# Air Chilled Chicken



## Belguy

I don't know if this has been addressed before but I eat a lot of chicken. In the supermarket, I see regular chicken at regular prices and premium or prime or air chilled chicken at significantly higher prices. I have often wondered if it is worth paying those higher prices. Does the more expensive chicken taste any better? Is it any better for you? Do you pay the higher price for the 'premium' product and why?

I haven't posed this question before because I was too chicken to ask!!:biggrin-new::highly_amused::congratulatory::excitement:

Chickenman. He's everywhere! He's everywhere!!!
Find him on Google.


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## none

Better chicken is better. I BBQ'd a air chilled turkey last month and it was the best I've ever had. I think it may have been more that I cooked it perfectly to my tastes (thighs 190 and breast 160). Cooking things right goes a long way.

I have found better meat usually tastes better. Of course I let steaks rot in my fridge for two months before eating so I may not be the best person to ask.


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## cainvest

I had the car window down when I drove back from Costco with one of their rotisserie chickens ..... is that considered air chilled?
BTW, it was very tasty!


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## Belguy

I could save quite a bit of money over the course of a year if there is no significant difference. Is it more of a marketing ploy than anything else? It wasn't all that long ago when chicken was chicken. There wasn't regular chicken and premium chicken. Does the taste of the premium really warrant paying extra for it?

What exactly does air chilling chicken do to it?

Why should I consider paying extra for Maple Leaf Prime Chicken?

The supermarkets like to push their premium chicken but are their BBQ'd chickens premium or regular?

It would be interesting to get to the meat of this issue.


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## Spudd

We bought a bag of chicken breasts for $10 from Food Basics and it's the worst chicken I've ever had. Cheap, yes, but good, no. I think you get what you pay for. Anyway, you might as well try the Prime ones once and see. It's a small gamble!


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## humble_pie

i'm no expert on slaughterhouse procedures but chickens are a good example of how higher prices mean better tasting dinners.

perhaps tastiest of all are organic chickens from known bio farms. In my area these run around $30 vs as low as $5 for a standard supermarket chicken on special.

belguy when you cook your standard chicken, you probably see a fair amount of water running out into the frying pan or baking dish. This has somehow been injected into the poor bird to make it weigh more when sold. For want of knowing any better, I've assumed that "air chilled" meant no water added. So in a way, air chilled chicken is not really more expensive, because the buyer is not paying for 1/4 of weight in water.

i've never had an organic turkey. The price must run close to $100 for a decent sized bird. I know a farm that raises a few - she sells perhaps a dozen turkeys & geese each year, along with chickens & ducks - but the farm's entire output is already booked up for the rest of the farmer's life. A buyer would have to get on her waiting list.

back to supermarket chickens, i'd imagine that the BBQ & cooked chickens sold are all standard grade. No reason for the vendors to pop for a better tasting bird that costs more when cheap standard bird is going to be smothered in BBQ sauce anyhow.

belguy imho you are a prime candidate for organic chicken, for its taste alone. You can afford it, you're only cooking for one, it would be nice to have more fun things in your life, this is something you should be doing imho!


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## TOMAN

Belguy said:


> It would be interesting to get to the meat of this issue.


I think air chilled chicken has less water added to the meat. Regular chicken are not just injected with water, also the birds are raised by traditional farmers with foods mixed with antibiotics and treated with antibiotic resistant bacteria to prevent them from getting sick because thousands of chickens are housed very close together, so disease can spread quickly. That is one of the reasons why prime chicken taste better.


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## m3s

If only water was the only thing they injected into those poor factory chickens. Organic turkey is a must experience, although we never called them organic.. I suppose it would be like comparing Aunt Jamima corn-syrup to "organic" Canadian maple syrup. Just the other day I discovered what real peanut butter is actually supposed to be like of all things. Too bad real food needs such a hipster name like organic now


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## Rusty O'Toole

My brother used to raise chickens for eating. The difference from a grocery store chicken was night and day. Theirs are killed at 6 weeks old because that gives the most profit. His were 10 weeks old which gives the best chicken. His were all meat, the supermarket chickens were all skin and bone.

He had to charge more than twice as much as the supermarket because that is how much they cost to feed and keep and because he only raised 100 at a time. He had a hard job to convince people to buy one, but when they ate one they usually came back and bought a dozen.

