Poor quality Chicken

ifellover

I've always been buying Tesco's 3 chicken fillets for around €5.79 in a packet. The chicken always seems to be jelly like in quality. Can this be detrimental to one's health?

Frogdog

ifellover wrote: »

I've always been buying Tesco's 3 chicken fillets for around €5.79 in a packet. The chicken always seems to be jelly like in quality. Can this be detrimental to one's health?

Most raw chicken is jelly like?

Is it free range? Irish?

Naos

I know the one he's talking about - it's terrible quality.

I've stopped getting it. Go to your local butchers instead you'll get the same amount of chicken for that price.

braintoxic

You say cheap chicken without a concience..if people continue to buy n look for cheap chicken den YOU are promoting animal cruelty..farmers are forced to provide less care less space no quality feed no quality of life.. cheap meat = cheap life

bbam

ifellover wrote: »

I've always been buying Tesco's 3 chicken fillets for around €5.79 in a packet. The chicken always seems to be jelly like in quality. Can this be detrimental to one's health?

I doubt it's detrimental but you're buying a cheap product and getting an expected bad experience as a result...
Tesco are buying the cheapest sourced chicken they can get and selling it for as much as they can...

If you source Irish chicken, preferably free range (wouldn't bother with either corn fed or that organic rubbish) from a reputable butcher you will get a good product and have an enjoyable meal as a result... You'll pay a little more but enjoy it much more..

boogeyman

I remember there was a show on RTE about the mass production of meat that goes on to be sold in supermarkets and the different chemicals that are pumped into the meat to preserve them longer and make them look bigger.

They were pumping them with water, oils and nitrates if I recall correctly.

It's def worth the few extra euro to go to your local butcher and get your meat there. The best thing about it is that you can talk to him about where his produce comes from and get good piece of mind that what your buying is the real deal.

tricky D

boogeyman wrote: »

They were pumping them with water, oils and nitrates if I recall correctly.

Water and pig/beef protein are added to some cheaper chicken. Oils and nitrates are not used.

Articles:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190796/Chicken-secretly-injected-beef-pork-products-sold-UK-restaurants.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/chicken-injected-with-beef-waste-sold-in-uk-1696407.html

The Master.

I dont really mind whats in the chicken as long as its big fillets. If sciencists are able to make twice sized fillets then gimmee gimmee. Hate seeing scrawny bits in the butchers they are never as big as in tesco.
Next year im thinking of growing my own chickens next year but would cats try to kill them cos there is a few cats around.

wobbles

The butchers is just as cheap as tesco, you just have to watch out for the deals.

The stuff in the butchers may be smaller, but will hold its size when you cook it and will be tastier. Tesco stuff will shrink back when its cooked, and taste like crap.

rubadub

bbam wrote: »

a reputable butcher

Note REPUTABLE, some people talk of 'The Butchers' as though its a brand/chain of shops, all identical and beyond reproach. I have heard some very nasty stories from an ex-butcher who worked in a butchers that I have heard praised a good few times. One story was mixing in red dye to beef mince to cover the fact it was bulked out with pork fat and rusk.

There is nothing to stop a butcher selling pumped up chicken breast, in fact it could be easier as it is usually not pre-packaged so has no nutritional info so they cannot be caught with misleading info.

boogeyman wrote: »

They were pumping them with water, oils and nitrates if I recall correctly.

If you check the ingredients list it should show this up, many prepackaged meats in tesco do have ingredients lists. If it is overpumped with water the protein % shown will be lower than usual, you can compare brands, and check online as to what protein content should be. Tesco have value frozen chicken breasts which are something like 85% chicken with added water & proteins, I have not seen this on their fresh chicken.

tricky D wrote: »

Water and pig/beef protein are added to some cheaper chicken. Oils and nitrates are not used.

Articles:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190796/Chicken-secretly-injected-beef-pork-products-sold-UK-restaurants.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/chicken-injected-with-beef-waste-sold-in-uk-1696407.html

Note these are only mentioning cafes & restaurants. If you check musgrave cash & carry site they have this 'pumped up chicken' on sale in the Asian takeaway section.

The Master. wrote: »

I dont really mind whats in the chicken as long as its big fillets. If sciencists are able to make twice sized fillets then gimmee gimmee.

