Reason number eleventy-billion and one why we stopped eating industrial meal. Blech.

I buy about 10lbs of chicken breasts from Costco on a very regular basis, I'll have to check for this. Thanks Consumerist!

@VA_White: industrial *meat*

And yet the Foreman still manages to completely dry it out...

One brand that does this is the Kroger store brand - Pilgrim's Pride.

I have to go elsewhere for chicken because Kroger doesn't carry any non-brothified chicken.

I also think it's gross and doesn't taste good. Calling it Pilgrim's Pride is a disgrace to Pilgrims everywhere.

I think you have missed something here. What they have described is basically Kosher chicken. The chicken is brined to make it more moist. This is not uncommon at all.

I love how the word BREASTS and not Chicken is in big bold letters on the package. Subliminal messages? In MY poultry? It's more likely than you think!

@thumps:

Fuck Pilgrims. Puritans were the OG thugs.

The problem with this brine is that the meat retains the moisture as well as the salt. Since you're basically paying by the pound (or, simply, by weight), you end up with a higher water to meat ratio and therefore get less chicken for your money.

If I want to brine chicken breasts, I'll brine them myself in whatever I want to brine them. I'm glad that I live in a place where I can get local boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a good sale for anywhere between $0.99 to $1.99. I can no longer stand even eating bland and expensive Purdue chickens.

I'm kind of ambivalent about all this.

"We don't want needles or vacuum-thingies anywhere near our dinner plates, and neither should you-"

Well, I'm no expert on poultry products, but there's plenty of cutting and processing that gets the breast meat into it's packaged form. As long as it's done in a clean facility, what's the big deal?

As for the water content, Yes, it does cause the chicken to cook down, but if you're not marinading, the extra water is a good thing. I still have no problem even when i do marinade with water-added chicken; I just add less water to the marinade (or none at all).

OK, I don't care for this, but there are so many worse things in the food you buy at the supermarket than salt and water. It's interesting you would choose this to get upset about.

Um water and salt are natural. So your implicit denunciation of the "100% natural" label on water-swollen chicken is bogus. But you're right that it's objectionable that part of the $3.49/lb is for extra water.

@thumps: Calling anything Pilgrim's Pride would be a disgrace to pilgrims, seeing as how pride is one of the seven deadly sins.

Walmart does the same thing to their beef, if you read the fine print. Of course those that still insist that everything at Walmart is cheaper and just as good stick their fingers in their ears and go la-la-la.

We quit eating chicken that was brined since your paying an extra 15% for the same meat. It also is too salty.

The real problem with industrial meat is that it is so hard to find a reasonable ongoing supply of non industrial meat. It takes extra effort to order half a cow and get it home. It takes extra effort to order or drive out to the sticks to get pork or hit some hidden away butcher shop.

@thumps: FYI: Pilgrim's Pride isn't exclusive to Kroger.

Also, you should be able to find non-brothed chickens as whole chickens. A bit more labor intensive, but you could probably use only the breasts and still pay less per pound, as wasteful as that would be.

Ironically, the best use for the remaining odd bits you probably won't eat (back, heart, neck, etc.) is to throw them into a pot of water with some chopped onions and celery and make your own... Chicken broth!

Well folks you should all just do like I do... and cook and eat only the finest freshest roadkill you can find.

Last weekend we had gopher, rabbit, porcupine, raccoon, and deer... No added water or salt... No unnecessary processing at all... And depending on what hit it, already tenderized.

@lpranal: Just to clarify, I do believe we're all getting scammed with the extra water, but what else is new?

Hmm. Seems a more reliable technique than Extenze, though.

I've always been more surprised by the amount of rib meat, not the fact that some fluids and minerals are present. If I wanted ribs, I'd buy ribs!

Either way, neither addition stops me from buying big bags of frozen breasts and enjoying every single one of them.

at least with pork, there's a pretty huge difference between the pre-brined (AKA "self-basting") pork and the natural variety. the pre-brined pork cooks up with a horrible rubbery/squeaky texture and a really strange flavor. it's really quite awful. avoid it whenever you can.

@impudence:
Yeah, I want my chicken with broth... it's too dried out and tough otherwise.

@mianne: If you use the bones you're making stock.

@VA_White: Professor of Meat Science?

@notlazyjustdontcare: I like 100% natural, for sure. But weren't there studies showing saline was safer than silicone? Or do I have my breasts mixed up?

It should be possible to purchase a chicken that isn't bloated with salt and phosphates, but many groceries no long have them available. Frozen pieces seem to be the worst offenders, being up to 20% added solution. That's over 3 ounces per lb where you're buying water instead of meat.

It's true that brining chicken is traditional. For instance the process of koshering includes a soak in brine. Empire brand chickens are an example of this, and they're delicious. But I think their tastiness derives from something other than salt water, probably something in the chicken itself. Or maybe it's rabbi juice that makes them so good.

