The Los Angeles Times has just exposed the American chicken industry’s dirty little secret: how it cheats customers, who pay by the pound, by plumping up its chicken carcasses with liquid:
When you go to the market and buy a raw apple, you expect — and get — an apple. Not a fruitlike product injected with liquid that makes it weigh more but that softens the natural crispness and dilutes the flavor to the point where it has to be infused with caramel-apple concentrate to restore some tastiness. Fortunately, Fujis are still Fujis. If only the same could be said of chicken.
In the past few years, it has become common for chicken producers to inject fresh chicken with saltwater as a way to keep it juicy and flavorful in the hands of indifferent cooks, a process called “enhancing” or “plumping.” In some cases, the plumping solution contains a long list of ingredients, and it can make up a fifth or even more of the chicken’s weight.
If this piece gets widely read by meat eaters, the chicken industry will be in a world of hurt. You know what to do. Link.
