Can a Salty Chicken be a Natural Chicken?
The USDA (US Department of Agriculture) maintains that if a chicken isn’t chemically preserved or artificially flavored that it could use the word “natural” on its packaging.
However, a number of health advocates, chicken producers, and politicians said that approximately 1/3 of the chickens that are sold within the United States are injected with additives. And they say that those injections could amount to up to 15% of the weight of the bird. This would double or triple its salt content and could both mislead and may harm consumers who have to limit the amount of sodium in their diets.
Purdue, which is the third largest poultry producer in the United States wants the rules to be changed. They say that they label their chickens “natural” or “all natural” only if they have not added anything.
Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride, the largest processors of chickens in the U.S. label chickens that they have injected with additional water and salt as “natural.”
The head of the California Poultry Federation, Bill Mattos, says that the way things are now labeled can confuse consumers and wants the industry to be much clearer when they label their products.
