Quality of chicken breasts in major supermarkets

[andyA700]

I have arrived a bit late to this thread, but this problem with "woody breast" has stopped me buying chicken breast fillets anymore. One question though. Why is it, when I buy a whole chicken (doesn't have to be free range) remove the breasts (Usually to make a curry), then give the rest to my wife to make a stew, that I have never had the sinew problem which I have with the breast fillet packs?

[Bluevanman]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

I've noticed boneless thighs in Lidl from time to time. You're right about costs though, they have appreciably risen.

This is probably one for the Council thread but Aldi do a big bag of frozen breasts which are very much cheaper. They don't taste any better or worse but at least I don't feel that I'm getting ripped-off!

When you factor in they are 20% added water they don't work out any cheaper than fresh.
Plus they shrink when cooked

[21TonyK]

andyA700 said:

I have arrived a bit late to this thread, but this problem with "woody breast" has stopped me buying chicken breast fillets anymore. One question though. Why is it, when I buy a whole chicken (doesn't have to be free range) remove the breasts (Usually to make a curry), then give the rest to my wife to make a stew, that I have never had the sinew problem which I have with the breast fillet packs?

I've experienced what I would call "tampered" breasts on whole birds... yes chicken. Basically the neck end of the breast is punctured and the meat is fibrous. At one point I had put this down to machine processing but its not. Its more dodgy than that, I suspect its trying to mitigate the fact its woody.

My son buys a lot of chicken breasts purely for convenience and those seem to be semi-butchered to remove any fibrous parts.

Personally, I have found switching to free range (for a roast etc) on occasion works.

[biggbn]

Marcus Wareing did a really intersting piece on chicken in his show the other week. The difference between more mature free range farm birds and two month old supermarket chickens was remarkable.

[Turn7]

Rough101 said:

Turn7 said:

Exactly

But you said ‘Aldi etc.’ inferring they (and Lidl) would be somehow inferior to regular supermarkets, whereas the whole thread is about poor quality and poor welfare meat from supermarkets.

Ok , ALL supers......Happy now ?

[Sebring440]

Turn7 said:

Sebring440 said:

Turn7 said:

Aldi etc are very likely intensively factory farmed,

Source, or just something you've made up?

Economies of scale

So you are just making this up. You don't have any proof. It's just supposition.

[Turn7]

Sebring440 said:

Turn7 said:

Sebring440 said:

Turn7 said:

Aldi etc are very likely intensively factory farmed,

Source, or just something you've made up?

Economies of scale

So you are just making this up. You don't have any proof. It's just supposition.

If you are that concerned maybe do your own research.

I’m not replying anymore .

[Bluevanman]

Bought some breasts from Lidl today,says British indoor,red tractor,class A on the label.
How does that compare to M+S or Waitrose?
I suspect very similar

[21TonyK]

M&S exclusively sell "Hubbard" chickens which grow at a slower rate than the Ross and Cobb, albeit we are talking a matter of weeks between slaughter. Thats about it.

The Ross and Cobbs are basically bred to convert the minimum feed into the maximum weight in the least amount of time possible.

Hubbards less so, plus M&S are "higher welfare" so might be able to move about a bit more.

Edited by 21TonyK on Saturday 30th March 18:35

[loskie]

TBH in my view Red Tractor is a bit of a con.

UK farmers should (must) adhere to the Welfare Codes
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/poultry...

Birds start to be thinned around 35 days of age with complete depopulation by 45 days being the norm.

Let's face it margins are tight but crops are big and costly to produce so farmers don't want high mortality and will do their best to produce a healthy crop.

Things can and do go wrong though as in any business. Hopefully rare but possible.

Farmers may also have to test for salmonellas under a National Control Plan (NCP).

They'll be contracted to produce x no of birds of various sizes between certain dates. It's all very carefully planned to maximise use of transport and processing plants and to ensure a steady supply as well as supply extra when peaks in demand are there.

The welfare codes are the basic requirements, red tractor pretty much follows that. Some "premium" brands like Oakham maybe require some extras. They aren't special farms, they aren't special birds but there may be slightly less stocking density, windows in sheds for natural daylight, straw bales to perch on and other stimuli.

Food Standards Agency have a presence at processing plants (abattoirs) and if birds arrive in a poor state then this will/should be referred to the relevant enforcement bodies who should follow this up. This could be hock burn from damp litter, broken/dislocated legs from poor catching or bruising of carcases.

