Why YSK: consuming too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. In my country (USA), the average daily sodium intake is over 3,300mg, exceeding the recommended maximum of 2,300mg. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends an even lower maximum of 2,000mg.
Also: with the rising cost of food, being mindful of additives that increase sell weight is important.
Chicken sold in supermarkets in America
I fixed the headline for you
Americentrism! You strike again!
That shit is illegal in EU
Here they fill meat with regular water. As long as it’s on the label it’s allowed. It’s still a scam.
This is a good example of using technically true facts to imply something that isn’t actually representative.
Yes, some chicken is sold with an added salt-water solution. That’s not a secret it’s disclosed right on the label. But presenting the maximum legal numbers as if they apply to all supermarket chicken is misleading.
“Up to 30%” is the ceiling, not the average. Likewise, “up to 500 mg of sodium” describes heavily enhanced products, not ordinary chicken. Plenty of chicken is sold with no added solution at all, and consumers can choose whichever they prefer simply by reading the packaging.
This post also frames the added solution as though it’s some kind of deceptive adulteration. In reality, it’s added to improve moisture retention and consistency during cooking, and it’s regulated and clearly labeled.
So the takeaway isn’t “supermarkets are secretly selling watered-down chicken.” The takeaway is much less dramatic: read the label. If you want unenhanced chicken, buy unenhanced chicken. If you don’t mind the added solution, buy the enhanced product. Manufacturing practices are not evidence of a conspiracy just because someone cherry-picked the largest numbers they could find.
The title already says “up to” for both the 30% and the sodium content. If the reader understands anything else, that’s a reading comprehension issue.
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Don’t be a contrarian for the sake of argument. If your reading comprehension is so good you’d know the title is intentionally sensationalized intentionally using large numbers to make it look and sound like they’re always at the upper limits.
God. I bet you’re insufferable irl aren’t you?
The literal wording of the title is “up to”. You’re criticizing it for cherry picking when it’s… not.
If there’s a contrarian here, it’s certainly not me.
Nice personal attack though!
Ya. Having “up to” in the title isn’t some magical phrase that excuses the sensational title. And simply claiming that it does isn’t sufficient.
YSK: Not all raw chicken is the same some is enhanced with a saltwater solution
This is an example of a neutral title that doesn’t sensationalize and enhance clicks.
And you started the personal attacks with reading comprehension shtick. So don’t get offended all of the sudden.
You clearly understood the title, so no, the “reading comprehension” thing wasn’t a dig at you. It was a way to say that you shouldn’t assume the reader is unable to understand the litteral meaning of the title, because that is honestly condescending.
The title does not misrepresent anything, is not dramatizing the situation either. It doesn’t even say “most” or “a sizeable share” or anything that would imply it’s a massively widespread problem. It uses one of the least dramatic quantifier: “often”. Then it says “up to” because… That is the only way to say it? Are you expecting a title to say “up to, but not necessarily as high as”? It’s a title.
Your title alternative is, however, actually dramatizing, making it a bigger problem than it is. “Not all is the same, watch out what you’re buying!” Is the emotion it creates in the first part. Then de-dramatizing with “some”.
The title of this post is as neutral as it can be. It is, literally, stating a fact. The word “up to” is indeed not magical, it is the proper way of indicating an upper bound without dramatizing.
I am shocked this is even a debate. And english isn’t even my first language.
Edit: admittedly it could use “sometimes” instead of “often”, or back up with numbers. But that is hardly dramatizing.
Okay. I apologize for the personal dig. That was uncalled for, especially since I misread what you were saying. I made assumptions and responded in a way that was unnecessarily hostile.
The title of the article is clearly engineered to provoke fear. Nobody wants to pay for added salt or for chicken to be “plumped” to increase its saleable weight.
That’s exactly what the title is implying. It throws around numbers like “up to 30%,” “500 mg,” and “7–10 times” in a way that makes them sound alarming without providing meaningful context.
In reality, some manufacturers inject a brine solution into chicken to improve juiciness and tenderness while also increasing its weight. That practice is disclosed on the label. Consumers also have plenty of alternatives, especially in the United States, where supermarkets typically carry both enhanced and non-enhanced chicken.