Many butchers have extra large breasts available, they will be separate from the fillets and usually still on the bone. I got extra large chickens in dunnes and the deboned fillets weighed 350g each, a standard fillet is 130-140g.

slowburner

Best thing of all, is to buy a whole chicken and chop it up yourself, then make a stock out of the carcass.
There is much tastier meat away from the breast. Although I suppose most people want the convenience of a ready prepared fillet.
It only takes a few minutes to prepare a whole bird, you get more meat, it is tastier, less likely to be pumped with stuff (??) and you get the added benefit of the skin, which when crisp, is one of the tastiest things known to mankind.

Which brings me to another point: all those packages of drumsticks etc. - what happened to the rest of the bird, was it not fit to be seen in public? And skinless fillets, where does the skin end up? I doubt it gets dumped.

corkcomp

from what I've seen there seems to be three different grades of chicken. Tesco have a packaged chopped up one which is terrible, slimy and rubbery and doesn't even taste like chicken. Then you have the normal packaged chicken fillets which are ok in most cases and taste ok and then the free range / really expensive stuff which admittedly tastes way better but also twice the price.

esperanza1

If you have to buy chicken, please buy organic. All the rest is factory farmed. I thought this was common knowledge.

slowburner

esperanza1 wrote: »

If you have to buy chicken, please buy organic. All the rest is factory farmed. I thought this was common knowledge.

It probably is common knowledge but not everyone can afford organic chicken.

esperanza1

slowburner wrote: »

It probably is common knowledge but not everyone can afford organic chicken.

I know, but I prefer to spend less on other things and buy organic chicken or else just do without. Nothing worse than pumping toxic stuff into your body.

Cardinal Richelieu

esperanza1 wrote: »

I know, but I prefer to spend less on other things and buy organic chicken or else just do without. Nothing worse than pumping toxic stuff into your body.

I never can get why people buy organic wine! Isn't alcohol toxic?

esperanza1

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

I never can get why people buy organic wine! Isn't alcohol toxic?

I suggest you visit a vineyard while they're growing the grapes and watch what gets sprayed on them. I know some French farmers who wouldn't eat or drink anything they produce on their own farms - because they see exactly what gets done to their produce.

foodaholic

The Master. wrote: »

I dont really mind whats in the chicken as long as its big fillets. If sciencists are able to make twice sized fillets then gimmee gimmee. Hate seeing scrawny bits in the butchers they are never as big as in tesco.
Next year im thinking of growing my own chickens next year but would cats try to kill them cos there is a few cats around.

Its a sorry cat that goes near a hen, they are well able to mind themselves. I have 4 cats and 4 hens and never a bother. Actually found a stray cat asleep in the nest box with one of our hens perched beside her.

syklops

ifellover wrote: »

I've always been buying Tesco's 3 chicken fillets for around €5.79 in a packet. The chicken always seems to be jelly like in quality. Can this be detrimental to one's health?

We found that the Tesco chicken quality had gone down a lot. We stopped buying it and now substitute it either for the Turkey breasts(lovely lean meat), or chicken breasts from a good Butchers in town. After doing a lot of shopping in Tesco we are re-discovering the butchers for the source of meat. Wish I could find a fish monger now too.

yellowlabrador

The best way to find out about quality is to buy a cheap super market chicken and a proper free range chicken from the butcher. Roast them in separate tins and see the difference. The cheap chicken will be flabby and fall to bits, the tray will have a layer of water. The free range chicken will be plump and firm and it will smell wonderful. I also find that euro for euro, you get more meat, it's also tastier and chewier. By the time you use the carcass for stock, you've had a few meals out of it.
I usually pay about 10 euro at the butcher and I'd rather eat less meat than eat crap.

Frogdog

esperanza1 wrote: »

If you have to buy chicken, please buy organic. All the rest is factory farmed. I thought this was common knowledge.

Organic? Doesn't that just mean that the feed they're given is organically grown? I thought that was the only difference between organic chickens and non-organic. Organic chickens could be kept/grown in battery cages and factories and all sorts.