I'd be very surprised if any of the basic ranges from any of the UK supermarkets were much different.
Look at the oval code on the packaging and you can see where slaughtered and processed.

People want protein, people want meat but they want it cheap so what do you expect?

Look how cheap farmed chicken, pork and salmon is.

[loskie]

I'll add to this that I happily eat meat but do understand very well the process of how it gets on my plate.

[andyA700]

Sebring440 said:

Turn7 said:

Sebring440 said:

Turn7 said:

Aldi etc are very likely intensively factory farmed,

Source, or just something you've made up?

Economies of scale

So you are just making this up. You don't have any proof. It's just supposition.

He isn't making it up, it is a fact of life. If you go into any supermarket and pay less than a tenner for a 1.6kg bird, then it has been intensively farmed. It hasn't been running around outside, scavenging for food, getting fitter, leaner and stronger, it will have been reared in some gigantic barn, scrambling over thousands of other birds, eating high protein feed which ensures it reaches an optimum weight in as short a space of time as possible.
This isn't rocket science you know, you get what you pay for.

[loskie]

Not quite true.

You can easily overpay for what you get. The brand perception/marketing can be very misleading.

[FredericRobinson]

andyA700 said:

He isn't making it up, it is a fact of life. If you go into any supermarket and pay less than a tenner for a 1.6kg bird, then it has been intensively farmed. It hasn't been running around outside, scavenging for food, getting fitter, leaner and stronger, it will have been reared in some gigantic barn, scrambling over thousands of other birds, eating high protein feed which ensures it reaches an optimum weight in as short a space of time as possible.
This isn't rocket science you know, you get what you pay for.

It’s not true that Aldi and Lidl are any different in standards to the other supermarkets though, at least for non-premium range chicken, and they’re not cheaper that Tesco Asda or Sainsbury’s because of economy of scale because they sell less than them

[andyA700]

FredericRobinson said:

andyA700 said:

He isn't making it up, it is a fact of life. If you go into any supermarket and pay less than a tenner for a 1.6kg bird, then it has been intensively farmed. It hasn't been running around outside, scavenging for food, getting fitter, leaner and stronger, it will have been reared in some gigantic barn, scrambling over thousands of other birds, eating high protein feed which ensures it reaches an optimum weight in as short a space of time as possible.
This isn't rocket science you know, you get what you pay for.

It’s not true that Aldi and Lidl are any different in standards to the other supermarkets though, at least for non-premium range chicken, and they’re not cheaper that Tesco Asda or Sainsbury’s because of economy of scale because they sell less than them

I didn't say that Aldi and Lidl had different standards to other supermarkets, they are the same. As for economies of scale, Aldi now hold 10.2% of the UK grocery market, whilst Morrisons hold 8.7% and Lidl 7.7%. I shop at Lidl, Aldi, Sainsburys and Morrisons, because they all have their "sweetspots" where value for money and quality are concerned.

[Rough101]

andyA700 said:

I didn't say that Aldi and Lidl had different standards to other supermarkets.

It wasn’t you, it was someone else, i thought that they’d be much the same.

[PurpleTurtle]

21TonyK said:

For those interested, this is worth listening to.

Planet Chicken (about 4 hours in all)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001ry9t

Cheers, I’ll give that a listen next week.

[croyde]

Ugh, just cooked a second chicken breast from a packet I opened yesterday evening.

Felt weird when I stuck a fork in it prior to popping the oven. Thought it was my imagination.

Just eaten it and it was horrible. Weird texture and totally opposite to the tasty breast I cooked the same way yesterday.

Happened as well last week, again the second from the two pack.

Convinced myself I'd not cooked it long enough and it was still raw and threw it away.

Glad I found this thread. Maybe Tesco's are now packing a shoite breast with a good 'un in their two packs, along with shrinkflation and massive price rises far outstripping inflation.

I'll have to stick to Lidl Fillet steaks and their Angus Burgers from now on.

[Mobile Chicane]

I treated myself to some free range chicken thighs from the local farm shop.

Good flavour, nice crispy skin, really 'meaty'.

£15 / Kg though...

[TX1]

Have had the woody breast problem on multiple occasions, have tried most of the major supermarkets and found the same problem with all.
Only one that was fine for a long time was Waitrose however found a woody one from them last week but they are the most reliable I have found.
What I find weird is I have bought whole chickens for roasting from M&S for years, different types of chickens and I have never experienced woody breast with their whole chickens.