So yes, I think the title is obviously sensationalized. While the individual facts may contain elements of truth, they’re presented in a way that encourages readers to feel as though they’re being deceived or victimized rather than helping them understand what’s actually happening.
I dislike headlines like this because they present technically accurate information in a misleading way. They encourage an emotional reaction instead of informing the reader.
Using qualifiers like “up to” doesn’t make the presentation any less manipulative. It may make the statement legally defensible, but it doesn’t make it an honest or balanced way to communicate the issue.
I don’t think there’s any significant disagreement between us about the underlying facts. My disagreement is that you’re willing to give this headline a pass, and I don’t think you should. Its purpose isn’t to inform; it’s to provoke.
Eat less meat and buy Quality.If still undecided, a temporary job in a meatpack factory will be helpful.
this is some fearmongering. unless your diet is nothing but packaged foods, your sodium level is always gonna be under the RDA, and sodium is necessary for your body to function. going low-sodium is more dangerous than going over the RDA for the average person.
The RDA is a maximum, not the minimum needed. You will be perfectly healthy on 200-500mg a day. Eat whole grains, meat (or dairy), fruit, and vegetables and you’ll get more than enough
Only if you’re vegan will you likely have to give it some thought, and then it’ll be enough to eat processed meat substitutes or just add a pinch of salt when you’re cooking
even then you’d have to somehow avoid basically anything even remotely processed, and stuff like pickles and many many seasoning mixes… You’d really only ever get too little salt if you have some specific health condition where you need extra salt, and you’ll probably notice such because you’ll go “hm i want more salt”.
Here in Denmark how much water is in the chicken is written on the label of the packaging. It is also required to list what ingredients are used to treat the chicken if anything besides water is used.
Must be nice living in a functioning society.
Sure but you can read European history and find out why. People had to rise up to get this, along with vacations.
You can’t vote away evil since the ones who run things are not elected.
It was also hundreds of years of extremely destructive wars.
That was for other reasons though, like princes egos and the status quo, before that we had the plague too so I don’t think it’s relevant to the discussion…
People rising up has been a theme for some time though, and that’s what it takes.
Eh, usa!
Yes. You dont create change by voting.
End it. End it all now, Japan, get revenge. Fucking A.
I think it’s like that in the whole of Europe.
The practice described by OP exists, but the practice must be disclosed, including any additional retained water by percentage.
It is the same here in the states. And it is in fact the case because I’d be the labels on the chickens that I purchase.
Ehh, a restaurant would salt it past there anyway. Culinarily, you’d be well within reason to brine fresh chicken.
Price per pound is pretty bullshit thought, making it cost at the price if meat is BS
This is done to avoid botulin toxin from being formed. It’s a much, much bigger issue than the sodium intake
Thats nitrate salts used in sausages, salami and such. The NaCl used in fresh meats is mostly to add weight and supposedly make it more “juicy”.
NaCl does inhibit botulin bacteria too. Nitrate salts have the neat property of changing the color more into deep red territory, which some people tend to prefer.
Yes, the consumption of rotting flesh is a huge problem. Literally destroying your health and the planet at the same time. Not to mention the torture and murder of animals.
Yes, the consumption of rotting flesh is a huge problem
The problem is that botulin toxin is stronger than lead to the power of mercury. The amount big enough to kill you is counted in nanograms. That amount is small enough to appear in meat way before it gives off any symptoms of spoiling
Turn that frown upside down, oh wait, you can’t move your face.
Here is a short that tells of what’s going here. This short is also a reaction, from an independent farmer who farms chickens. I think the creator here, FarmingWhileBeige, offers a lot of good insight into what is bad and not bad in our current farming practices as a level headed not batshit crazy maga person.
Chris also explains the chlorinated chicken myth and daily unpacks MAHA bullshit about food.
As soon as I seen this YSK I thought of that short! The guy is genuinely fun and educational.
And here’s the short in a normal video format
I don’t disagree that you removed the short designation from the link, but what’s the difference between the two? It’s the same video with the same aspect ratio and the same obnoxious subtitles one word at a time. My sound is turned off so if there was a difference there it went unnoticed
Speaking for myself here:
- Shorts loop automatically, something I find annoying
- Shorts have loads of UI over the video by default; while there is a “clear screen” button in the context menu, it doesn’t persist, and is extra interaction that a normal video doesn’t require
- It’s easier to scrub through a normal video on mobile; while there is a progress bar at the bottom of a short, you can’t drag up on that bar to get fine-grained seeking
This is my “old man tells at cloud” moment and I’m okay with that.
