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Business, Congressman Promote Better Labeling Save Email Print
Jackson, Miss.
Posted: 6:13 PM May 23, 2007
Last Updated: 6:13 PM May 23, 2007
Reporter: Wendy Suares
Email Address: wsuares@wlbt.net

A | A | A

Is the label that says "100 percent natural" misleading? Mississippi-based Sanderson Farms takes pride in its 'all natural' chicken, putting it right on the label.

The company and Mississippi Cong. Chip Pickering are part of a coalition trying to strip the term 'natural' off so called "enhanced chickens." They have been injected with water, salt, and even seaweed.

"It should be all natural, single ingredient, just poultry, just chicken," said Pickering.

If you take a close look at labels of several brands in Mississippi, you'll find not all chickens are created equal. A package of "enhanced chicken" has 350 mg of sodium. That's four times the amount in chicken with no additives, and more sodium than a medium-size bag of potato chips.

Look out for phrases like "contains a solution of up to fifteen percent water, salt, and sodium phosphates."

Eating that chicken could spell trouble for Margaret Currie of Jackson, who's on a restricted diet. She didn't know to look for added ingredients.

"I've never really paid any attention to that part," said Currie. "Chicken is chicken, so you get the chicken, take it home and cook it, and add more salt to it."

The pumped up poultry also weighs more, and shoppers pay the price for heavier meat, even if it is just from salt water. Pickering wants USDA to change that, and require any additives be listed on the packaging.

"It should be clearly labeled, in big enough print, so that consumers can make a choice," said Pickering.

"Just plain, so you can see it, and recognize the label," said Currie. "So then you'll be able to know what to do with it."

Cong. Pickering says if USDA does not change its labeling rules, lawmakers could force changes in the pending farm bill.

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