Letter from the UK (About Chicken)

Water Worth Its Weight In Gold

The article below documents a rip-off practice in the UK.  We do not doubt that pretty much the same occurs in New Zealand.  When you next buy that oh-so-cheap chicken in the supermarket and find it to be superbly moist upon roasting, reflect on the origin of the moisture.  The same goes for most bacon.  Try frying it in the pan, and you have to evaporate the copious volumes of water coming out of the meat first, before you can brown and crisp the meat.  A sure sign that water has been injected into the meat. And think about that juicy chicken from the fast food restaurant--the juice is most likely just heated water. 

Supermarkets selling chicken that is nearly a fifth water

Consumers paying 65p a kilo for water, as legality of process of 'tumbling' imported chicken called into question

Felicity Lawrence
The Guardian,
Friday 6 December, 2013

Frozen chicken breasts on sale in leading supermarkets are being pumped up with water and additives that make up nearly a fifth of the meat to the point where consumers are paying about 65p a kilo for water, the Guardian can reveal.  The legality of the industrial process, in which cheap imported chicken is "tumbled" in cement mixer-like machines, has also been called into question, but the products are available in discount ranges sold in high street retailers.

One large poultry processor in the UK, Westbridge Food Group, is importing raw frozen Brazilian chicken to which salt or a mix of corn oil and salt has already been added, then "tumbling" it with water and water-binding additives.  The meat is then repacked for sale as frozen chicken breast fillets in leading supermarkets. Asda, Aldi and Iceland all sell frozen Brazilian chicken tumbled this way by Westbridge as part of their own-label discount ranges.  Sainsbury's also sells frozen chicken from the same factory with added water under a brand name – but not as its own label. . . .


It is not illegal to sell chicken with added water so long as it is declared.  The legality hangs on whether the chicken is defined after tumbling with water as a "preparation" or a "product" that no longer retains the characteristics of raw meat. . . .

The cheap ranges of frozen chicken on sale in the UK do declare the added water, as well as additives such as phosphates incorporated to stop the water from flooding out during cooking and dextrose, a sugar added to mask the saltiness of the raw material.   The industry argues that the water and additives make the meat more succulent.  But few consumers are aware that they are paying for large quantities of water in their meat, however.  Asda and Aldi packs have 18% added water in their chicken; Iceland and the Valley brand in Sainsbury's have 15% added water. . . .

Chicken bulked up with water is also being widely used in the food service sector, particularly by fast food restaurants. Industry trade literature shows that some companies are marketing poultry pumped with 30% water as a way of cutting costs. Dr Duncan Campbell, a former president of the Association of Public Analysts, said it had become the norm to find levels of water even higher than this. "When we last looked, 40% added water in wholesale frozen chicken breasts was not uncommon. Consumers are being swindled."  Industry sources said that the recession has led to increasing pressure to keep costs down by using higher levels of water – which is legal if it is declared, although consumers do not see the labels in restaurants.

Our view is that provided the larceny is disclosed so that practice is neither deceptive nor misleading, we are content.  Then, if folk find it to their taste, good on them.  But there is enough Scots and Dutch blood in our circles to make us bridle at the prospect of paying so much for what is an abundant commodity--that is, water.  We much prefer to eat chicken or pork or bacon where the moisture and succulence is a product of the way the animal or bird was farmed and fed, rather than the result of what was injected after slaughter.