Yep, I’m not old by any means and all these points ring with me as well
Oh ok, I appreciate the answer! I didn’t think of those points because I have seen hardly any because I avoid it like the plague. Do you know if removing the designation works for all shorts?
I’m pretty sure it does. I remember thinking “of course they would implement it like that” when I first encountered a short as a regular video.
FWIW, his subtitles are often edited with substitutions, so if you don’t listen to the audio you’ll occasionally miss out on a punchline or other descriptives. It’s not necessary for his messages that people have to read and listen at the same time, but it’s kind of like Easter eggs lol .
Alright! I appreciate the answer
That man is such a gem. It’s great to see him out in the wild!
Set him free!
FarmingWhileBeige is highly recommended. He does a lot of good educational (and sassy) videos about different aspects of the farming industry, and has a good catalogue of funny shorts of reacting to stupid TikTokkers in-between. He has the experience and knowledge, and he’d be the first to tell you to stay the fuck away from the industry unless you’re ready to deal with a lot of bullshit.
I got 4 words into your post and immediately went “its FarmingWhileBeige, isnt it” and yeah, you name drop him a short while later.
He’s awesome.
“What is it now…”
and the visceral horror of a woman hammering nails into a chicken and frying it in what, by all appearances, looks to be used motor oil.
Motor oil + violent splashing of wet ingredients into said motor oil. Her whole thing has to be rage bait.
How do you overlook the fact that the chicken has like a hundred nails pounded into it.
I dont know why, or how, but that viscerally feels worse than possible motor oil, because perhaps its only the possibility that the oil is motor oil, while the chicken has the absolute finality of actually looking like a Cenobite.
interesting thank you
Along with this, it’s probably wise to put the sodium numbers into context - the salt used to season your chicken is probably not going to be what’s going to put you over the top when it comes to salt intake. Highly processed foods, sauces and bread is more likely going to be the thing that gets you.
Look for “air-chilled chicken” to find chicken that doesn’t have this.
Also some organic brands don’t do this because of the laws around chemical use making chlorine not possible. Brands vary, though.
Farmers markets are another route.
As someone with POTS, I for one am okay with sodiummaxxing 😎
This guy gets it
Having an older phone system doesn’t protect you against heart disease.
You joke but honestly I would rather feel normal and live with an increased risk of heart disease than feel awful 24/7 for my whole like like I do on a low-sodium diet. At least I can exercise and reduce unhealthy fat intake to help my risk.
And the “lower sodium is more heart healthy” thing was, if I’m remembering a podcast I once listened to right, only consistently true for people that already had high blood pressure. Normal blood pressure people saw more mixed results with a low sodium diet.
source: a recent episode of the podcast Maintenance Phase.
I love this comment.
Buy halal meats. Or from an actual butcher.
Butchers are so rare around me and far more expensive. I would love to be able to afford it as it’s a much more delightful experience and the meat is always so much better.
I justify it as “not paying for extra water” after cooking. Lol
Depends on how much more you pay
There’s a butcher shop near my work that also has a fantastic café attached. The meat is all absolutely exquisite looking, but you’re god damned right that its insanely expensive like at least double or triple the price of meat at your typical store. We pretty much only ever buy their in-house pepperoni sticks and even those are around $16 a pound.
Huh, what does halal have to do with this? Halal-slaughtered chickens are allowed to be plumped as well.
I was told they’re not allowed to do that, and based on my experience, it’s been true so far. Maybe it’s just my specific grocer is good?
Plumping is just injecting saltwater into the meat after it has already been killed. And that’s fine, as neither salt nor water are forbidden in Islam. The only thing that could matter is that it’s clearly labeled on the packaging how much percentage the meat is vs how much saltwater was added, as you’re not supposed to be deceptive.
But considering some countries generally lax product labeling laws, I assume you could still get a greyzone, where it could be labeled as “halal-slaughtered chickens” - but the actual product wouldn’t pass a stricter control due to undisclosed brine.
