Yinng, you are buying "seasoned" chicken. I'm in Ontario as well, but stores across North America are selling chicken that is seasoned, either fresh or frozen.

They're injected with salt and water, to make them plump and of course so that we pay more at the counter.

The alternate to 'seasoned' is air-chilled.

Oh, if you buy pork loin in the crayovac bag (which we do frequently, then cut into pork chops and roasts) look too, to make sure it isn't seasoned.

I had this same experience with Members Mark boneless chicken breasts from Sam's Club. I dug the wrapper out of the trash and sure enough it had salt & water added. Never again...

Yes. It will say on the packaging something like being "enhanced" with a sodium solution which is akin to brining but you're paying for it by the pound. Some chicken will say "retains up to X% water", too.

The packaging will tell you so look for minimally processed/no added ingredients. Air chilled is the preferred method over water bath, as Jasdip pointed out.

I never use a liquid brine because I feel like the meat's texture suffers. I prefer dry brines.

I don't think it would be legal to sell it as seasoned and not mark it. And none of the packages said it was seasoned. Plus I specifically asked about that, some kind of seasoning or tenderizing and was told no, nothing like that had been done to the chicken. Not that I have complete faith in packaging or answers I got.

I asked my friend this as well and she has a neighbour who is in the chicken processing business. His answer was that it had received a chlorine bath and that as far as he knows only Halal chicken might not get a chlorine bath.

But now I have a couple of things to investigate. Thanks, I'll post anything further I find out.

This is over many months. It must have been before April 2014 we had the first bunch because I don't remember divying it up between five cats, only two.

I've purchases Halal chicken breasts when it's been on sale. I didn't know that they don't season it, I just liked the sale price. It was very good.

Our independently owned very popular grocery store and butcher has recently been selling their chicken breasts as Seasoned. And it hardly ever comes on sale anymore, where it used to be on sale regularly, for about $2.99/lb. It's never less than $3.99 now. I emailed them, saying how disappointed I am that they are selling Seasoned chicken, and their reply is that they sell air-chilled, for $4.99/lb

Air-chilling uses chlorine, too. The benefit is that it's misted instead of dunked.

I think mushy poultry is water-logged and the brine increases shelf life as well as extends the cooking window, not to mention adding weight to the final product and the corresponding price increase. People love to liquid brine their chicken and turkey, but I don't care for it and would rather use a thermometer and cook to temp!

I've been curious about Halal meats but never took the time to educate myself. I don't see anything about differences in processing after the requirements for slaughtering are met. Does the chicken still get treated with chlorine?

I've only had time for some quick, cursory googles but it appears that chlorine is the culprit for being mushy. As far as I can tell air chilled chicken is the only kind not exposed to chlorine. Chicken is otherwise chilled in a cold water bath, the same water is used repeatedly (ugh) and chlorine is added to the water as a disinfectant. Some people can smell the chlorine, it's like a swimming pool, sort of a bleach smell.

Seasoning is supposed to be labelled. If the seasoning was salt the chicken probably would not be tasteless as salt enhances flavour. I got the bright idea to look into Kosher chicken and found it probably has the most salt in it. I've never seen any Kosher chicken here anyway.

This is not conclusive, I have not contacted any govt. agencies to see what the legal requirements are.

Air-chilled does not mean chlorinated water wasn't used. The solution that mists the chicken as they cool it, very likely, contains chlorine. I've haven't yet found a company that says " no chlorine".

Nice blog !

chicken should always be testful.

Kosher chicken has a lot of salt because to be kosher if it isn't spit roasted or grilled (i.e., so the juices drip away), salting is required of meat and poultry. "Kosher" salt isn't called that because other salt isn't kosher, but because that coarse salt is pounded into the meat to draw out the blood to make the meat kosher. Nowadays, for convenience, most kosher meats and poultry are pre-salted. And, yes, the whole process can make the meat mushy if not done skillfully, and yes, it makes the meat saltier than one might like. :)