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Comment by throwaway2037 | Hacker News Reader

throwaway2037

    > bleached chicken

I don't understand this meme that appears whenever US vs "Europe" food/crop standards are discussed.

I Googled for more info, and I found this quote: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/15/nx...

    > Less than 5% of poultry processing facilities still use chlorine in rinses and sprays, according to the National Chicken Council, an industry group that surveyed its members. (Those that still do use a highly diluted solution at concentrations deemed safe.)

    > Nowadays, the industry mostly uses organic acids to reduce cross contamination, primarily peracetic, or peroxyacetic acid, which is essentially a mixture of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.

What do European chicken meat plants use to reduce bateria load?

    > prevalence of GM crops

EU grows plenty of GM maize. More will come. Are Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) crops bad?

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That’s really the whole point - EU food standards indicate that the need to use acids to prevent bacteria growth is the problem. The EU system is based on having higher sanitation requirements at all steps from feed to cage to plate.

> What do European chicken meat plants use to reduce bateria load?

sanitary conditions

My understanding was that the meat-packing process in the US involves a butchering method that results in more fecal matter contamination, posing the risk of salmonella, which necessitates the wash. Those bacteria occur naturally, so you can't avoid that without being careful with butchering, which is probably what the EU standards require. But I doubt the big meat conglomerates like Tyson will want any hit to productivity, and they would fight a change every step of the way.

Mechanically separated meat bluntly ruptures the digestive tract and smears the flesh with feces. So they soak the feces and flesh together in a chlorine or acid bath to sanitize it. It's disgusting.

Does EU not use mechanical meat separation for chickens? If not, wouldn't their costs be dramatically higher?

> What do European chicken meat plants use to reduce bateria load?

I'm sure it's just salt and water.

I don't understand why consumers will pay for a chicken breast which has been injected with salt water. It comes out when you prepare it.

Also some people don't season food with salt (you can add salt at the table if you really need it). Meat with added salt taste very salty to me.

It's also down to vaccination requirements for EU based farms who take far more preventative measures than US ones.

It's why you can eat raw eggs and keep them out of the fridge in the EU/UK but not in the US, because the chickens are vaccination for Salmonella.

The reason for keeping eggs in a fridge is different (primarily washing vs not washing). This has been discussed a number of times at HN.

Here is an example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19815155

Japanese egg production is even cleaner, but then consuming raw eggs is commonplace in Japan.

Generally, I agree with your post. About "keep them out of the fridge": I thought this is mostly due to wash or not-wash the eggs before packing. I think washing removes a thin layer that makes the eggs last longer, but can be visually less appealing. Please correct me if you know better! Japan also vaccinates heavily for Salmonella, and they eat plenty of raw eggs in their cuisine.

> . I think washing removes a thin layer that makes the eggs last longer, but can be visually less appealing.

European eggs look just fine. The wash we talk about here is chemical, not just cleaning out mess with water.

But yes, this is about wash or not-wash thing. Just that is has nothing to do with visuals.

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