So it’s also likely you have a good grocer, but just know that you can’t automatically trust some halal-stamp if you want to avoid plumping.
Oh, thanks for that explanation. I’ve only been going to same halal grocer since shrinkflation started so that would make sense.
Lol it’s called a brine
Jesus christ.
I prefer to brine my own meat. I prefer to salt my own butter even. I buy unsalted butter. Fuck salted butter.
Hero
Well butter my biscuit.
Why do you like making extra work for yourself? Are you bored?
Oh you need someone to salt your butter for you? You need somebody to brine your meat for you?
You need me to fuck your wife for you too? Happy to help.
You need someone to make your butter for you?
You need someone to raise an animal and slaughter it for you?
You need someone to build a vehicle to transport yourself?
You needed a factory to build silicon wafers and assemble them into chips so another factory could produce a computer and install software on it that you didn’t write, so you could connect to the internet that someone else made?
Pathetic. Bet you don’t even live in the woods and grow your crops while trying to make solar cells out of sand to provide your own power. Absolutely pitiful that you participate in a society where goods and services are exchanged for money.
You missed the point completely. Enjoy the cuck!
How do you salt your own butter?
Salt+butter+mixer. Some cinnamon and honey if you’re feeling decadent.
Put salt on top. Same as those biscuits with the sugar.
Layers.
carefully
This makes the chicken taste better too.
True, but you can salt or brine the chicken yourself instead of paying more for it.
You can buy whole chicken thighs and debone them, or you can buy deboned chicken thighs. Not everyone wants to do the extra work.
Also true, but salting it leaves a much dryer, crappier chicken. Brining one works great, but I’d much rather get one already brined vs having to brine one myself like 6 hours before I want to start cooking it. That’s a lot of time and a lot of salt I’ll only use once before dumping.
Salting only draws moisture out of the outermost layer of skin and meat, which improves browning and crisping. It won’t affect the interior. The best way to reduce moisture loss in the meat is to spatchcock it so it cooks faster and more evenly.
I only spoke of salting in comparison to using a brine. There is no cooking method that doesn’t leave you with a more moist cooked piece of meat if the meat was brined beforehand. Spatchcocking is great. It’s better in combination with brined bird. Same with rotisserie, which I generally prefer over spatchcocking.
There’s a lot of great cooking methods, but starting with more moisture trapped in the protein always means there’s more moisture left after cooking.
Well agree to disagree then, I don’t see the point of cooking a whole chicken at home if I’m not getting crispy skin.
What? Why on earth do you think a brined chicken can’t give you crispy skin?
You can definitely still get it crispy but because it’s retaining moisture, It’ll never get as crispy as a dry brined chicken. I spatchcock my chickens and cover in a mixture of salt and baking powder, then leave it in the fridge uncovered overnight to dry the skin out. Then I poke some holes in the fat deposits to let the fat render out, bake it at about 400F, brush it once or twice with the rendered fat from the pan until done. Crispy skin, moist meat, can’t beat it.
Covers up the taste of chlorine
Chicken is not chlorinated, that’s more MAHA bullshit.
Yeah i forgot the /s that’s on me. It was supposed to be an NaCl joke but i forgot about the whole chlorinated chicken bullshit.
Eh, in my experience this chicken has a weird texture so not really
Are you talking about the “woody” chicken problem? Because that’s not from this. This is effectively shipping chicken pre-brined.
The texture thing is either from being frozen/thawed too many times or a genetic issue with chickens bred to grow too fast, leading to striated meat.
Possibly. The really water-injected stuff is often frozen so that probably doesn’t help for sure.
LOL, sarcasm … right ? right … ?
I’m sorry you had to learn it so late in life but, salt makes food tasty. You should try some next time.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that person never actually ate UNbrind chicken plain in their life, and would be shocked at how bland some chicken can taste
Okay so, since we are being serious : my taste preferences are :
1- adding salt, but also,
2- reducing the amount of water.You want dry chicken?
The technical term for that is turkey.
This is why I don’t buy chicken from costco. Thankfully theres a good provider (Sunrise Farms) from Richmond on the Lower Mainland that makes a frozen skinless, boneless breat that’s cheaper than Costco, cooks to nearly the same size it started as the water content is low, and is semi-local to Vancouver Island.