I'd be more inclined to say free range chicken is the best to get. After all, they've been allowed to roam in their natural environment, often eating food (grubs etc) that they would eat if they were left to their own devices.

esperanza1

yellowlabrador wrote: »

The best way to find out about quality is to buy a cheap super market chicken and a proper free range chicken from the butcher. Roast them in separate tins and see the difference. The cheap chicken will be flabby and fall to bits, the tray will have a layer of water. The free range chicken will be plump and firm and it will smell wonderful. I also find that euro for euro, you get more meat, it's also tastier and chewier. By the time you use the carcass for stock, you've had a few meals out of it.
I usually pay about 10 euro at the butcher and I'd rather eat less meat than eat crap.

I did exactly this a year ago, in fact. I boiled one organic chicken leg on one evening, the next evening I boiled a non-organic one - even before cooking there are lots of tell-tale signs: colour of the skin - more yellowish on organic chicken. There were spots of blood on the non-organic leg.
During boiling, the organic chicken leg stayed together and produced rich, delicious juices. As for the non-organic the following day, the leg quickly fell apart during boiling and there was hardly any juices from the chicken. Needless to say, it tasted crap - actually no it didn't taste at all - it was TASTELESS! I haven't touched non-organic chicken since that day!

Cardinal Richelieu

esperanza1 wrote: »

I suggest you visit a vineyard while they're growing the grapes and watch what gets sprayed on them. I know some French farmers who wouldn't eat or drink anything they produce on their own farms - because they see exactly what gets done to their produce.

Excellent job of ignoring my point that if your concerned about putting toxins in your body why drink organic wine. So I take it from your previous statement you don't drink or smoke.

esperanza1

Frogdog wrote: »

Organic? Doesn't that just mean that the feed they're given is organically grown? I thought that was the only difference between organic chickens and non-organic. Organic chickens could be kept/grown in battey cages and factories and all sorts.

I'd be more inclined to say free range chicken is the best to get. After all, they've been allowed to roam in their natural environment, often eating food (grubs etc) that they would eat if they were left to their own devices.

Definition can vary from country to country. Not sure what the criteria in Ireland are for organic? EU rules may apply. Anyone got info on this?

Fair point though that organic stuff isn't always 100% organic.

Rule of thumb is to look closely at the chicken and check for the distinguishing healthy marks (yellow skin, no red spots..)

esperanza1

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Excellent job of ignoring my point that if your concerned about putting toxins in your body why drink organic wine. So I take it from your previous statement you don't drink or smoke.

My point is that organic producing vineyards will use fewer pesticides than non-organic producing. Some reading between the lines involved, I admit, but one shouldn't have to spell things out too much.

Cardinal Richelieu

mikemac1 wrote: »

RTÉ covered this before Christmas

Chicken coming from Thailand, arrives in Holland where distributors take the best of it.

Then they pump the rest full of water and preservatives and ship it on to Ireland and the UK.
Irish producers just cannot compete with the cost

I don't know about Tesco but that chicken fillet roll you're getting in Spar is most likely cheap crap from Thailand

This always comes up on boards, as pointed out in previous threads on this topic the chicken would have to undergo substantial tranformation to change its origin, which is a certain process like breading or southern fry seasoning to change the country of origin of the chicken. Due to the huge focus on all the supermarkets, they all from my knowledge stock Irish or Northern Irish raw Chicken. Its the catering industry that uses most of this saline chicken imported from Holland. The interview below with Vincent Carton owner of Carton Bros and the Manor Farm brand backs this up.

