More on US chlorinated chicken

[Pepper Pig Profile]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ken-brexit

[Sakkarin Profile]

I thought the minimum space chickens were allowed to be allocated was the size of an A4 sheet of paper.

Those poor sods in that first picture look like they only have the equivalent of a sheet of loo paper of space to themselves. I guess that's appropriate, as they are presumably walking in their own poo all day.

As for chlorination, in the context of my last comment, maybe they need to be washed in something.



Dear, oh dear, it's hard to believe they are the same creature.

[Joanbunting Profile]

When I see my own happy hens - well not so happy today because it's raining - scenes of intensively reared hens breaks my heart.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Chlorinated or not chlorinated - the chickens in the second picture simply HAVE to be more tasty!

[jeral Profile]

Idyllic photos are how things ought to be, and were in times gone by, but what if millions descended on the half dozen local small holdings in their area and ditto on all other continents?

In context, in the the good ol' days, meat was for the wealthy - and free range or organic still is - but in those idyllic days grain, rice, spuds or cassava root carbohydrates, as a category, was the staple for the masses all over the world, and again still is.

However, will the masses want to give up meat leaving it once again to those who can afford it? I doubt it. We'll have to see if the trend towards Veggie/Vegan is ongoing or a fad.

Vegans and Veggies believe with good reason that highly industrialised meat production is anathema to any model of feeding the world (relative low nutritional gain from resources used to produce it), health disbenefits and those to the Earth itself.

My thought is that chlorination of chicken isn't the evil here, the reason for needing it probably is, including both rearing practices and processing methods.

NB: Written with the caveat that as a pesce I know I'm a hypocrite for helping decimate sea life.

[Meganthemog Profile]

I have a friend who has moved back to the UK from Dallas in the past 3 years. When they lived in the USA his children wouldn't eat chicken as they didn't like the taste or texture - now in the UK they love chicken.

[Pampy Profile]

In context, in the the good ol' days, meat was for the wealthy - and free range or organic still is - but in those idyllic days grain, rice, spuds or cassava root carbohydrates, as a category, was the staple for the masses all over the world, and again still is.

I disagree that free range and organic is for the wealthy. I don't eat dark meat or pork (ie anything that has 4 legs) but do eat chicken. I am by no means wealthy but I only buy free range chicken - I just don't buy it too often.

[jeral Profile]

Pampy, how would your choice persuade the millions of others to follow suit who buy and eat chicken as their staple protein a few times a week?

Will you tell them and maybe their kids to eat gruel instead? If they can't afford better chicken, neither could they afford fish or lean cuts of meat, only cheapest mince or scrag ends that they'd refuse to go back to as much as they would that meat was only on Sundays.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

[quote]Pampy, how would your choice persuade the millions of others to follow suit who buy and eat chicken as their staple protein a few times a week [quote]

Wow, jeral. that´s a big challenge for Pampy, right? So I´ll ask you the same question; how would YOU do it? Plus your reference to "gruel" is a bit exaggerated.
Unfortunately for some, millions of Americans eat chicken every week, (some, every day )and they don´t give a monkey´s as to whether the chicken is chlorinated, perforated, marinated or reverberated.
In other words, (and unfortunately for those who really care about how there chickens are brung up,), there´s a lot of education to be done. And believe it or not, that is a a tough path to follow.

[Pampy Profile]

Jeral - I'm not too sure exactly what you are asking. I am not trying to persuade anyone to my way of doing things - I am just stating what I do, which is to eat less, but better welfare poultry. I would have thought that it was perfectly feasible for anyone to do that. Healthy, tasty and nutritious meals can be made with cheap cuts of meat, fish and vegetables - there's no need for anyone to eat gruel.

[jeral Profile]

karadekoolaid, yes, that's the worst thing, that there's nowhere near a universal will to improve the lot of animals reared for food. There were a couple of discussions in parliament trying to get the sentience of animals recognised but on the other hand people are told that all is well if an RSPCA or Red Tractor symbol is attached so they see no need to concern themselves.

Perhaps gruel is an exaggeration, although I'm not sure people would jump for joy if told to live on lentils, beans, nuts and seeds for protein either. I gather new versions of fake meat are quite realistic now so if it becomes cheaper with increased sales volume the reliance on cheap meat might ease.

[jeral Profile]

Pampy, I was asking how you would "sell" your approach to millions of complacent or apathetic people who are happy as they are. It would have to come from independent campaigners as the government would have the farmers' unions after them so they're unlikely to promote the eating of less meat.

As you'll see from my reply to karadekoolaid just now, I don't have any magic answers.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I unpacked 10 lbs of chicken breast yesterday - bought in Costco. Rather than freeze the whole packet together, my son likes to divide the meat into portions for two (as there are only two of them!), thus making it easier to freeze and defreeze.
I haven´t actually tried the stuff yet, but I can tell you that some of the breasts are grotesquely huge. I had to cut them into two (and in some cases, three) pieces to provide a 150-200 gm portion.
Will let you know how they taste. If they remind me of swimming pools, then our theories are proven

[jeral Profile]

Well, that means they might taste of something then as a complaint here is that chickens don't taste of anything any more. Oddly in a couple of TV unscientific panel taste tests, the cheaper or cheapest came out better than the posh, even with "experts" on the tasting panel. Go figure, beats me. I assume it must be something to do with the feed content - maybe MSG is put in or something.

[Joanbunting Profile]

I'm longing to kow what a posh chicken is

The chickens that are eaten these days are killed at a much younger age than they used to be in the old days when they used to do aerobics happily for several months before ending up in the pot so their bones where much stronger and the meat on their legs had far more exercise and was therefore tastier. Of course laying hens and cockerals didn't reach the pot until they were no longer uselful

Coc au vin wasn't made from supermarket chicken. I can still get what my family called boiling fowl here and it tat sort of bird I make the traditional farmhouse classics - long cooked with lots of additional flavourins , herbs and, of course plenty of wine!
If you buy any free-range chicken here it is comparatively expensive if you compare with a uk supermarket free range chook. Probably about €9.00 for a medium sized bird

If you buy a special breed like Bresse or Landes from the butcher it will be expensive, no ifs or buts and it will come with all it's giblets neatly packed after the butcher has
drawn it.

[Pepper Pig Profile]

I miss being able to get chicken giblets.

[jeral Profile]

Joanbunitng, just quickly to say that posh in the TV tests meant free range or organic cornfed or a brand that cost at least four times as much the cheaper ones.

[patpoyntz Profile]

I would be pleased if I could get a good chicken for €9. An organic free range chicken here, which is the only kind I use is about £12.