Spat over saltwater levels in South African chicken

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Mongezi Mtati

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of SA (Amie) said on Tuesday it does not agree with the SA Poultry Association (Sapa) that new regulations limiting the practice of injecting chicken with saltwater (brining) would render chicken unaffordable to the poor and hurt the local industry.

©Cathy Yeulet via 123RF

David Wolpert, CEO of Amie, told Fin24 that as far as his organisation is concerned, brining amounts to "customer abuse". That is why he and Amie are happy that the Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (DAFF) decided to limit brining levels as from October after having completed investigations into the issue.

The department gazetted new regulations over the sale of poultry meat, adjusting the maximum brine limit for individually quick frozen (IQF) and fresh chicken portions to 15% and for whole chicken at 10%.

According to Wolpert current brining levels for portions of some locally produced chicken could even be as high as 30% to 40%. "We are saying it is nonsense that the price of local chicken will go up if the brining levels are reduced to 15%," said Wolpert. In his view, all that brining enables is "the selling of water for the price of chicken".

Read the full article on Agri Africa.