I bought a roasting chicken from Whole Foods because I was there and didn't want to go to the regular grocery store to save $3.

They tucked the wings behind its back, tied the legs up, I didn't have to do any prep at all. Forget the regular grocery store's chicken water the time I saved prepping a dead bird was worth $3 to me.

I remember when Walmart started doing this years and years ago. So we stopped buying our meat there. Now where the heck can we get regular meat?

They do this because most people don't know how that they should brine chicken/pork before cooking, or they don't have the time to do it. Brined chicken/pork is much juicier, and probably sells better, so this is the result.

Weight, baby, weight... it is all about the weight.

I recently completed a slow and steady conversion to shopping ONLY at Whole Foods. I used to think it was ridiculous, but now I can't imagine going back to a "regular" store. It's worth the extra expense to me to know that my meat is unadulterated (that's what she said), and that there isn't a single molecule of trans fat in the entire store.

... also, I've been doing all of my holiday baking with whole wheat flour with 100% success rate. Why, exactly, does white flour exist?

@SOhp101:
Yeah right ... And I've got some nice land in Florida that I want to sell you! Ha!

@SOhp101: I've eaten meat that I've brined myself, and I've eaten "enhanced" meat. There is no comparison. "Enhanced" meat is spongy and often doesn't taste right.

This was the final straw that made me completely stop shopping at Kroger. The stores are dirty, the help is unhelpful, and the "deals" are really not very good, even their loss leaders. Their store brands are pushed so hard as to eliminate much of the choice in the store (and I generally like and buy store brands, but if I don't like it, I want an option). At the Kroger closest to me, the last time I went there I used the restroom, the same restroom the employees use. No soap. No paper towels.

Can't stand Kroger.

Never mind this story. The real story is that someone with a camera caught one of "The Hair Bears" shopping at a supermarket! This is a bigger find than Sasquatch!

@HRHKingFriday:

We get our meat at a butcher's shop. One of the advantages of living in a smaller town I guess.

@SOhp101: If I want juicy chicken, I'll baste. If I want juicy pork, I'll soak in a brine.

My baste, will cost me about $0.40/pound.

My brine, will cost me about $0.25/pound.

My chicken and pork are between $1.99 and $3.99/pound.

See the difference?

@Jaysyn:

Exactly! There's a place in Monroe, MI called Danny's. No nonsense, just good chicken and beef and the prices are not really more expensive than the chains like Kroger.

At what point does the nonsense these companies pull in the name of profit become fraud?

@lincolnparadox: Brining the meat yourself will obviously create better results, but most people aren't willing to do this work themselves. I like to be more traditional and take preparing meat into my own hands.

BTW, the difference is called profit, and it's something that farmers/distributors love.

I got a complementary issue of Cook's Illustrated a few months ago, and it had a section about various meats.

It said that pork is leaner than it was 20 years ago (done in an effort to keep people from getting too much fat in their diets, if I recall correctly) and that because of that, most pork is 'enhanced' so it won't be dry and tough when you cook it. But it has affected the taste.

Apparently, though, they did a taste test and most everybody is used to the taste of 'enhanced' pork now.

Years ago this would have been considered fraud and either the weights and measures dept. or the consumer protection office would have gone after a store doing this.

I suppose because they put it in tiny little print on the package they can get away with it.

Walmart started injecting water into their beef years ago, about the same time we quit shopping there. Water injected meat is nasty.

@SOhp101: Stores aren't doing this to "brine" meat, they're doing it because water is heavy and cheap, and they get away with it.

@paconsumerist: Help! Help!

Anyway chicken and pork water are the dumps. I don't want water in my meat. I want the natural juices that flesh comes with. If it comes out a bit dry, I'll put BBQ sauce on it. What do you think that stuff is for anyway?

@girly: Pigs were bred to be leaner when mechanical de-feathering machines made chicken cheaper. Chicken is leaner, and marketed itself as a healthier option, so pig farmers had to fight back and lean out their hogs.

@Canadian Impostor: They do this because people who don't prepare/cook chicken properly think it tastes better while they make extra profit at the same time. Even companies try to hit two birds with one stone.

@vanilla-fro: Sorry to disappoint you, but most BBQ sauces out there are just mainly high fructose corn syrup--you'll probably never find that in true BBQ anyway. The FDA has regulations as to how the package must be labeled that distinguish how much water is added to the product i.e. ham, ham in natural juices, ham with water added, ham and water product.

*ahem* Try to buy from smaller producers and certain butchers, they usually don't mess with their meat. (that didn't sound right)
[www.localharvest.org]

@cabooglio: White flour exists for those of us with IBS and gluten problems. I like whole wheat flour but can't eat too much.

