Broiler chickens are not injected with hormones; the common belief about 'hormonised chicken' is wrong - the real issue is antibiotics in feed.

Original statement

الفراخ متهرمنه لا ما فيش حاجه اسمها متهرمنه مبدئيا عشان غاليه جدا جدا ... ومش همسك كل فرخه حقنها ولا كل بيضه حقينها هرمون

verbatim according to source. Translation by the project; the Arabic wording is authoritative.

Translation

Broiler chickens are not injected with hormones; the common belief about 'hormonised chicken' is wrong - the real issue is antibiotics in feed.

Origin

Source status

Video transcript (own words)

Attribution

Elawady (machine transcript)

Video

ودي الحلقه التانيه من البودكاست…حلقه استثنائيه وقولولي رأيكوا (Open source)

Published

10 April 2026

Timestamp

1:17:20 (location in the original video’s automatic YouTube caption track; confirms where the words occur, not who speaks)

Attribution uncertainty

Archive transcript (YouTube CC or AI-generated); wording may contain transcription errors; no timestamps available.

Claimed mechanism

Fast growth results from genetics, feeding and (in his view) antibiotics, not hormone injections.

Claimed health effect

None (correction of a myth).

Population concerned

general population (not specified)

Geographic restriction by Elawady

none found

Diverging source versions

Scientific assessment

Mostly true – Correct at its core, but with limitations or minor inaccuracies.

Certainty of evidence: low – Further research is likely to change the assessment considerably.

1. What was claimed?

Chickens are not hormone-injected; antibiotics in feed are the issue.

2. What is demonstrably correct?

The fast growth of broilers (he mentions 40 g to 2 kg in about 33 days) is widely attributed to breeding and feed; injecting individual birds would be impractical, as he notes. The review on woody breast (I-CHK-11) links modern broiler problems to genome, nutrition and management.

3. What is wrong or exaggerated?

In other videos he lists 'injected hormones' among food problems, which contradicts this statement.

4. What remains unclear?

Primary regulatory sources on hormone bans were not checked in this review.

5. Which studies support it?

I-CHK-11 (indirect).

6. Which studies contradict it?

None found.

7. What applies to Germany and Europe?

[Not verified here: EU legislation prohibiting hormonal growth promoters in farm animals.]

8. What is known about Egypt?

[Not verified here.]

9. What practical conclusion is appropriate?

This is one point where Elawady corrected a popular myth; the claim is consistent with mainstream knowledge.

Assessment details

Rationale for certainty of evidence

The statement matches the common position of poultry science that broiler growth is achieved by breeding and nutrition; however, this agent did not fetch a primary regulatory source on hormone use in poultry for the EU or Egypt. Elawady himself is inconsistent (other videos list 'injected hormones').

Source quality

Own words (machine transcript, podcast 2026-04-10); contradicted in passing in other videos.

Regional transferability

Applies broadly to modern broiler production.

Individual exceptions

Not applicable.

Regional scope of the claim

depends on production conditions

Last reviewed

25 October 2026 provisional

In plain language

In one podcast Dr. Elawady said that the popular belief that chickens are injected with hormones is wrong, because it would be far too expensive. This agrees with what poultry experts say: chickens grow fast because of breeding and feeding. In some other videos, however, he mentioned injected hormones again.

Studies on this claim

Regional context

Germany / EU

[Not verified here: EU legislation prohibiting hormonal growth promoters in farm animals.]

Egypt

[Not verified here.]

• Food-safety governance and official controls
• Pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables on the EU/German market (incl. imports from Egypt)
• Pesticide residues in produce sold on the Egyptian domestic market
• Antibiotic (veterinary drug) residues in poultry meat and eggs
• Antimicrobial use in food animals and antibiotic growth promoters
• Hormones in poultry, meat, milk and farmed fish
• Salmonella in laying hens, eggs and broiler chicken
• Dioxins, PCBs and PFAS in eggs and other animal foods
• Aflatoxin M1 in milk and dairy products
• Aflatoxins in groundnuts (peanuts)
• Heavy metals in fish
• Farmed fish (aquaculture): drugs, water source and controls
• Import controls and the meaning of RASFF notifications for Egyptian products

What applies in my country?

General scientific assessment

Mostly true Elawady's statement that broilers are not hormone-injected is consistent with mainstream knowledge, though he was not consistent across videos.

The following areas of food safety are relevant to this statement:

• Pesticides and pesticide residues
• Veterinary medicines and antibiotics
• Hormonal growth promoters
• Contaminants (heavy metals, PFAS, PCBs, dioxins, nitrate)
• Pathogens (Salmonella, Campylobacter, etc.)
• Animal husbandry and feed
• Controls, imports, recalls, labelling

Eggs · Poultry · Dairy · Fish and seafood · Red meat · Fruit and vegetables

Limits: legal rules describe what is allowed, not what every single food contains. Measurement data come from samples and are meaningful only together with their method details.

Country of residence or purchase Compare with another country

References

1. Breast muscle myopathies: twists and turns in modern broilers.. Greene ES et al.. Avian Pathol 2025 · PMID 40658058 · DOI 10.1080/03079457.2025.2533454