I remember growing up seeing Foster Farms commercials saying they don’t do this. It was the main theme of nearly all their ads.
When I was a teenager, I got a job at the local Foster Farms plant. My job was part of the process of injecting the chicken with saline. 😬
Bruh
Were those the commercials with the chickens in the convertible coming to California from the Midwest?
I think that was one. It was a whole series of a couple of chickens trying to pass themselves off as Foster Farms chicken but they always got called out for being plumped and not natural.
My job was part of the process of injecting the chicken with
teenage you:
Mandatory “in the US”.
While this one is technically legal in the EU, it would require labeling the salty water as an ingredient if it changes the weight significantly.
It’s labeled in the US. You’ll see language like “may contain up to N% x, y, z solution” etc.
However that would require us to read
I read this comment but don’t have time to read labels on everything I eat
I can assure you that meat in the Netherlands is also filled up with water. Pretty much all meat sold in the super markets will when cooked first release the water, causing the meat to boil for a bit before it is evaporated. They don’t have to mention it on the packaging if it’s below 5%, which means in reality it’s closer to 10%. Since the Netherlands exports a lot of meat, it’ll be all over at least Europe.
Meat, in general, has a lot of water. It having water is not evidence of this technique. If your meat somehow doesn’t have water then you need to be extra concerned.
Sure, but the water tends to come out during freezing, and to make up for that, they inject water before hand. Like I said, anything below 5% doesn’t have to be reported, which gets stretched to 10% so they can make up for the loss a second time.
They feed chickens (and other animals) with that stuff that muscle builders use which causes them to get thirsty and distends the muscle cells just before slaughter.
Is it legal? It used to be illegal.
Adding salty water to food is perfectly legal, as both salt and water are allowed ingredients for processed food. Lying about it is not.
Also to help packaging n shelf life. Chicken production and processing facilities are both morally and biologically disgusting.
It’s not “processing”. It’s murder. Call it what it is.
Ill agree that what we do to most chickens is deplorable. That said words are made by humans w certain meanings. Murder is reserved for something human and something unlawful.
Maybe mass slaughter? conveyor belt slaughtering?
Weird fact. Did you know a human one decapitated a chicken once and it still lived for a year? Google it if you don’t believe.
That said words are made by humans w certain meanings.
And these humans have a vested interest in making sure that a death of their own is treated differently than a death of a chicken. That human lives are somehow more precious, sacred whereas those of pigs and chickens meaningless.
Of course this is reflected in human language. This is like excusing racism in english by “well the english made those words up w certain meanings” here is a good video about “the oppressors language” in a different context https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYpM0qF9kZY .
Genuinely worse than the holocaust no doubt. By several orders of magnitude.
Even holocaust survivors call what we do the animals a holocaust. not THE holocaust, but A holocaust. It’s truly disgusting. We kill 1-3T animal EVERY FUCKING YEAR. It’s beyond fucked.
Murder is a process an art even. And these fuckers make a mockery of it.
I demand Sweeney Todd quality chicken murder!
In the US they do. In Canada it’s illegal.
Yup, here in the EU illegal as well.
Not EU-wide then. Pork/chicken “with added water” is pretty common here in Estonia. Usually pre-flavored meat cuts and such. If it’s completely fresh, unseasoned meat, then usually there’s no water listed, so hopefully that does in fact mean they don’t add water.
Here’s one manufacturer’s product with ingredients translated
Canadian women also don’t get as many boob jobs.
Not in sane places, it doesn’t.
so basically only the usa does it.
same with prepacked bacon. fuck you foster farms.
Don’t worry, you can get it precooked!
Because that’s literally how you make bacon…
Great way to cheat the customer and also ruin recipes that don’t take into consideration that cups of salt water will come out while cooking the chicken.
People didn’t know this?
And if they add caramel, they can advertise it as salted caramel chicken! I mean, why not? Everything else is salted caramel. Disgusting stuff.
Pumpkin Spice Chicken.
Brace for the ice limit.
While I agree salted caramel isn’t great I can see why people like it, the ol salty sweet combo
Depending on product injecting salt water is necessary - one reason is to form it into nice shape, the other is to inhibit bacteria that could produce botulin toxin in the product.
In Norway, chicken without added salt and water has become the norm after producers were made to inform how much of each is added. Also, one of the triopol groceries here has wholly switched from Ross chickens, so that is a good trend for animal welfare.
There should be a class action lawsuit against Tyson and Perdue,.etc. We pay by the pound for chicken, not saltwater.
There are valid reasons to brine a chicken, this is just an extreme way to do so. The salt affects how muscle proteins behave during cooking, partially it prevents them contracting too much, thus in turn preventing the muscles from squeezing out so much liquid that they become dry. lower temperature cooking for a longer time can achieve the same effect and won’t dilute the flavor of the chicken.
Any reasonable step of preparation like brining poultry can be taken too far or done excessively, especially by companies seeking to maximize shareholder value by selling as little product as possible for the highest price. pre-brining chicken isn’t always bad, but it’s not always what you want.
And basically all frozen chicken in US stores has been pumped full of brine. That includes raw chicken parts that look otherwise unprocessed.
Not only that. That’s the way most people like it. How many people here are equipped at home to brine their own chicken and turkey on any given day? It costs manufacturers more to ship that way as well due to the extra water weight. But chicken can often be dry enough as it is. If you’re grilling, baking for preparing chicken in any way that doesn’t involve cooking it in a sauce or reduction. You absolutely want it brined generally.
In a lot of the world, chicken isn’t typically sold like this and people aren’t doing it themselves. If it ends up dry, it’s taken as a sign that it’s overcooked, not that it should have been brined.
Oh for sure. It’s a convenience thing through and through.
Brining chicken isn’t terribly hard. Just a ziplock and some salt water with seasoning. (Or leftover pickle juice.)
The problem is that if you want chicken now you’re gonna need a time machine to go back 12-24 hours to brine the chicken, and people will pay for convenience.
Brining a turkey requires large and specialized equipment, though.
Yep definitely not hard. But absolutely time-consuming.
How many people here are equipped at home to brine their own chicken and turkey on any given day?
literally everyone that owns a bucket, salt and has access to water… do you think brining a bird is some fancy thing that requires specialized equipment? soak a bird in salt water… add spices if you want. done…
Equipped? Maybe
Have the patience to? Probably not!
Have resources would have been a clearer choice of words. Most don’t have the resource of time.
Or the knowledge to know that it even needs doing.
I moved to Portugal last year and I can say that the supermarket chicken here does need a lot more seasoning (to my taste) than US chicken did. I am hoping it will help cut down my overall salt intake.