This is reason #27 why you should try to find locally-produced meat and vegetables. Never mind organic; think LOCAL. Your local butcher shop is far less likely to pull shit like this.

@SOhp101: has absolutely nothing to do with brining and all to do with making the meat heavier and thus cost more.

Its a 21st century version of the finger on the scale trick.

Try Foster Farms brands. Their chickens are free from fillers.

true brining requires soaking...which butchers don't do.

to me, they are just padding the scales with salt water.

First people get all up in arms when the government tries to 'restrict' freedom of purchase, then they get mad when companies do things like this.

THEY TELL YOU ON THE PACKAGE, PEOPLE. That's what the 'with natural juices' or 'with added water' means. Try reading what you're purchasing instead of whining about padding scales or unnecessary added weight.

@ancientsociety: Thanks for that link, I now have a list of places to check out this weekend.

@SOhp101: What people are really complaining about is simple...why are they padding the meat when it shouldn't be...

This may have something to do with the rash of recalls on meat there have been lately...anyone think of that?

@Crymson_77: possibly, in that the more you mess with the meat, the more opportunities to introduce contaminants

Just what we need . . more sodium in our diets. . bla!

@cabooglio: Whole wheat flour is impracticable for long term storage, i.e. it will go rancid without refrigeration. Before refrigeration, milled wheat flour and rice were a necessities during warm weather.

@Fuzz: i agree, the fat is probably not as bad for you

@SOhp101:

I'd be ecstatic if the government took water-added meats off the market. Injecting with water IS NOT the same as proper brining, which a) requires soaking, not injecting and b) carries flavorful spices and ingredients rather than just water. Cooking chicken or pork DO NOT require brining if you have any actual cooking skills. And yes, it exactly equivalent to padding the scales. Ripping people off is still ripping people off, even if you tell them... now get back to your job at the Kroger meat counter.

But yeah, this is pretty disgusting. Yet another reason to buy organic/local. FYI, oftentimes if you take the time to ask you will find that local IS organic. It costs a lot of money to buy the "organic" label.

@Hawkins: Precisely. When you're shopping look for "air chilled" chicken which means it was, um, air chilled, not run through a germy ice bath to cool it down. Keep in mind that chicken water is salmonella water.

While I loved how convenient it is to buy a bag of frozen chicken breasts at Costco, I was really irritated by the fact, that when I rinsed them this weird brothy slime that coated the breast came off. Not just Costco, but Albertson's, Wal-Mart - all their frozen bagged breasts are like this, and the packaging discloses that they are enhanced by a "solution". So I started going to a local butcher shop & buying fresh meat. Sure, I have to bag it into individual portions myself, but the price I'm paying per pound is less, (.30 less per lb than the Wal-Mart bag of frozen boneless skinless breasts) and I'm actually paying for MEAT. It tastes better, is better quality, & I'm the one handling it.

I had an interesting conversation with a butcher about the lack of air chilled chicken available in the US and how it's very expensive. In Canada, it's pretty much coming to be the norm. You can buy water chilled, but air chilled is more common, and is the branded stuff. It is more expensive per pound, but I once cooked half water chilled and half air chilled chicken thighs because they were what I had on hand, and the difference in shrinkage was amazing. The side of the pan I filled with water chilled ones was half empty by the time they were done baking, while the side filled with air chilled was still almost fully covered.

fyi - buy local! I try and get as much meat as possible from local butchers at the nearby farmers market. What I can't get there I am lucky enough to have a father who butchers (thanks for the 1/2 hog for Christmas, dad!).

There is something to be said for living on a farm and eating fresh meat even if that lifestyle isn't typically the easiest. Sure beats eating processed everything we find at the grocery stores.

@bohemian: They do it with beef??

@SOhp101: Yes, exactly. Read the labels and buy what you want.

@ancientsociety: Try spelt.

@Swalve & SOhp101

They said in the article:

At our local supermarket chain (Kroger), it is now impossible to buy any fresh pork product (except sausage and bacon, but what's in them is a whole other story) that has not been "enhanced" by the injection of "up to 15%" of some kind of saltwater solution.

How is reading the labels going to help when all the labels say "enhanced"? If they're all injected then how can you buy what you want? I'm pretty sure when giving the choice people will not want injected salt water in their chicken to add weight to the scales.

Its an obvious trick to deceive the consumer whom we know don't always read the labels but does that make it right?

@Major-General: Thanks. I have already though and I was...underwhelmed by the taste.