The government put him out of business because he did not have a quota. True story. Chicken quotas were handed out, in Ontario, in 1963 and have not been increased. So Ontarians pay premium prices for chicken, most of which come from the US because it is illegal to raise them in Ontario.

The farmers with chicken quotas make out like bandits. Their profits are so large, the quota to raise chickens is worth over $100,000 per chicken.

So, if you are in a rural area and want to raise your own chickens for your own use, you can. You will have some mighty good eating. Just don't get caught selling or trading them.


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## Belguy

Spudd said:


> We bought a bag of chicken breasts for $10 from Food Basics and it's the worst chicken I've ever had. Cheap, yes, but good, no. I think you get what you pay for. Anyway, you might as well try the Prime ones once and see. It's a small gamble!


Oh, oh!! I just came home today with some boneless, skinless chicken breasts from Food Basics. They are on special this week for $6.59/kg. Cheap, cheap!!

Maybe I should marinate them???


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## ChrisR

I've found that freshness makes the biggest difference.

At my local Superstore, they sell the cheap chicken breasts by the truckload. The "cheap" chicken breasts normally have a best before date a week or more away.

The expensive stuff on the other hand, sits around and always looks terrible. The worst seems to be the PC "free from" brand. It's way more expensive, always close to its best before date, and usually some sickly shade of green.


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## humble_pie

it appears that this Superstore is not the place to buy specialty organic chicken. A good source will have plenty of fresh birds.

Q: how are their fresh vegetables, esp during the short canadian growing season? fiddleheads should be coming in now. 

as one poster says upthread, things have turned upside-down when real food goes by names like organic & bio while factory-produced chemical products are called food ...

this thread sent me looking through google to find definitions of capons & guinea hens. There's a butcher shop in the giant farmers' market sells these, along with partridge & pheasant sometimes. Mmm think i'll go there soon.

the most amazing fowl i ever tasted was wild geese shot by my cousins at cap tourmente near quebec city, during the annual permitted hunt.


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## Belguy

It's hard to find fresh organic meats in a small town.

Maybe I should consider switching from chicken to ig:ig:ig:ig: or is that even worse?


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## Retired Peasant

One thing I've noticed about chicken breasts is how much larger they are now vs. several years ago. Apparently they are bred/fed to be that large; also these chickens are grown so fast, and so large that they can't even stand up. Makes no sense to me. I won't buy them anymore because they are TOO BIG to eat; and of course the chicken has it worse than it did before.


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## humble_pie

Belguy said:


> It's hard to find fresh organic meats in a small town.
> 
> Maybe I should consider switching from chicken to ig:ig:ig:ig: or is that even worse?


small town? easy to find a farmer or farmer's market. Ask around. There are plenty hi-quality animal/fowl farms in ontario.

pork would be the last thing one would want. Those swine factories with their giant manure cesspools are destroying the countryside.


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## randomthoughts

I saw organic chickens in Costco the other day. They weren't ridiculously more expensive than the regular chickens (2 slightly smaller chickens for the price of 3 regular ones) and were sourced from a nearby farm (~20km). But I didn't try them since I'd had a lot of chicken lately.

Better chicken does taste better. Air chilled is usually enough for me. That being said, I find there's less difference with dark meat and cheap white meat is improved tremendously by brining (even expensive meat is).

I've started buying better/more humane meats now that I can afford it, but I can't make myself pay 3x the price for frozen meat packets. I've noticed that the no-hormone beef recently at costco seems popular and I like it... and it's not crazy expensive.


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## Belguy

What CAN you trust to eat anymore? The more that I think about it, the more I am inclined to pay the extra, whether worth it or not, to buy the premium chicken. My main concern is as to whether it is just another marketing ploy to get us to pay more money for what is basically the same product.

It's just all a part of my growing more cynical about everything in my advancing age.:disturbed::blue::dejection::greedy_dollars:


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## randomthoughts

I go with taste! If I try it, and it tastes better, I'll buy it.

I'll echo comments above, though, that freshness is more important than anything else for chicken.


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## none

Chicken sure but the best beef you'll eat is the last day of sale meat at the meat counter. I'm not kidding.


