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.
Aren’t they doing it with shrimps and Salomon in the eu?
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
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.
Canadian women also don’t get as many boob jobs.
Most absurd “facts” here are in the US. It’s ilegal in my coutry too
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.
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.
… in the US.
In Finland too!
“with added water” is pretty commonly added after the chicken, pork, whatever in the ingredients list here in Estonia.
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.
Not in sane places, it doesn’t.
so basically only the usa does it.
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.
This doesn’t happen with seitan. Which is cheaper, healthier, and has about double the protein.
I’ve had some damn good seitan, too.
There’s a vegan Asian-styled restaurant near me that has awesome general tsao seitan, and also use the same protein for their sesame-, mango-, and orange- sauced variants.
Another place near me has these barbeque seitan strips (appetizer) with house wasabi mustard.
God I’m hungry now.
I only recently discovered that roasted sesame is the best thing in the fucking world. If it’s not roasted right it’s nothing, and the roasted oil is meh.
I wish I could eat seitan, I always have allergic reactions to it. I’m stuck with beans lol
Is TVP an option for you?
Yes, though I consider soy to fall under beans haha
That’s more ground beef than chicken. And unfortunately it has only about the same protein content as animals does.
But it’s great too
always have
Why would you continue to eat it once you figured that out?
Some of my allergies are seasonal. I can only eat cherries in late fall/winter, for example. I assume it’s linked to some pollens that are common in spring and summer. It’s not the case with seitan unfortunately
I say this as a proud vegan, but seitan is fucking disgusting.
That means you haven’t had well made seitan
Wtf? Every omni I fed seitan said they couldn’t tell the difference to chicken.
Tofu is disgusting. Seitan is amazing.
Try seasoning it. And batter it and deep fry it. It’s indistinguishable from fried chicken if you do it right.
I’ve always felt the opposite. I love tofu, and have a zillion recipes for it. But seitan still disgusts me. No matter how I try to prepare it, I’ve always been disappointed.
Almost all meat you buy at the supermarket has brine. Even things like ground beef.
Also meat glue.
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.
People didn’t know this?
same with prepacked bacon. fuck you foster farms.
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.
I’m $75 away from smoking my own
Don’t worry, you can get it precooked!
Because that’s literally how you make bacon…
that’s one way to make bacon
I can cook a whole packed pan of chicken wings (on top of each other) and when they are done there is 3 inches of space between them and a huge pool of liquid in the drip pan. It’s insane how much they can inject in them.
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.
Hmmm capitalism.
