Also ritually slaughtered if that matters to you.
that being said, both should not be happening
My MIL used to be a food scientist and spent a few years working with Tyson. She hosted a party once with chicken wings twice the size of my hand. I refused to partake of them especially since she wasn’t allowed to tell me how they got so big.
So your reasoning for thinking there's a conspiracy to hide hormones in chickens involving the federal government, various poultry companies, and the thousands of farmers they subcontract out to, is that you saw a few chicken thighs that looked too big for their bone, and your MIL had a NDA with the company she worked for? The official explanation is "better breeding and growing conditions"[1]. Is there a reason you don't find that plausible? We can see how much of an impact breeding can make on dogs, for instance, and chickens are bred so big that they develop health problems[2]. Maybe the chicken you saw really did had underdeveloped bones relative to how big it was, but it's not because of "They must be doping them with something", it's just how they were bred.
[1] https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/articles/the-chicken-of...
[2] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21437054/chickens-factory...
They're both hormone free.
"Under Federal law, hormones are only approved for use in beef cattle, swine**, and lamb production. There are no hormones approved for use in the production of poultry, goat, veal calves, mature sheep, or exotic, non-amenable species"
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media_file/202...
>pressure fried in a crust of MSG saturated dough
The typical preparation of bacon basically involves it frying in its own fat. I'm not sure how pressure frying is any more worse. Moreover bacon contains nitrates and nitrites, which is known to cause cancer, unlike msg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing_(food_preservation)#Nit...
>which is supposedly halal
I think you're misunderstanding whether Halal means. Halal just means the food adheres to Islamic laws. It says nothing whether it's safe or healthy. Unless you're a practicing muslim (which seems unlikely), it shouldn't be part of your consideration one way or the other.