Anglocelt.ie

The fact is that chicken slaughtered in Poland, and processed in Holland arrives in Ireland with a Dutch passport. Then some of this chicken can quickly evolve into repackaged Irish chicken.
The official term for this activity is 'substantial transformation', which allows for the foreign chicken product change nationality if it is substantially altered in production. However, the reality is that if this foreign chicken is dipped in breadcrumbs or spices in Ireland, it is then deemed Irish.
The Carton Group employs 592 people and there are over 150 farmer/suppliers in the Cavan, Monaghan, Meath, Louth and Limerick. The annual sales are currently running at €148 million. Vincent Carton says the market is particularly difficult at present and this will be a loss making year.
Costs in terms of wheat went through the roof and Cartons increased costs for wheat last year were in the order of €7.5 million. Their chickens are going into places like Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Tesco, Marks and Spencers, Super Valu and SuperQuinn.
Ministerial meeting
Vincent Carton had a meeting with the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, TD on last Thursday to highlight once again the burning issue surrounding labelling and the non appearance of country of origin.
He also informed the Minister about the freshness argument and instanced the fact that products coming in from such places as Holland are seven days old before getting to an Irish shop or butchers.
Mr. Carton said the Minister will endeavour to ascertain what can realistically be done to aid Irish shoppers identify real Irish chicken, as opposed to imports.
Mr. Carton says that all he wants is for the labelling to say where the chicken is from and how fresh it is.
'Our product would not be sold after seven days, as we only put seven days on the labelling. So when Irish product is being taken off the shelves, this foreign product is being put on the shelves,' he argued. The accession states in Europe are totally opposed to country of origin labelling, because their product coming into Ireland would then be clearly identified. In places like Estonia they can sell fresh legs of chicken at relatively higher prices than companies like Cartons can sell frozen legs there.
As they are getting more for the fresh legs, they can sell the fillets cheaper. The only parts of birds that are coming into Ireland are fillets of chicken, as it is also cheaper meat to transport.
It is usually cut up and processed in Holland and is seven days old by the time it gets to Ireland.
'That is why I am fighting so hard for the introduction of sell by dates, because the consumer is not told how stale the fillet they are purchasing in the shop actually is,' he pointed out.
Industry sources said this week that every week approximately 3.8 million fillets come into Ireland and roughly 1.2 million of those are going into butcher shops and independent retailers in Ireland. The remaining 2.6 million fillets go into catering in Ireland.
Vincent Carton says he genuinely has no argument with imported product. 'All I want to see happening is for the labelling to inform us where the product is from and how fresh it is,' he reiterated.
The only reason Dutch fillets are being sold in this country is because the labelling laws do not differentiate it. 'People think they are getting an Irish product but they are not,' said Mr. Carton.
Industry sources told The Anglo Celt that if only Irish shoppers knew how unfresh the imported products are compared to the Irish produced chicken, they would never purchase an import again. The Feed Mill is still operating in Shercock. Vincent Carton says the high price of grain 'is a real kick in the teeth, and we have to fight as hard as we can. We have a better chicken product than the imports, but it is very difficult for the Irish shopper to spot it, because if the labelling situation
that pertains'. A high percentage of imports are going into Irish restaurants and they are aware of this, because the labels shows it is imported.

Perhaps consumer groups and the IFA should lobby for legislation for catering establishments to display the origin of all meats not just beef.

UnknownSpecies

I just had a look there, I bought those Tesco Value chicken breasts, find nothing wrong with them to be honest! They have a Bord Bia quality assurance stamp on the front of them, does this count for anything?

syklops

They have a Bord Bia quality assurance stamp on the front of them, does this count for anything?

Which, that it has the bord bia stamp on it, or that they were ok?

UnknownSpecies

syklops wrote: »

Which, that it has the bord bia stamp on it, or that they were ok?

That they have the Bord Bia stamp on them. Would this mean that they are of some decent level of quality or does this stamp mean something else?

gsxr1

I hate to think of an animal being tortured and force fed till it dies in a coffin sized cage.

Please spend the extra euro and buy better quality IE or even UK free range meat and eggs.

Cardinal Richelieu

dorgasm wrote: »

I just had a look there, I bought those Tesco Value chicken breasts, find nothing wrong with them to be honest! They have a Bord Bia quality assurance stamp on the front of them, does this count for anything?

The Bord Bia Scheme is just a fancy marketing campaign packaged as a quality scheme. The standard isn't really as strong as quality/food safety schemes such as Eurogap, just really the very basics. Some consumers think that seening the Bord Bia symbol on a product is an indication its ROI but producers from other countries can apply to the scheme as do Northern Ireland Chicken producers. NI producers get to put the Bord Bia quality assurance symbol on their products but without the tricolour. There was pressure to loosen the scheme even further so more Irish food producers could be included in the scheme but that pretty dangerous ground if we have a food scare from a Bia Bord approved producer. I would be more confident in the scheme if the government took control away from the marketing people who have little understanding of food safety and animal health issues and gave it to more technical people to run.