2 monthsI 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. 😬
- jaybone@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
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.
- ViatorOmnium@piefed.socialEnglish2 months
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.
- some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
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
- 2 months
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.
- Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
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.
- 2 months
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.
- ThomasWilliams@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
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.
- ViatorOmnium@piefed.socialEnglish2 months
Adding salty water to food is perfectly legal, as both salt and water are allowed ingredients for processed food. Lying about it is not.
- boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish2 months
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
- Padit@feddit.orgEnglish2 months
Ufff, thanks for the info. Apparently the EU wide regulation is just for chicken. And in germany adding salted water to meet of any kind is generally also not allowed.
Most absurd “facts” here are in the US. It’s ilegal in my coutry too
- robolemmy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 months
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.
- 2 months
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.
- Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.caEnglish2 months
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…
Have resources would have been a clearer choice of words. Most don’t have the resource of time.
Sure. It’s been a thing in America I know for a long enough time that many are completely unaware of it. Hence TIL. Which let me reiterate is not to shame anyone learning of this today. Learning is awesome and keep it up.
- [deleted]@piefed.worldEnglish2 months
They also do this to beef, pork, and a bunch of other meats in the US. The higher water content is part of the reason preservation methods don’t work as well.
For instance, trying to make Jerry out of water injected beef means you have to dry out the added water in addition to what was in the meat to start with, and you can’t use the post drying weight to calculate if it is dry enough.
Plus poking the holes to add the water is one more vector for bacteria…
- teyrnon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish2 months
Jerry was the name of ze germans in ww1.
Funny you mentioned Jerry seinfeld, I used to really like him until I found out he’s a big Zionist. So he is a Nazi himself fyi. Fuck that guy Larry David’s okay.
- boonhet@sopuli.xyzEnglish2 months
“with added water” is pretty commonly added after the chicken, pork, whatever in the ingredients list here in Estonia.
- Doomsider@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
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.
- Nomorereddit@lemmy.todayEnglish2 months
Also to help packaging n shelf life. Chicken production and processing facilities are both morally and biologically disgusting.
- Nomorereddit@lemmy.todayEnglish2 months
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 once decapitated a chicken and it still lived for a year? Google it if you don’t believe.
- Lifter@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish2 months
- 2 months
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 .
- Holytimes@sh.itjust.worksEnglish2 months
Murder is a process an art even. And these fuckers make a mockery of it.
I demand Sweeney Todd quality chicken murder!
- quips@slrpnk.netEnglish2 months
Genuinely worse than the holocaust no doubt. By several orders of magnitude.
- osanna@lemmy.vgEnglish2 months
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.
Well… Not really in Denmark. At least not salt water.
Packaging on chicken often has it written on the from if there is any water inside, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s not allowed to exceed a certain percentage.
There may be reasons why people might specifically want to buy chicken with water inside, so some supermarkets here sell both, one that has an statement on the amount of water inside, and another that will say “ikke tilsat vand”.
- corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish2 months
not allowed to exceed a certain percentage
America fired all the inspector-types, though, as conservative governments usually do on about day 1. So now consumers get to protect themselves the same way they ‘did their own’ epidemiological research in the last pandemic.
- teyrnon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish2 months
This is been a thing since Reagan though, it gets worse under the Republican administrations but it does not get much better under the Democrats. We get more fucked every cycle.
- teyrnon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish2 months
The turkeys I buy on sale in bulk when I can, 50 cents a pound, have 15% of a salt solution with some other salted bullshit some phosphate or I don’t know I’ve been meaning to look it up. Probably not great for you though knowing the US Food supply.
- Griffus@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
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.
- BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.todayEnglish2 months
There should be a class action lawsuit against Tyson and Perdue,.etc. We pay by the pound for chicken, not saltwater.
- saltesc@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Same for many meats. Red meats are often sealed with O2 to appear redder.or “fresher” than was natural, for many extra days on the shelf.
Meat not from a butcher is usually the lowest quality and actually more expensive considering the liquid weights.
Not O2 but CO. You want to reduce oxidation, not increase it. Carbon monoxide bonds to hemoglobin 200x better than oxygen does and that keeps the hemoglobin red. Oxidation is what causes meat to turn brown.
- HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish2 months
was gonna say that was carbon although I forgot if if was dioxide or monoxide. I thought it was di.
- mrgoosmoos@lemmy.caEnglish2 months
The only bacon I buy now is thick stuff from Costco (there are two or three brands that are good at my local one), or from a butcher shop. and not even all the stuff from Costco is decent, they still carry the shitty watered down thin fatty stuff.
nothing else is worth it. I will gladly pay $22/kg for bacon that doesn’t suck and two slices are an actual serving rather than $24/kg for a tiny shitty 400g package that contains basically just one serving. but I’m also buying it only occasionally in the first place.
- YaksPT@sh.itjust.worksEnglish2 months
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.
