Tuesday, July 29, 2008

This swimming pool tastes like...chicken?

From Slate:

In any case, the chlorine won't make your bird smell or taste like a swimming pool. Since the mid-1990s, when nationwide E. coli and salmonella scares prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish strict microbiological regulations for the meat and poultry industry, the chemical has become a popular agent for disinfecting chickens. After birds are killed, defeathered, and eviscerated, the carcasses are chilled in massive bathtubs to prevent bacterial buildup. Chemical disinfectants—in about 80 percent of cases, that's chlorine—are added to the water to reduce cross-contamination and stem further bacterial growth. Chlorinated solutions may also be used in the evisceration process as well as during online reprocessing, during which traces of fecal matter are power-washed away.


Now doesn't that sound yummy?

2 comments:

Ryan Vance said...

Until just now, I've kind of been apprehensive about the extra cost of buying non-supermarket poultry.

This new information has kinda changed that.

I mean... EWWW.

Jennifer Liang said...

And this is if they do it right. Can you imagine if they screw up?