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## houska

1) Better quality chicken is worth it when you are cooking it so that the chickeny taste comes through. What we do is buy premium chicken when we want roast chicken, and cheapo chicken or chicken parts from which we cut off the big meaty bits (breast, de-boned leg) for stews and stirfrys - where you supply the taste with spices - and then boil the remaining carcass for home made chicken stock, which is great for home-made soups of various kinds.

2) Take a look in the halal meats section - in several of our local Loblaws-group stores, the halal chicken and chicken legs are better quality and often *cheaper* than the regular ones.


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## Belguy

I opened my package of Food Basics chicken today and found it to be slimy. What does slimy mean?

Could I make anyone a chicken sandwich to eat while you're watching the game?:tongue-new::distress::hopelessness::cower:


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## andrewf

Belguy, is this fresh styrofoam tray-pack chickcen? Or did it come in a bag etc?


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## Jaberwock

Chickens are raised in tiny wire mesh cages, so small that the bird can't even turn around. The cages are stacked on top of each other so the birds in the upper decks are crapping on the ones below. They are fed grain and pumped full of antibiotics. They are killed before they reach the best age for eating, and pumped full of water to make them weigh more. Its the same chicken whether its air chilled or not. Welcome to the modern world of food production.


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## mrPPincer

Most laying hens are in cages, and only in some of the older more primitive designs are they crapping on each other.
Meat birds are free to roam on the floor and actually have fairly pleasant lives for their brief six week existence.
If there is a problem with the flock antibiotics might be used but they are required to be off antibiotics for a set amount of time prior to shipping.
If the meat is full of antibiotics on inspection they are condemned and not used for human consumption.
(Or they would be if the province hadn't fired all the inspectors during the Harris years and left inspection in the hands of the industry, but that another story).


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## humble_pie

belguy next time please buy the very best raw food ingredients. For you, a few dollars extra will never be noticed. But the quality of life experiences will improve.

you want a chicken from a certified organic farm that's been delivered that day. Go to a store with a large enough organic/bio section that all products turn over frequently. Find the farm that purveys the organic chicken. Visit farm's website if you can't visit the farm.

farm delivery dates will be regular. Buy you chicken the day it's delivered.

next, what about a cool new sports chemise. Say Ralph Lauren polo in british racing green.

add Pimm's, a thermos full of cracked ice, cold roast chicken w crunchy arugula, mango & cracked walnut salad & you will be far & away the most distinguished gentleman at the picnic. Alice said so.


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## thompsg4416

Those of you who are on the lifelong quest to make the perfect roast chicken, should turn your attention to something called air-chilled chicken. To Americans, this term might be a relatively new or even foreign one, but in other parts of the globe, such as Europe and Asia, this three-hour, specialized chicken-raising process has been popular for decades.

Conventionally raised chickens are typically dunked in iced, chlorinated water to bring down the chicken's temperature after it's been slaughtered. Compare this to air-chilled chicken, which have been eviscerated, sprayed with chlorinated water inside and out, and then rapidly cooled in cold air chambers in an effort to keep bacteria to a minimum.

In the US today, only a handful of smaller plants use the air-chilling process, a production method that is just beginning to catch on in the mainstream. Although air-chilled chickens cost significantly more, producers claim the result is a better-tasting bird that's retained its natural flavors and boasts a crisper skin after roasting. What's your take on it?


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## andrewf

Air chilled does taste better, but the reality is that bacteria (even nasty antibiotic resistant strains) are present in copious amounts on chicken whether it is air chilled or not. Actually, this also goes for chicken that is organic, free range, lovingly hand-raised by Mennonite farmers, too. Bottom line: take food safety seriously. Avoid cross-contamination, use proper hand-washing and cook thoroughly, ensuring the meat reaches an internal temp of at least 160 F. Buying premium 'bio-farm' chicken does not protect you from this risk.


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## Belguy

andrewf said:


> Belguy, is this fresh styrofoam tray-pack chickcen? Or did it come in a bag etc?


This chicken was packed in a styrofoam tray. Buying chicken by the bag doesn't appeal much to me. I feel the same about meats packaged in cryovac.

