Retailer Fined £12,000 for Chicken Breast Lacking in Chicken

When is a chicken not a chicken?

When it has been slaughtered in Brazil, cut up, massaged with water, deep frozen, shipped to Europe, defrosted, massaged with more water, frozen again then sold to a caterer at a much lower price than proper chicken.

The finished product frequently has a different texture to proper chicken, and may contain as little as 70% of its original meat and protein. The different texture is often apparent to the purchaser of the chicken curry or sweet n sour chicken, who complains to his / her local authority. Public Analysts all over the country have received the complaint samples, containing meat alleged not to be the stated chicken but some other meat. In almost every case, the species present has been confirmed as chicken. However, the menu description says nothing about the process to which the chicken has been subjected.

So if the chicken from your takeaway or restaurant does not seem to taste right or has a spongy texture, ask them if they are using proper chicken or does it arrive in 10 kg frozen slabs?

Once upon a time, this was regarded as food adulteration pure and simple, like putting water into milk. But then National and EU officials were persuaded that there was a case for making meat "more succulent", provided that consumers were informed via food labelling and could make a choice. But how do you make a choice at the take away or in the restaurant when the chicken does not have a label on it saying "massaged" or "watered"? Many consumers would rather buy proper British chicken, and from an environmental point of view would prefer not to have food miles wasted on shipping food that can be produced better in the UK half way round the world. How can you choose if you are not told what has been going on with the meat in your meal? Even with pre packed food in the supermarket, it is not always easy to tell the difference. A large food retailer was recently prosecuted and fined £12,000 for selling "frozen premium chicken breasts" which actually contained only 76% of meat, the rest being mainly massaged in water.

It is only through analysis at the Public Analyst laboratory that these cases come to light and are sorted out.