# Water in Halal chicken



## Biggerdave (Aug 23, 2007)

Guys

Does anyone know how much of a problem this is at the moment?

I have manage to find a really good deal on chicken breast from an ethnic store near my work but i have been told that the manufacturers put phosphates etc in the breasts to make them hold water and appear bigger/heavier.

Now i find links on the internet that some of the suppliers of Halal chicken in Germany, Holland, and Spain are pumping the breasts full of beef/pork protein again to make them hold water:cursing: It seems this is just starting to come out in the news...

I guess my question is how would i tell if this is the case? Obviously i'm not going to get the breasts tested but can i tell by the amount of weight/size they lose during cooking?

Just looking for personal experience with Halal chicken really 

Dave


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## solidcecil (Mar 8, 2012)

well i used to buy my chicken from tesco and when i cooked it alot of water/juice cam out i would put it on my plate and 1min later it would be swimming!

i now go to cosco and very little juice comes out in comparison.

think you just got to try about mate

EDIT: sorry just saw the bit were you only wanted experances with halal meat. sorry mate but might help anyways


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## vlb (Oct 20, 2008)

i buy halal chicken from costco, seems to keep its weight ok


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## Willie (Feb 17, 2008)

They've been doing this for years mate, not just halal chicken but a lot of the chicken you buy in supermarkets as well - there's few cheaper additives than water when it comes to bulking up food after all.

If you see an adulterated breast and a normal one side by side it's easier to tell, but from memory the adulterated ones tend to have an unnatural sheen to them.

The Dutch are bad for it, AFAIK they were the ones who started it. Some of the chicken out the supermarket shrinks like crazy when you cook it. It's less of a problem with English chicken, i get English breasts for £6.50 a kilo from my local butchers which lose very little water during cooking.

If it's something you're interested in this is a good read.


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## strongasanox (Mar 14, 2008)

halal is good 2 go,,obviouslythere might be some dodgy cnuts but on the whole ive never had a prob,,i even bought a halal turkey a couple of xmass ago,it was a last minute thing,,,got a massive one for alot cheaper than the average,,i gotta say it was one of the nicest turkeys ive had,,,i love the mutton they sell aswell


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## Kezz (Sep 3, 2007)

what is a halal chicken???


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## borostu82 (Aug 8, 2011)

Kezz said:


> what is a halal chicken???


muslims eat it. the drain the blood from the chicken/animal

i get mine from bookers which says 100% chicken


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## strongasanox (Mar 14, 2008)

Kezz said:


> what is a halal chicken???


its a chicken thats been blessed and drained of all blood,,,i think,,halal butchers can be alot cheaper than the average butcher


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## Willie (Feb 17, 2008)

strongasanox said:


> halal is good 2 go,,obviouslythere might be some dodgy cnuts but on the whole ive never had a prob


Halal only means it's slaughtered in a particular way, it can still be pumped full of rubbish so if water/salt is something you're concerned about you still need to exercise some caution. Some of the halal chicken you get it is very good, some of it is rotten so it's just the same as everything else really.



strongasanox said:


> halal butchers can be alot cheaper than the average butcher


There's loads of halal butchers near me and the cheapest is only £1 a kilo less than the English chicken breasts (unadulterated) from a traditional butcher. I prefer to pay the extra as overall the quality of the halal breats varied too much.


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## Biggerdave (Aug 23, 2007)

Some good info cheers guys, i think i will have to bite the bullet and buy some to try. I currently pay 5.30 per kilo from welshmeatdirect but this place has offered me cost price which is 3.50 per kilo. Its too good to miss if the quality is good


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## delhibuilder (Mar 24, 2008)

yep same here mate, i switched to halal chicken about a year ago, its much cheaper i get it for around 4.50 a kilo.


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## Diaz_1992 (Jun 17, 2009)

£4 for 1 kg from summerfields or £10.99 for 2.2kg from costco are the best deals I have found.

Although I don't think they're halal.

If you're muslim, you may want to just buy from specialist halal butchers just to make sure the meat is halal.


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## Biggerdave (Aug 23, 2007)

I'm not muslim buddy, just been offered a great deal on Halal


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