When you think about all of the contaminated food that we consume these days, it almost makes you feel like throwing up.:upset::eek2::disgust::miserable:


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## none

andrewf said:


> Air chilled does taste better, but the reality is that bacteria (even nasty antibiotic resistant strains) are present in copious amounts on chicken whether it is air chilled or not. Actually, this also goes for chicken that is organic, free range, lovingly hand-raised by Mennonite farmers, too. Bottom line: take food safety seriously. Avoid cross-contamination, use proper hand-washing and cook thoroughly, ensuring the meat reaches an internal temp of at least 160 F. Buying premium 'bio-farm' chicken does not protect you from this risk.


This is not quite correct - cooking whole poultry in general is a bit of a flawed endouver as you want the breasts to have a finished temperature of 160F (means pull it when its is around 1550-155) but the thighs you want to hit 180+. From a food safety perspective the thigh is done at 160F as well but it will be pretty slimy. I prefer mine around 190-200.


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## humble_pie

is anybody going to eat chicken ever again after reading this thread ??

dé-geule-asse.


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## none

humble_pie said:


> is anybody going to eat chicken ever again after reading this thread ??
> 
> dé-geule-asse.


I'm spatch-cocking one for dinner.


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## cainvest

humble_pie said:


> is anybody going to eat chicken ever again after reading this thread ??
> 
> dé-geule-asse.


I sure will, chicken is goooooood!

Living in the highly processed world that we do I find many people nowadays are far too detached from their food, normally those who live in the city. Many people find it gross to kill and prepare the animal themselves, a skill I think many should learn if not to just understand it.


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## Belguy

I think that I might eat more salmon instead.

Or, maybe not--

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ption_by_canadian_food_inspection_agency.html

In other words, the Canadian regulators will allow us to eat it while the U.S. regulators won't even let it in that country!!!:hopelessness::distress::upset::cower:

I would just eat salads except the ingredients are often pulled from the shelf due to e coli contamination.

What's left???


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## Toronto.gal

Belguy said:


> What's left???


Halal/Kosher?


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## Belguy

Gee, I am having a hard time deciding whether to have chicken or salmon for dinner???:frown-new::eek2::uncomfortableness::concern:


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## Sustainable PF

Retired Peasant said:


> One thing I've noticed about chicken breasts is how much larger they are now vs. several years ago. Apparently they are bred/fed to be that large; also these chickens are grown so fast, and so large that they can't even stand up. Makes no sense to me. I won't buy them anymore because they are TOO BIG to eat; and of course the chicken has it worse than it did before.


Watch Food Inc. Might just change how you eat. (and explains the chicken breast size you refer to). The documentary is about 90 minutes long.


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## MrMatt

The best chicken is out walking around in the forest, if it's still warm when you start cooking then it's fresh.

Food Inc is a propaganda film, not a documentary. Remember that when you watch it.


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## andrewf

Many of those kinds of documentaries are propagandistic. It makes for interesting viewing, but you have to watch them with a critical eye.


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## Itchy54

We are very lucky. Our university has a meat cutting program with a once weekly retail store. All the meat is local, antibiotic free, hormone free...and a great bargain! I did not eat ground beef for years and gave these guys a try...wow, very good. The chickens are exceptional and they sell out quickly...in minutes. They get bison too....grass fed. My freezer is full and hopefully it lasts until the program starts again in the fall.


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## Dmoney

belguy said:


> what's left???


Bacon!!!!!


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## humble_pie

Itchy54 said:


> We are very lucky. Our university has a meat cutting program with a once weekly retail store. All the meat is local, antibiotic free, hormone free...and a great bargain!


good for you for recognizing the value of a program like this

thankx for telling us

other ag schools have similar outlets. Not always meat products. Often organic fruits & vegetables. Always worth a drive imho.

what i'd like to see more of: food being grown in tiny urban initiatives in downtown city cores. Down with those regimented rows of flowering bedding annuals decorating our city squares at considerable cost. Up with rainbow chard, curly kale, purple flowering chive borders, sage, tarragon & basil plants.


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## andrewf

In older areas, I would recommend getting a soil analysis done, looking for heavy metals or other toxins before eating produce grown in it.


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## Toronto.gal

Dmoney said:


> Bacon!!!!!


That's not kosher, LOL.