Here's the FDA's take on the topic: [www.fsis.usda.gov]

@tonalanswer: If I want to brine chicken breasts, I'll brine them myself in whatever I want to brine them

Exactly. I brine all the chickens I buy but I don't pay extra for pre-brined water weight or 'binding agents' whatever the hell they are.

@impudence:
This practice sounds nothing like the practice of koshering a chicken.
The procedure is to soak the chicken on water, then place the chicken on salt (to remove all traces of blood) then rinse the chicken of the salt. NO needles or injectors or pressure devices are used. It's an external process, not internal.

@notlazyjustdontcare: So are mercury, arsenic... really most chemical compounds outside of plastics and a few exotics... the point is that there was something not in the breast that was added.

If I graft a lizard arm into the middle of your forehead I'm going to go ahead and say that you're not 100% natural anymore... maybe 100% biological, but not natural.

@lpranal: I don't know who is part of the "we" in that statement, but I will refrain from taking their advice until I know.

And this is why I buy my chickens from a specialty butcher.

@notlazyjustdontcare:

Yes, and Uranium is natural too. If it wound up in your chicken, would you be so complacent?

It's not that the ingredients are un-natural per se, it's that the inclusion of such that are not naturally found in the bird to begin with at such high levels is just plain gross.

Additionally, as someone who is on a strict low-sodium diet, I can say without a doubt that this can be just as bad as having uranium in my chicken. (well, almost).

@bohemian: Not just Wally Mart - a lot of chain supermarkets and "Super" stores carry meat (beef, pork, chicken etc) that have been 'enhanced' with brine solutions. If it was packaged before it gets to the store, it's almost a given. Our local supermarket advertises that the store branded meat they sell is not 'enhanced'

@The_Gas_Man: Learn to cook chicken. I use chicken breasts that are not "enhanced," and have yet to dry anything out.

@The_Gas_Man: i think the main complaint is that you're paying 2.99/lb or whatever for chicken, and by pumping it full of water they're artificially increasing it's size, and price. you're right about brining the chicken, but you can do it for yourself for basically nothing.

It's just a brine. I do it myself all the time, especially when cooking pork and turkey. What do you think makes a Butterball Turkey a Butterball? Chicken pieces, whether they be breasts or drumsticks or whatever, usually don't need a brine since they'll cook fast enough that they won't dry out, but most people would probably enjoy the extra moisture.

When I eat the stuff shot full of "natural broth" I end up feeling kind of woozy after. It seems to trigger eczema in one of my sons, too. So I avoid the stuff as much as I can.

So how can you tell which brands of chicken have been "plumped?"

@seattlemaninblue: It's the extra money paid for the water weight.

@ChuckECheese: Whole Foods carries chicken that is not brined (it's "air-chilled), instead). It's a lot more expensive, but it's very noticeably better quality and less full of water and more full of meat. Personally, I'm willing to pay more for chicken that isn't pumped full of brine.

@Shadowman615: The package will say something like "enhanced with a solution ..."

@Shadowman615: Look for "air-chilled" chicken, and something that states a low "water content".

I never really like those highly processed chicken breast, both because of the stuffed "broth" and the fact that they taste terrible.

However I don't see how water and salt is bad for your health (unless you intake too much of them) and since when water and salt are not nature.

@johnva: I should clarify that I meant that as how to find chicken that has NOT had this done to it.

@ninram: Well internal or external. If the results are the same(water logged chicken), then it's the same.

[www.saynotoplumping.com]

Full disclosure: I work in the industry.

If you weren't "getting ripped off" for water at $3.49/lb, you'd be paying more than $3.49/lb. I don't see anything wrong with this practice. It's not like it's secret and undisclosed on the label. Some processors overdo it and use way too much salt, but in general, this results in a much juicier meat. If you don't want it pre-marinated/pre-tenderized, then look for something that has only one ingredient on the label (meat).

The binding agent is typically soy protein, although other proteins can also be used.

Also, I find it amusing how people are grossed out by terms they're not familiar with. A vaccuum tumbler is basically a large vat which is vacuum sealed and then it rolls around to tenderize the meat. It's the 3000lb. equivalent if putting your meat in a ziplock bag with marinate, and then mushing it around. Just slighly more feasible than hiring an army of people with ziplock bags. To be quite honest, I find the strict standards at most facilities I've seen to be far more hygienic than most people's kitchens....

God, I hate juicy chicken. It should be all dried out like God intended it.

@impudence: Brining does not actually add water to the chicken, it changes the salt content of the meat itself by osmotically force more salt into the muscle tissue. This doesn't appreciably change the water/weight of the meat.

This process is different, because it forces/injects additional water into the chicken, which then binds to the meat, creating a heavier (read: more expensive) piece of chicken for you to buy.