Nutrient composition of a nationally representative survey of ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken purchased from retail establishments

Nutrient data reported in the poultry products section of the USDA Handbook No. 8-5, "Composition of Foods…Raw, Processed, Prepared," was last updated in 1979 and does not contain values for whole, ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken. The objectives of this study were to update this database, compare current (2004) rotisserie chicken composition results to those given for roasted chicken in the nutrient database, and to compare the composition of rotisserie chickens from four regions of the United States. Retail locations in 12 states, three in each of four regions, were chosen for original flavor rotisserie chicken procurement. Chickens were dissected into breast, thigh, drum, wing, back, and skin, combined into retail location, regional, and national composites for each part, and analyzed for nutrient content. Total fat content ranged from 3.5% in breast meat to 37.1% in skin, and did not significantly differ from the total fat content of roasted chicken reported in 1979. Saturated fat content decreased in breast meat and skin from 1.01% and 11.42% to 0.84% and 9.99%, respectively (P < 0.05). Polyunsaturated fat content was significantly higher in all parts than values reported in the nutrient database. Cholesterol values were 88.9, 130.1, 140.6, and 159.9 mg/100 g for breast meat, thigh meat, skin, and drum meat, respectively, and were all significantly higher than values reported in the nutrient database. Sodium and phosphorus contents of all rotisserie chicken parts were significantly higher than those reported in the nutrient database. Sodium content ranged from 336.7 mg/100 g in thigh meat to 417.0 mg/100 g in drum meat, and phosphorus content ranged from 216.5 mg/100 g in thigh meat to 256.9 mg/100 g in drum meat. Regional differences were noted for vitamin B12 content of breast meat, potassium content of breast and thigh meat, and trans-fat content of thigh meat and skin. This research indicates current rotisserie chicken and roasted chicken in 1979 are very different, and few regional differences exist among rotisserie chickens in the United States.