Food rant, Tescos Grade A chikcen being pumped with protein water... Legal?

MangyDog

This is a 2 fold rant and is it legal question.... 
So ive been noticing lately when getting Tescos non free ranged "Grade A" chicken breasts, not the bargain basement chicken. That its had water protein filler added. Yet ive gone over the packaging with a fine toothed comb (so to speak) and there is zero mention of it being water filled chicken. I know its a known practice with cheap chicken to make it more plump, but i at least expect it to be mentioned in the "one bellow" free ranged chicken. 
How do i know its been filled? Well firstly some of the water has leaked into the packaging. And when cooking the water just drains out, quite often leaving this white almost like meat sludge behind.

I thought when chicken has had this filler they were meant to indicate it on the packaging? But having that second look over the packaging there is NO mention and its just labled as Grade A.

Heres the legal bit. Is it legal not to indicate it on the packing? And Is it legal to call this Grade A?

I thought Not? 

maisie_cat

If you are buying chicken that has been reared in the conditions of non free range, the water content is the least of your worries. Those large "plump" chicken breasts are clearly far too large to be natural. 

MangyDog

Well im unemployed so buying freeranged organic corn fed chicken is pretty much out of my budget...

Farway

It's legal, if below 5% added water, so 4.9% there is no need to declare  it,  source https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meat-products-sell-them-legally-in-england#products-with-added-water

 Products with added water

You must tell the consumer if you add water to a meat product or preparation that makes up more than 5% of its weight.

You only need to do this if the meat product or preparation looks like a cut, joint, slice, portion or carcase.

This doesn’t apply to products like sausages because they don’t look like cuts or joints.

Include the information in the name of the food. For example ‘ham with added

MangyDog

i dont know if it was 5% or bellow, after i scraped away what almost seemed like a good third of the mass of the protein on the pan... Maybe they are just toying with the limit, to get away with it...

hollydays

Edited.....

Takmon

MangyDog said:

Well im unemployed so buying freeranged organic corn fed chicken is pretty much out of my budget...

I always find my local butcher to not cost that much more but the meat is traceable to local farms and far better quality with no added rubbish. Even if you have to get a bit less or eat less meat it's worth it just for your health. 

DCFC79

Takmon said:

MangyDog said:

Well im unemployed so buying freeranged organic corn fed chicken is pretty much out of my budget...

I always find my local butcher to not cost that much more but the meat is traceable to local farms and far better quality with no added rubbish. Even if you have to get a bit less or eat less meat it's worth it just for your health. 

Exactly, Im always trying to use a loca, butchers when I can.

UKTigerlily

Takmon said:

MangyDog said:

Well im unemployed so buying freeranged organic corn fed chicken is pretty much out of my budget...

I always find my local butcher to not cost that much more but the meat is traceable to local farms and far better quality with no added rubbish. Even if you have to get a bit less or eat less meat it's worth it just for your health. 

Chickens bred for meat are fattened up to the size of a 25 stone 2yr old child, and then killed at 6 weeks. Free range is a marketing term to make people feel better about their choices, yet if they saw what it means (60,000 in a packed barn with so much ammonia they are covered in burns and lose feathers), broken legs due to the weight, then 6000 in a truck sent to slaughter terrified and covered in faeces. There is NO way to 'ethically' use animals to eat, wear, entertain or test on, NONE. They also bleach the animals to get rid of bacteria, and pump them with antibiotics that we then consume. Please wake up everyone and at least watch Land of Hope & Glory or Earthlings, or go to a save (save movement on fb), even look at the photos, pls

Voyager2002

To answer the OP, it is routine to add water to meat after slaugher, and this practice is legal. For a good description and discussion of this practice, see the seminal book "Not on the label" by Felicity Lawrence. Since this behaviour is less prevalent with higher-quality meat, you may actually find that 'premium' chicken offers better value for money.

During my spell working for the Food Standards Agency I learned far more about chicken than I would like to know. As a result, I do not buy nor eat British chicken: several aspects of the production process disgust me too much. Sadly, free-range chicken is slaughtered and processed in the same way as conventional chicken (although the birds have less miserable lives and this is reflected in the superior taste of their meat). I only eat chicken when I am in more "primitive" countries where chickens and other animals are treated far more humanely than in Britain and provide far more wholesome food for us.

Takmon

UKTigerlily said:

Takmon said:

MangyDog said:

Well im unemployed so buying freeranged organic corn fed chicken is pretty much out of my budget...

I always find my local butcher to not cost that much more but the meat is traceable to local farms and far better quality with no added rubbish. Even if you have to get a bit less or eat less meat it's worth it just for your health. 

Chickens bred for meat are fattened up to the size of a 25 stone 2yr old child, and then killed at 6 weeks. Free range is a marketing term to make people feel better about their choices, yet if they saw what it means (60,000 in a packed barn with so much ammonia they are covered in burns and lose feathers), broken legs due to the weight, then 6000 in a truck sent to slaughter terrified and covered in faeces. There is NO way to 'ethically' use animals to eat, wear, entertain or test on, NONE. They also bleach the animals to get rid of bacteria, and pump them with antibiotics that we then consume. Please wake up everyone and at least watch Land of Hope & Glory or Earthlings, or go to a save (save movement on fb), even look at the photos, pls

At the end of the day if people want to eat dead animals then animals need to die. If they sold chickens that had the best possible life and the best possible slaughter then they would probably cost so much more that very few people would choose to buy them. 
The only thing that concerns me with what you have said is the use of antibiotics because this can cause them to lose effectiveness in humans but the problem is not as bad as a lot of anti meat campaigners make out.