With sausage & eggs, hmmm, healthy [not]. Tasty [yes].










How's your LDL [Low-density lipoprotein], aka bad cholesterol level Belguy?


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## HaroldCrump

Toronto.gal said:


>


Drat, you shouldn't have done this 
Just after I had a breakfast comprising whole wheat cereal, a banana, and unsweetened green tea.


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## m3s

andrewf said:


> Many of those kinds of documentaries are propagandistic. It makes for interesting viewing, but you have to watch them with a critical eye.


It's probably the only way to get enough people with ADD to watch something serious.

They focused too much on fear mongering about gmo's and e-coli, but the bottom line is corporations are there to maximize profits and nothing else. I think gmo's are really just a more scientific approach to what farmers have done for centuries and of course diseases have always existed as well. Do you have any idea what natural bananas or corn looks like?? There is a happy medium somewhere and we've clearly passed it. They didn't even touch on many issues such as fertilizer, which is heavily overused for no sensible reason. Really the whole situation apples to everything that's been privatized.. no common sense whatsoever and a million lawyers and marketeers to convince you otherwise. :stupid:

I think the real shame is the quality of food in America. Unless you enjoy eating a thousand different forms of high-fructose-corn syrup, ultra-pasteurized-milk, chemically-perfect-coloured fruits, mystery meats and monosodium glutamate.. Most Americans have no concept that food can taste amazing without first smothering it in sauce.


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## bgc_fan

m3s said:


> It's probably the only way to get enough people with ADD to watch something serious.
> 
> They focused too much on fear mongering about gmo's and e-coli, but the bottom line is corporations are there to maximize profits and nothing else. I think gmo's are really just a more scientific approach to what farmers have done for centuries and of course diseases have always existed as well. Do you have any idea what natural bananas or corn looks like?? There is a happy medium somewhere and we've clearly passed it. They didn't even touch on many issues such as fertilizer, which is heavily overused for no sensible reason. Really the whole situation apples to everything that's been privatized.. no common sense whatsoever and a million lawyers and marketeers to convince you otherwise. :stupid:


I'll disagree with respect to GMOs being a more scientific approach to breeding species. Inserting foreign genes into the DNA is not something that could be done naturally, and the consequences are untested. As an example, the Monsanto 'terminator' gene that was designed to prevent reproduction of its GM grain to lock farmers to annually purchase grain seeds for planting. They have pledged not to use that technology, but the question is what could happen if somehow there is some sort of cross breeding in the wild? Could that destroy the wild wheat population in the world leading to Monsanto being the only source? An unlikely scenario, but bananas are in that situation. Due to farming pressures, the ancestral banana is extinct and now we are left with a couple of banana species. If there is a widespread virus that targets those few species, bananas would become extinct. Of course, this is more of a monoculture issue than GM, but the effects are the same.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a big issue with GM in principle; however, when it comes to inserting foreign (outside species) DNA into a specific food, I get a little wary.



> I think the real shame is the quality of food in America. Unless you enjoy eating a thousand different forms of high-fructose-corn syrup, ultra-pasteurized-milk, chemically-perfect-coloured fruits, mystery meats and monosodium glutamate.. Most Americans have no concept that food can taste amazing without first smothering it in sauce.


Well, you can blame the corn-subsidy industry for the HFCS. Anyway, I usually don't add much to food other than a few basic spicies when I'm cooking. I remember travelling in Europe one time on tour, and there was a family that would insist on getting hot sauce to put on all their meals. So much for trying something new.


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## Belguy

The only safe way to eat meat is to serve it 'well done'. You can't tell if the meat that you purchase is mechanically tenderized or not. Some stores, such as Costco, will tell you on the label but most stores will not. Note also that chicken may be mechanically tenderized.

http://news.consumerreports.org/hea...y-tenderized-beef-ruin-your-memorial-day.html

Also, do you like to use your BBQ? It has more germs than a toilet seat!!

http://news.menshealth.com/your-grill-is-dirtier-than-a-toilet-seat/2013/05/25/


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## none

those two articles were full of a lot of misinformation. 20 minutes to heat up the BBQ - yeah that's 'over kill' to say the least. 1 minute at 500 is more than enough tokill everything.

Anyway, it's a good idea to get the grills nice and hot just for the quality of cooking.

