Comments on: Plumped Chickens: You Are Paying for Water

By: Adam C.

Adam C. — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:47:33 +0000

I used to wonder why the chicken in dishes served at mediocre-to-nice restaurants always tasted so inferior to what I could make at home. There was this fake “rubbery” or “plastic” texture and flavor I couldn’t ever quite place. Then one day I bought a branded “Value Pack” of fresh boneless/skinless breasts to make Chicken Piccata, and suddenly that familiar “institutional” flavor was on my dinner table. Checked the label, which read, “Injected with up to 15% of a sodium/calcium phosphate solution”

So, please note that it isn’t always just broth or saline that gets used in “plumping”. Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) is a weak acid; hence, phosphate salts are appreciably alkaline in water. Alkali “tenderizes” the meat–which is to say, it turns a good compact chicken breast into a mushy, rubbery lump which tastes like plastic and takes longer to cook owing to the heat capacity of all that added water. Double YUCK.

I check the label now, every time. If it doesn’t say “minimally processed”, I pass, or head for the butcher’s counter for decent meat (and pay thru the nose for it).

By: Richard B.

Richard B. — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:58:12 +0000

How long has ‘Plumping’ been commonly used?

If it is a relatively new practice it means that all of those fast-food nutritional guides are likely outdated. Jeez, you get a chicken sandwich at a fast food place and unknowingly get an additional load of unexpected sodium. It’s not like they don’t already add sodium to the sauce or in preparing the chicken.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:14:40 +0000

There is another health risk with these chickens besides the increased sodioum. Many manufacturers are also injecting carrageenan along with the salt water. Carrageenan is a thickener that is made from dried bleached red seaweed. It is being used in many dairy and meat products to disguise the fact that they are being watered down. Some people have a bad reaction to it and experience nausea and abdominal pain after eating it. My 4 year old daugher was incorrectly diagnosed with lactose intolerance and then IBS before I figured out this additive was causing the problem. Removing it from her diet cleared her symptoms. I have to check labels every time I purchase something because it shows up in a suprising number of products, and something will be okay one week, and have it in it the next.

If you want to find out more about it check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan#Health_concerns and google carrageenan ibs

By: Nancy

Nancy — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:47:10 +0000

It’s not just added water you have to worry about. There’s a movie out now, “Food, Inc.” that anyone who shops for food in America should see. It got a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from the top critics. Trailer on the website: http://www.foodincmovie.com/
P.S. I’m not a spammer or connected with the movie, it’s just important to know about what we are eating.

By: george love

george love — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:38:03 +0000

This has been going on for years, and many are on the bandwagon. You HAVE to read the labels. For example, Maple Leaf Duck, a product from Canada which I have purchased before NOW is injected. Pork, beef, you name it. Full of salt and water for which we are paying in terms of money AND our health. They claim the “injection” makes meat tender. I remember chickens my mother roasted 30 years ago – they were tender and tasty withouth added junk. And, they TASTED LIKE CHICKEN. Ms Snow is right – the texture of this newfangled fowl IS disgusting.