Thursday, June 05, 2008
EU to US: Bad Chicken, Bad Chicken - and Problems with Kosher Birds
Until I read this story in the Financial Times I didn't realize that the EU had banned imports of US chicken for 11 years. Apparently there's a common practice in this country to wash chicken in a chlorine solution, and EU regulations require cleaning chicken meat in drinkable water only. Sometimes it takes hearing about an international trade dispute to realize that you want to avoid a product from your own back yard. Just another reason to stick with kosher birds or the equivalent - and maybe to press US authorities to indicate how chickens are processed. I don't even know whether chlorine would actually rule out kosher.
Then again, we've had some unpleasant experience with kosher birds - namely Empire brand - over the years. Just recently we picked up a couple at a Trader Joe's, got them home, started unwrapping one, and found that it smelled bad. The store was fabulous about handling the problem, not only taking the bird back, but bringing my wife out to check for a replacement and letting her open and smell it before taking possession.
Unfortunately, this isn't the only time we've brought Empire birds home to find the aroma off-putting. We also had this problem a few times with The Butcherie, a kosher food store in Brookline, Massachusetts. Does it mean that the better taste that goes with a kosher treatment also brings a higher risk of a problem? If anyone has an answer, I'd be glad to hear it - and I think I'll check with some sources to see if I can provide some educated information.
Then again, we've had some unpleasant experience with kosher birds - namely Empire brand - over the years. Just recently we picked up a couple at a Trader Joe's, got them home, started unwrapping one, and found that it smelled bad. The store was fabulous about handling the problem, not only taking the bird back, but bringing my wife out to check for a replacement and letting her open and smell it before taking possession.
Unfortunately, this isn't the only time we've brought Empire birds home to find the aroma off-putting. We also had this problem a few times with The Butcherie, a kosher food store in Brookline, Massachusetts. Does it mean that the better taste that goes with a kosher treatment also brings a higher risk of a problem? If anyone has an answer, I'd be glad to hear it - and I think I'll check with some sources to see if I can provide some educated information.