Never cook a steak over rare - that's gross.


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## Toronto.gal

HaroldCrump said:


> Drat, you shouldn't have done this
> Just after I had a breakfast comprising whole wheat cereal, a banana, and unsweetened green tea.


Your HDL [high density lipoproteins] is thanking you! The above helped your body get rid of some of the bad stuff in your blood, and in doing so, have decreased conditions such as: angina/atherosclerosis/heart-attack/stroke, etc., etc.

Keep up the good work!

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9152.php


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## Toronto.gal

Belguy said:


> The only safe way to eat meat is to serve it 'well done'.


ALWAYS! 

In the meat dpt., I'm not a raw foodist at all. In fact, I won't even eat certain vegetables that haven't been boiled first [for the purpose of cleaning not cooking], ie: broccoli, and never buy pre-washed produce as I must wash myself.


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## Belguy

When you buy prepared salads, veggies, and fruits in the deli department at your friendly, neighbourhood supermarket, are you supposed to wash it yourself before eating? How do you know what the food preparers did with it prior to packaging it? Some folks buy these ready made items and eat them right from the plastic tray without taking them home to wash first. I always wondered whether any of those products prepared in the stores were properly washed first????


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## Toronto.gal

Belguy said:


> 1. When you buy prepared salads, veggies, and fruits in the deli department at your friendly, neighbourhood supermarket, are you supposed to wash it yourself before eating?
> 2. How do you know what the food preparers did with it prior to packaging it?
> 3. Some folks buy these ready made items and eat them right from the plastic tray without taking them home to wash first.
> 4. always wondered whether any of those products prepared in the stores were properly washed first????


*1.* In this example, I say yes! But if your memory is bad, take a pic. before washing so you know how to put the items back.  









Here, I would not recommend washing, lol.









*2.* You can only assume.
*3.* That's why they are called *'ready made'*. :biggrin: 
*4.* Wonder no more, the answer is NOT like you would yourself!

Happy lunch!


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## Addy

Sustainable PF said:


> Watch Food Inc. Might just change how you eat. (and explains the chicken breast size you refer to). The documentary is about 90 minutes long.



I was just searching this thread to see if Food Inc was previously posted. Belguy I highly recommend you watch, it shows the life of a typical supermarket chicken, shows their living conditions, what they eat, etc. I highly recommend anyone watch it just for the section on chickens.


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## LifeInsuranceCanada.com

Addy said:


> I was just searching this thread to see if Food Inc was previously posted. Belguy I highly recommend you watch, it shows the life of a typical supermarket chicken, shows their living conditions, what they eat, etc. I highly recommend anyone watch it just for the section on chickens.


Consider getting your information from somewhere other than the movies . I suspect the movies are made to cater to an audience. People being marketed to who don't think they're being marketed too.


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## Addy

LifeInsuranceCanada. said:


> Consider getting your information from somewhere other than the movies . I suspect the movies are made to cater to an audience. People being marketed to who don't think they're being marketed too.


I grew up on a farm in small town Ontario, and have worked in two mass production poultry farms. It's where I learned that the "movie" Food Inc portrays the truth about mass production poultry farms.


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## Belguy

That's it!! I'm getting a hunting licence and going in search of wild game. Supermarket food is us too dangerous to eat!!.:hopelessness::cower::eek2::disgust:


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## andrewf

Just watch out for Chronic Wasting Disease, the Mad Cow Disease of wild deer.

It's not prevalent in Ontario, at least.


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## LifeInsuranceCanada.com

Addy said:


> I grew up on a farm in small town Ontario, and have worked in two mass production poultry farms. It's where I learned that the "movie" Food Inc portrays the truth about mass production poultry farms.


I grew up not in a small town, but on a farm. And I've been to mass production poultry farms. And everything I've seen in 'movies' is way overdone. I think if you're suggesting a movie made for entertainment and shock value is 'portraying the truth', then you were already sold on the premise before you saw the movie. You need to take this stuff with a grain of salt.


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## Belguy

Is it safe to eat bugs?:eek2::bee::sour:layful:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/01/bugs_benedict.html


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## Beaver101

Yes, on certain bugs. I'm currently munching on chocolate-coated almonds which may include invisible bugs in them but then it doesn't bother me - they're too delicious to be missed! Seriously, if you eat everything sterile, how would your immune system handle the bad germs, et al stuff? :encouragement: Cheers!