Wouldn't this make it harder to cook the meat so that it isn't all stringy with loose fibers?

And how does this affect marinades?

@TechnoDestructo:
Stringy meat usually happens when you slow-cook something for a long time, so no.

Quick marinades will have a harder time penetrating the meat --- the excess water will tend to seep out.

Sure .. it's all about the weight. And exactly what should chicken "cost" per pound? Does anybody have any idea what chicken "costs?" It's what the market will bear, that's what it costs.

This is like finding out that the butcher has his finger on the scale when he weighs your ham. Busted! Except then you find out that every butcher in the United States puts their finger on the scale, adds the same amount of extra weight every time, and has been doing it for the last 25 years. Then it really becomes conceptually something new. Like changed reality. Like, um, you're happy making 60K a year, and you're happy that way for years, until you find out that your coworker makes 62K. Then you feel screwed for some reason.

The chicken water is not bad or good for you. But it may make the meat taste better. And the meat company isn't cheating you on your meat purchase by putting brine in the meat, because your concept of fair price for meat has been based on their calculations since you were old enough to care.

@hi: It's not a trick if it's printed on the label. Did they contact the manager and ask him why? Did they try Safeway? There are better ways of solving problems than stridently complaining on the internet.

The bigger question here: WHY is anyone buying meat from Kroger in the first place? Or Publix, or Safeway, or Walmart (!) or any other traditional, commercial grocery chain.

No offense to the original poster (who at least reads labels), but anyone who's been anywhere near a newspaper or a public radio program in the past ten years can't have escaped the increased reporting on the decline in safety and quality among commercial U.S. and U.K. meat producers and packagers. Every other week there's a new book, report, controversy, etc. related to the poor conditions and health risks associated with it. ("How 'bout a nice big bite of Mad Cow disease? E-Coli, anyone? Better yet, here's some ground up factory-worker goodness to spice up that burger!)

The most recent report from a day or two ago was when NYT's Michael Pollen followed up on how MRSA (the super-bacteria that's now killing and infecting more people each year than AIDS) may be proliferating because of practices in commercial pork factories. Mmmm...MRSA; so tasteee!

[www.nytimes.com]

Good to see a few consumerists recommending small butchers and buying local, but all good consumerists should be aware of the corner cutting practiced in commercial farming. Having read about it in the news for so many years now, I can't shake the creeps I get just thinking about supermarket meat.

I was a vegetarian for years, and now I only eat meat once or twice a month, either out at a locally sustaining restaurant, or by cooking it at home after I have it delivered. I'm lucky, because I live in California, and delivery is easy, but there are small farms all over.

Here are some places to check out:
Marin Sun Farms - [www.marinsunfarms.com]
Organic Prairie - [www.organicprairie.com]
Niman Ranch - [www.nimanranch.com]
Eat Wild - [www.eatwild.com]

Happy Hunting!
:)

A pound of ground beef at Niman Ranch is close to $8. That's a slightly bigger price tag than I imagined, but not terrible, if you don't eat burgers too much. How much meat does anyone put into one burger patty?

Honestly, for a lot of people, buying organic is NOT a solution, because organic requires more money. Buying safe is a matter of being aware of grocery stores, their practices, and the practices of companies higher up in the chain of distribution, production, and management of animals. For most people in this country, organic food and going to a local butcher is somewhat of a luxury. What's close is most likely cheaper, and beggars can't always be choosers.

I buy meat from the grocery store, not because I don't care about the factories, or the practices of the distribution chain, but because I simply cannot justify spending the extra money to have some items shipped to me. I shop at Whole Foods, Wegmans and Trader Joes, but I suspect that a lot of people are like me...we want to buy totally organic everything, or go to a local butcher, but the theory is better than the execution.

Oops, didn't mean for that whole last part to be in italics. Don't read with italicized emphasis!

@paconsumerist: Thanks for making my Tuesday! I will be in south Florida with family next week and they will appreciate the new saying. "Hair Bears" HA!

Recently I got hooked on the PBS "House" series (1900 house, 1940s house, frontier house, etc). The shows have really made me think about modern ways of life, and I'm trying to cut back on my consumption of certain things. I'm willing to pay more for Laura's Lean beef if I only eat it a few times a month. And I go to my local butcher for everything else and just make sure I use the heck out of it. (Chicken turns into leftovers turns into chicken stock, etc).
I'm trying to eat more inexpensive bulk items such as beans and rice as well. It's cut down on my grocery bill even though I am buying more expensive meat. So if you trade quantity for quality you're still doing okay with the food bills.