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).