I tried chlorinated chicken – even after roasting it’s pale and doesn’t get crispy

If the UK is to stay on the right side of Donald Trump, and avoid the most swingeing tariffs, it is going to have to embrace chlorinated chicken, apparently.

Last week, the White House said: “The UK maintains non-science-based standards that severely restrict US exports of safe, high-quality beef and poultry products.”

Despite the fuss made on your side of the pond, the average American is barely aware of this practice we have of bleaching our birds. Informally querying a few friends nationwide, only a couple local San Francisco friends had even heard of it.

In fact, chlorine washing is a common sanitation practice in the United States poultry industry, but without labelling requirements, you’d have to do some serious sleuthing to find information.

For over two decades, the UK and European Union (EU) have banned importation of chicken treated with chemical rinses. However, proponents argue that Americans safely consume around 156 million chlorine-washed chickens weekly, and that an adult would need to eat a minimum of five per cent of their bodyweight daily to face real health risks.

In comparison, drinking water is considered a greater chlorine exposure risk. Advocates claim chlorine washing lowers salmonella rates in US chicken to around 2 per cent, whereas one report says EU chicken samples are commonly infected with 15-20 per cent salmonella.

On the other side of the fence, the EU argues that allowing chlorine washing (or water chilling as it’s also known) means that poultry producers can cut corners earlier on in the supply chain, safe in the knowledge that any bacteria will be scrubbed off their chickens at the end of the process. While that might lead to cheaper chickens, it can also lead to poor treatment of animals and cramped conditions.

Meanwhile, poultry farming in the US is concentrated in the hands of a few mega producers like Perdue, Tyson’s Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride. It’s in the interests of “Big Chicken” to allow chlorine washing – and these companies’ products could soon be winging their way over to you.

Chlorine doesn’t affect the chicken’s flavour, smell or appearance. But there is a way to identify non-chlorinated poultry in the US. Enter air-chilled chicken: the method used in the EU that cools and “cleans” birds post-slaughter with cold air rather than chlorinated water. The process limits water absorption and purportedly enhances flavour and texture. If a label reads “air-chilled”, it’s a good sign the bird wasn’t chlorine-rinsed.

With UK and US negotiations unresolved, I took to my local Whole Foods to see if I could find non-chlorinated chicken next to a chlorinated bird, and if it made a difference taste-wise.

I am blessed to live in farm-to-table, organic and food-pioneering San Francisco, so immediately discovered after visiting every market in my neighbourhood that I actually had to work hard to find anything that wasn’t organic and air-chilled. After a fruitless search of stores including Whole Foods, I had to go more mainstream to find a chlorine-treated chicken, and widen the search to a northern California (NorCal) grocery chain, Safeway. Even then, there was only whole chicken in the entire store that wasn’t air-chilled. But at least I’d finally found an elusive chlorinated chicken.

In many parts of the country, I’m sure the balance would be more even or skew toward chlorine-washed options. But in San Francisco, even major chains lean toward cleaner, more humane poultry.

The Taste Test

Finally, with both a chlorinated ($10.31 USD or £7.95) and an air-chilled chicken ($14.34 USD or £11.05) in hand, I headed home to compare. As a food and wine judge, I’m trained to pick up on nuance in flavour, although chicken can admittedly be the more banal of meats. However, a perfectly roasted hen from a great chef is a thing of beauty. And fried chicken? One of humanity’s greatest comfort foods. 

With tempered expectations knowing my chicken-cooking skills, I baked the two same-sized whole chickens, simply rubbed in olive oil, at 425°F (220°C) for just over an hour. With an industry friend for backup, we tasted both side-by-side.

First, the chlorine-washed bird. Raw, it looked a bit sickly in bluish-pink tones with almost flabby skin. As I cut the packaging off, it splayed out as if tightened by its plastic wrap. Water-chilled chlorinated birds can absorb around two to 12 per cent of the fluid.

Alternately, the raw, air-chilled organic chicken had a warmer, brownish-pink tone. As I cut off the packaging, it remained taught and tight, as if more muscular – speaking to the free-range, cage-free conditions? 

Cooking for the same amount of time at the same higher roasting temperatures, the chlorine-washed chicken had gained some brown colour, but was still sallow compared to the golden warmth and crispier skin of the air-chilled hen. 

Once the birds were out of the oven, we tucked in. The chlorine-washed white breast meat was dry and bland, while its dark meat was alternately juicy or slimy. The skin was saggy and gummy in parts; very little of it was crunchy. Comparatively, the air-chilled chicken’s crisp skin added flavourful notes to its moister breast meat. The air-chilled dark meat – always my favourite part of the bird – was succulent.

The taste difference? The chlorine-washed hen was a touch saltier, neutral and forgettable. After a couple of bites, I had to make it into a chicken salad so that mayo and additional ingredients could gussy it up. The air-chilled hen, while far from the best roast chickens I’ve had, exuded subtle meaty, savoury notes and that warmth from its golden skin. It was still mild, as chickens are, but gratifying. 

For the average consumer, the taste difference may be negligible, too subtle to notice. But visually and texturally, there is such a contrast that it changes the edible experience dramatically. The conclusion? It’s the air-chilled chicken for me.

Chlorine washing: the facts

Industry standard

Chlorine washing is widely used in the US to reduce bacterial contamination.

No labelling rules or restaurant information

In the US, food producers are not required to disclose whether chlorine was used in meat processing. Neither are restaurants or caterers legally obliged to reveal where their meat comes from.

It’s undetectable

Chlorine doesn’t affect the chicken’s flavour, smell, or appearance. There’s no visible or sensory indication it was used.