Chicken Gets a New Flavor…Chlorine!

Some people enjoy chicken with hot sauce or sweet barbecue, but starting soon, chicken lovers may be getting another flavor treat with their wings, chlorine bleach. Delish!

The USDA has introduced a new set of regulations detailing how companies can streamline chicken production by cutting out measures requiring them to test for standard E. coli or salmonella. As if you needed any more reason to ditch chicken, the fun new risk of intestinal infection just puts the icing on the cake.

But don’t worry, because companies no longer have to test for E. coli and salmonella, they will be allowed to take extra precautions (besides mass distributing antibiotics) to ensure their pink slime…I mean “chicken” is germ-free. What are these precautions? You might ask. Dipping chicken in “anti-microbial” substances, including hydrogen peroxide and chlorine.

Lucky for you, you probably have both these new chicken-disinfectors already in your home, so next time you have a hankering for wings, you can ensure that your family will be safe from infection by doing a quick second dip in either of these solutions. Who’s hungry?

So yes, this new regulation or lack there of is pretty insane, but it is being put into place to allow chicken producers to pump out more meat in less time. The only caveat is that the already questionable safety of chicken products has just gotten much worse.

Once again in the name of profit and continued demand for meat, governmental bodies are allowing Big Ag to influence policies that only have the best interest of their bottom-lines in mind. When the health and safety of the consumer are put last, we all suffer the consequences. Sure it might be nice to buy weeks worth of meat for $10, but considering the other personal, environmental, and animal consequences, is it really worth it?

Image source: Waugsberg/Wikimedia Commons