Chicken can be prepared in a vast range of ways, including baking, grilling, barbecuing, frying, boiling, and roasting.

Chicken is sometimes cited as being more healthy than red meat, with lower concentrations of cholesterol and saturated fat.

[4] The poultry farming industry that accounts for chicken production takes on a range of forms across different parts of the world.

The United Nations estimates there to be 19 billion chickens on Earth in 2011, making them outnumber humans more than two to one.

[8][9] For thousands of years, a number of different kinds of chicken have been eaten across most of the Eastern hemisphere,[10] including capons, pullets, and hens.

It was one of the basic ingredients in blancmange, a stew usually consisting of chicken and fried onions cooked in milk and seasoned with spices and sugar.

[11] In the United States in the 1800s, chicken was more expensive than other meats and it was "sought by the rich because [it is] so costly as to be an uncommon dish.

"[12] Chicken consumption in the U.S. increased during World War II due to a shortage of beef and pork.

[13] In Europe, consumption of chicken overtook that of beef and veal in 1996, linked to consumer awareness of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease).

[23] Chicken generally includes low fat in the meat itself (castrated roosters excluded).

[28] The FDA approval for roxarsone and two other arsenic poultry drugs were voluntarily withdrawn by the manufacturers in September 2013.

According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the unapproved antibiotic ceftiofur is routinely injected into eggs in Quebec and Ontario to discourage infection of hatchlings.

[32] Furthermore, as per the FDA, more than 25% of retail chicken is resistant to 5 or more different classes of antibiotic treatment drugs in the United States.

[34][35] In random surveys of chicken products across the United States in 2012, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine found 48% of samples to contain fecal matter.

[36] The high speed automated processes at the abattoir are not designed to remove this fecal contamination on the feather and skin.

In the United Kingdom, juvenile chickens of less than 28 days of age at slaughter are marketed as poussin.

Roasters, or roasting hens, are the largest chickens commonly sold (3–5 months and 6-8 lbs) and are typically more expensive.

Worldwide, there are many fast food restaurant chains that sell exclusively or primarily poultry products including KFC (global), Red Rooster (Australia), Hector Chicken (Belgium) and CFC (Indonesia).

The safe minimum cooking temperature recommended by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is 165 °F (74 °C) to prevent foodborne illness because of bacteria and parasites.

In Asian countries it is possible to buy bones alone as they are very popular for making chicken soups, which are said to be healthy.

Raw chicken maintains its quality longer than fresh in the freezer, as moisture is lost during cooking.

[43] It is safe to freeze chicken directly in its original packaging, but this type of wrap is permeable to air and quality may diminish over time.

[43] If previously frozen chicken is purchased at a retail store, it can be refrozen if it has been handled properly.

However, if frozen cooked foods are not defrosted properly and are not reheated to temperatures that kill bacteria, chances of getting a foodborne illness greatly increase.