Originally published September 11 2012
Unraveling food industry lies - Your chicken is full of liquid fillers and chemicals
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Those juicy, delicious chicken breasts in the meat case at your local supermarket are more than likely hiding a dirty little secret that might make you think twice about ever eating them again. Most people are unaware of it, but conventional chicken meat typically contains a whole lot more than just chicken, as it is often "plumped" up with brine (salt water), chicken stock, flavor and texture-enhancing chemicals, and even the waste byproducts of other animals that can constitute as much as 30 percent of the meat's total weight.
Rather than produce and sell pure chicken meat as most people assume they do, many conventional chicken producers inject all sorts of liquid fillers and chemicals into the meat prior to packaging it, all for the purpose of making poor quality meat appear and taste superior. The process is not only deceptive, as it tricks consumers into thinking they are getting more chicken than they really are, but it also increases the sodium content of chicken by as much as 500 percent.
Perhaps the worst part about plumping, though, is the fact that chicken producers can still label their plumped chicken as being "100 percent natural," since this terminology is not properly regulated, and does not have a standardize legal definition. As long as the injected substances are considered to be "natural" themselves -- "natural" technically cannot be legally defined in this context, either -- then anything goes as far as chicken production is concerned.
According to Foster Farms, a large chicken producer that claims not to plump its chickens, the average consumers inadvertently spends about $1.50 per package of plumped chicken just on salt water. Throughout the course of a year, this translates into a hidden cost of more than $100 per year for a family of four eating chicken with their meals roughly four days a week. (http://www.saynotoplumping.com)
Plumped chickens can contain waste byproducts of other animals like pigs, cows
Besides containing high levels of refined salt chemicals like monosodium glutamate (MSG), arsenic (http://www.naturalnews.com/032659_arsenic_chicken.html), and various other chemicals, plumped chickens may also contain bits and pieces of other animals and animal waste.
The U.K.'s Independent reported back in 2009 that many restaurants throughout Great Britain had been caught injecting their chicken meat with the bones and gristle of both pigs and cows. Similar to the agenda behind plumping with water and salt, injecting these animal waste byproducts is intended to fatten up chicken meat in order to make it appear larger, weigh more, and thus generate higher profits. (http://www.independent.co.uk)
Another investigation by BBC revealed similar plumping methods involving the flesh of other animals. It turns out that chicken processing in general often involves injecting chicken meat with the protein material of other animals. Some producers even try to cover up this dirty practice by deconstructing the DNA of the foreign animal matter so that it cannot be detected in tests. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3047159.stm)
This is all very disturbing news, of course, especially for folks who, for religious or dietary reasons, specifically eat chicken in order to avoid eating other forms of meat. Little do they know that, since the 1970s, conventional chicken manufacturers have been pumping up chicken meat with foreign materials and animal waste in order to turn a higher profit.
Stick with local, pastured varieties when eating chicken
The best way to avoid falling victim to the food industry's chicken deception is to buy only local or specifically pasture-raised chicken meat. It is important also to make sure that the chicken meat you buy is organically fed, regardless of whether or not it is officially certified as such, since conventional birds are often deliberately fed arsenic, a cancer-causing chemical compound. (http://www.naturalnews.com/032659_arsenic_chicken.html)
To learn more about food secrets, be sure to check out the FREE NaturalNews report, 25 Amazing (and Weird) Facts About Food: http://www.naturalnews.com
Sources for this article include:
http://www.cracked.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/032659_arsenic_chicken.html
http://www.saynotoplumping.com
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