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## LifeInsuranceCanada.com

Belguy said:


> Is it safe to eat bugs?:eek2::bee::sour:layful:
> 
> http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/01/bugs_benedict.html


We know someone who works at a cheese processing factory. Really, all this stuff makes me want to go tinfoil hat on the food we eat. I'm told that the workers have to wear masks around the stuff they spray on the schredded cheese to keep it from sticking together - otherwise they get nosebleeds. Mmmmmm.


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## Toronto.gal

Beaver101 said:


> 1. I'm currently munching on chocolate-coated almonds
> 2. Seriously, if you eat everything sterile, how would your immune system handle the bad germs!


*1.* And I'm having my tea break with some vanilla almond biscotties!
*2.* My immune system handles decontaminated food just fine. 

'Bugs Benedict', LOL, you're 2 funny Mr. Belguy, but it's nice to see that playful side back again!

But no need to limit yourself to just the backyard; there is a richer variety in the rainforest. each:

'Edible insects include ants with small heads (big headed ones can have an excruciating bite and sting), as well as beetle larvae which can be found in rotting wood.'
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_can_you_eat_in_the_rainforest

This is looking like the Ford thread, ie: we're covering more than just 'air chilled chicken'. :biggrin:


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## Belguy

LifeInsuranceCanada. said:


> We know someone who works at a cheese processing factory. Really, all this stuff makes me want to go tinfoil hat on the food we eat. I'm told that the workers have to wear masks around the stuff they spray on the schredded cheese to keep it from sticking together - otherwise they get nosebleeds. Mmmmmm.


In my youth, I worked in a cheese factory. I kept cutting my hands until they started to bleed quite profusely into the vats containing the cheese curds. This however just added to the orange colouring. Also, my dad was a conductor on the railroad and he had to help load those nice, firm tomatoes onto the rail cars that we destined for the ketchup factory. They used shovels to get the job done. I will always remember him telling us that story. Who knows what we are eating!!:disgust::disgust::disgust::disgust:


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## Addy

Belguy said:


> In my youth, I worked in a cheese factory. I kept cutting my hands until they started to bleed quite profusely into the vats containing the cheese curds. This however just added to the orange colouring. Also, my dad was a conductor on the railroad and he had to help load those nice, firm tomatoes onto the rail cars that we destined for the ketchup factory. They used shovels to get the job done. I will always remember him telling us that story. Who knows what we are eating!!:disgust::disgust::disgust::disgust:


There's an allowable amount of bug parts and bug feces in ketchup (not listed on the ingredients!) in Canada. Mind you I'd rather eat bug parts than maybe some things picked off shovels, blahhhh!


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## LifeInsuranceCanada.com

Belguy said:


> In my youth, I worked in a cheese factory. I kept cutting my hands until they started to bleed quite profusely into the vats containing the cheese curds. :


Ah yes. Gross stories .

In my youth, the guy that used to pick up the milk from the dairy farm got replaced one day. Then I hear that he'd picked up milk from a farm without opening the milk tank before he drained it. Opened it after he drained it, to find the partial remains of a cat, the rest now being in his milk truck. Rather than getting blamed for ruining a full tanker truck of milk, he just kept on trucking. The truck got mixed with (I heard) something like 50,000 gallons of milk at the factory before they found out and had to dump the whole lot. 

At the time (this is many decades ago now) I also saw routine practice of small local farms dumping milk in the open into 5 gallon buckets where they the flies and cow poop got partially mixed in with it before going in to the milk tank. Mmmm milk - makes for strong bones. 

(Conversely last month i got to see one of Canada's largest milking parlours, and it was nothing like that. All computer controlled, didn't seem like much potential for anything foreign to enter the milk stream in that system).

Frankly, while I don't drink much milk, I'd be much more comfortable with getting it directly from one farmer rather than buying it from the gov't system where everyone's milk gets aggregated before it gets to the consumer.


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## andrewf

I'm no fan of supply management, but the government has nothing to do with the fact that commodity milk all goes through giant dairy processors. That's just economies of scale.


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