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13% water added --what is this all about?


zoe b

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I mean added to supermarket meat--I'm sure ham has had this for quite a while, but it seems to be spreading to fresh pork and also to chicken.

I find this absolutely awful--

I made a roast chicken from Publix brand when we were in Florida and it had no taste whatsoever, and you really couldn't make a sauce from the juices because the chicken swam in two inches of liquid while it roasted.

Last week I made chicken wings for my daughter and friends who came to visit--the wings were huge and meaty when I put them on the sheets to cook--in twenty minutes they were swimming in water, and by the time they were done, the water had evaporated, and the wings were teeny.

Last night I made oven --pulled pork--I slow cook a pork shoulder with onions, garlic and a bottle of beer--I had to drain the liquid half way through because this roast was up to its chin in water.

So aside from the fact that you are paying 13% for water with this little trick, it ruins the meat.

I have to start looking at labels--is all meat adulterated in this way now? And why aren't people protesting?

Zoe

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Zoe,

Many of us are protesting. Much of that water includes phosphorus and salt to preserve the meat. Hamburger now has a shelf live of 11 days.

Ask the lady behind the meat counter if her breasts are enhanced!

Tim

ps: Walmart even enhances beef cuts. Just what we wanted, brisket with phosphorus.

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...is all meat adulterated in this way now? 

Definitely not. But you really do need to look at the labels on everything these days in supermarkets. And I do mean everything.

I happen to like onion dip with chips on occasion. I know I should just make my own but I've been buying the Heluva Good brand in my local supermarket for years and it's the same price as buying sour cream alone. Last week I was in Target - where they now stock some food items. I spotted Dean's brand onion dip and bought one. I nearly hurled after tasting one chip with dip and quickly checked the label. Sure enough - there's no sour cream in it! The ingredients included corn syrup, non-fat milk solids, whey, guar gum etc. - but no "real" dairy. Totally disgusting. Into the trash it went.

I once bought a rotisserie chicken at the local Sam's Club after hearing my brother rave about the large size and how they were such a great value. Yuck. They were big - sure enough. And the meat had that weird spongy quality that can only come from injected water. Never again.

And why aren't people protesting?

I am. I do it with my wallet.

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I too was amazed in Walmart where even the beef is adulterated. Sam's so far has only the chicken adulterated.

I refuse to purchase such products including scallops and other fish that has/have any type of preservative. Note: this includes much of frozen fish/crab/shrimp.

The vast majority of the purchasing public is only interested in how cheap it is and how fast can i make it. So, sooner or later, I probably will be a vegetarian because I will not be able to purchase unadulterated products.-Dick

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Here such adulterated meat is labelled "seasoned" and I have ranted at store managers that if my meat is to be seasoned then I would like to choose the seasoning! I am sure my tiny voice made little impact but I am noticing that now I seem to have a choice - not all the meat in the meat case is "seasoned" so I carefully shop for the stuff that isn't. I suspect that a lot of shoppers are showing a lot more brains and becoming wise to this BS labelling.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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Much of that water includes phosphorus and salt to preserve the meat.  Hamburger now has a shelf live of 11 days.

Ask the lady behind the meat counter if her breasts are enhanced!

Tim

ps:  Walmart even enhances beef cuts.  Just what we wanted, brisket with phosphorus.

oh, good, at least I'm not the only one!

And yeah, I was wondering about the water--it itself would have to have a preservative because water loves to grow little nasties.

We really have to make people aware of this mess!

Oh, and Tim, you ask the lady....oh wait maybe not!

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Honestly, I'd have to go and check carefully but I'm pretty sure that for a while now (a couple years) I have seen meat, primarily chicken, that's labelled and advertised as "air chilled". I always took that to assume that there was no water weight added but I should check more carefully I guess.

Kate

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When we moved to Germany last year the first thing we did was run out and buy pork chops. I threw them in hot butter in the frying pan, and out came nicely browned, incredibly tasty, food of the gods. Not a drop of water.

When I move back to the US next week finding real meat is one of the first things on my to-do list. After buying kitty litter.

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