Our standards for poultry in the USA... is an embarrassment....

[LSU2001]

IMHO,
The bleach disinfecting is not about protecting health. Proper cooking methods kill any bacteria that is found on the carcass and no matter what you use there will be bacteria there. The disinfection is to prolong shelf life. I worked in the seafood industry many years ago and most restaurants use a weak bleach solution to disinfect fresh seafood to prolong shelf life. By killing surface bacteria with a bleach solution delays the reproduction of decomposing bacteria and gives an extra couple of days before the food is too spoiled to use.
TIm

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned Chlorine causing problems with the thyroid. It is a known inhibitor of the thyroid gland. Not to mention downright unhealthy for you. I stay away from anything that inhibits the thyroid, including chlorine, soybeans, and limit myself to small amounts of cabbage, and anything from that family, that has tendencies to do the same thing.

Our food regulating system is deplorable, have always thought so. It's no wonder so many people get sick all the time in this country. I applaud those countries who are taking a stand for good health!!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I'm not sure on the electrolytes. They didn't say much about it, just what I posted. I'm sure I could find something on it.

That makes a lot of sense that the chlorinated water adds to the shelf life. Technically they say it is used to kill the bacteria so no one gets sice.... but most of the fecal matter and bacteria stays on the outside of the bird. It only spreads when it goes bad. Like you said when it's cooked it kills the bacteria, and probably double kills it on the skin as it's exposed to higher temperatures longer.

I think Tim is right... secretly they do this to "preserve" the chicken??? Sounds like something our government would do....



I haven't had my cup of coffee yet this morning so no googling for a while!

 

[jaku]

Great post-

I raise my own birds for one reason- I'm not comfortable with my 18 month old eating an "acceptable level" of chlorine, antibiotics, or whatever else might be in commerial poultry. There have been far too many times the government has said "oops, we goofed, the stuff we thought was ok will actually kill you," and I don't want to risk it when it's fun and easy to raise chickens. I only wish I had the resources to do pork and beef as well.

It's truly sad that other countries refuse to eat our food. Just like it's sad that we rank embarrassingly low in education worldwide, and we are 45th in life expectancy worldwide (Bosnia and Puerto Rico beat us.) But, instead of recognizing the problem we'll probably just talk trash about the other countries that do it better than us and just keep telling everyone that "we're number one."