the skin, and whether there are defects like discoloration, broken bones, or poor defeathering. Inspectors evaluate the breast, thighs, drumsticks, and back, looking for full, rounded contours rather than bony, concave shapes.
Fat in poultry is judged entirely by what accumulates under the skin. Well-finished birds have enough subcutaneous fat that the underlying flesh is hard to see through the skin, particularly around the breast and thighs. A Grade A bird is essentially free of deformities, with only minor imperfections like a slightly curved breastbone permitted. Lower grades (B and C) allow more defects and are typically used in processed products rather than sold whole.
Safe Cooking Temperatures
Regardless of species, all poultry needs to reach an internal temperature of 165°F (73.9°C) to be safe. This applies to whole birds, individual cuts like breasts, legs, thighs, and wings, ground poultry, giblets, and any stuffing cooked inside the cavity. Unlike beef or pork, where varying degrees of doneness are considered safe, poultry has a single universal target because of its higher risk of carrying bacteria like Salmonella and Campylobacter.
A reliable instant-read thermometer, inserted into the thickest part of the meat without touching bone, is the only accurate way to confirm doneness. Color alone is unreliable. Chicken can appear pink at 165°F due to natural pigments, and it can look white while still being undercooked in the center.
How U.S. and European Poultry Differ
The birds themselves are the same species on both sides of the Atlantic, but how they’re processed after slaughter is a point of major regulatory disagreement. In the United States, poultry carcasses are commonly treated with antimicrobial rinses to reduce bacteria. Chlorine was once the standard, though fewer than 5% of U.S. processing facilities still use chlorine specifically. Most have switched to other chemical washes like peracetic acid.
The European Union banned all chemical pathogen-reduction treatments on poultry in 1997, and the U.K. maintains the same prohibition. European regulators have acknowledged that the chemical concentrations used in U.S. processing don’t pose a direct health risk. Their objection is philosophical: they view antimicrobial washes as a substitute for stricter hygiene earlier in the production chain. The EU approach emphasizes preventing contamination at every stage of raising and processing, rather than treating it at the end. This difference is why American chicken still cannot be sold in the EU or U.K., regardless of which specific chemical is used.