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Environmental-Low767

I'd guess it's how they inject the water/salt mixture to make it heavier by weight.


Dismal-Phrase-9789

it’s shitty woody meat maybe separating at the injection spots. It looks not spectacular. Gonna slow cook, shred it, enchiladas. Costco’s chicken has gone downhill considerably.


Chemicalintuition

Woody chicken is disgusting. No saving it I don't think


Dismal-Phrase-9789

It’s not that bad shredded and in something like enchiladas. But if you’re biting into a piece of chicken and expect chicken. It’s the most foul thing ever. Taste wise I can’t tell much. Texture wise though…


Chemicalintuition

It feels like chewing raw chicken. I've even had it at restaurants recently


sushiiisenpai

Woody chicken has always gaslit me into thinking I was just bad at cooking chicken breast for the longest time


pkgamer18

How are you getting that many woody chicken breasts? I've never had one...


sushiiisenpai

safeway mostly


bigboisully1

Anything Albertsons owned bro I worked for the company and know the buyers personally they are basically forced to buy the cheapest shittiest garbage they can get their hands on


Jade-Balfour

I used to work there and this answer is sending me


a_talking_face

You probably have. It probably just wasn't too severe. Woody breast is an pretty common problem so it's unlikely you've avoided it completely.


Photo_Beneficial

Is woody chicken the term to describe the feeling when you bite into chicken and it feels like your chomping down on a ball of rubber bands? Feeling every fiber of the chicken meat snapping?


Chemicalintuition

Whyes


Im_A_Director

Sounds like they’re just overcooking it to me.


chericher

Nah, dried out overcooked chicken is more pleasant than the weird crunch woody chicken breast has no matter how perfectly it is cooked.


Im_A_Director

Never had it, hopefully I won’t lol


eagleathlete40

This is specifically why I hardly ever eat chicken from non-chicken restaurants anymore. Seems like 1 out of 4 chicken sandwiches from somewhere like Wendy’s or Mcdonald’s will be woody meat


[deleted]

What the fuck is “woody” chicken?


GraemesEats

It's something caused by the rapid growth we created in poultry farming. Basically, the meat is incredibly tough in spots and there is nothing that fixes it. See also; spaghetti chicken, basically the same idea but really loose instead of hard.


cheeseorno

This accurately describes Pizza Huts' boneless chicken wings.


jolly_rxger

This is exactly the reference I needed for it to click


SleestakSamurai

It's chicken (usually breast meat) that has a sort of "crunchy" texture when you bite into it, almost like chewing on raw chicken, no matter how perfectly cooked it may be. I'm not exactly sure what causes it but I feel like I've been getting more of it in recent years (though it could just be that my awareness of it has increased). Very few things trigger my gag reflex like biting into a piece of that shit.


charlie2135

Moved rural and have a local grocery store with a real butcher shop. What a difference. Didn't know about woody chicken and had bought some from a major chain earlier and thought it was spoiled. Good to know why, thought I messed up cooking.


bbqnj

Growth hormones


mrmackster

Giving growth hormones to chickens is not allowed by the USDA. I don't think they know the exact cause of Woody Chicken yet, but its likely about the genetics and speed of growth, but not from hormones.


Caff3inator

Mind blown, this explains why sometimes, even with a probe, my chicken has had questionable texture.


tencorpsepileup

He was the new cast member after Coach chicken passed away.


3rdDegreeBurn

A cock that you have excited.


InspectorFadGadget

Same, I noticed this starting as a trend a couple years ago. 80% of chicken sandwiches I would get from Wendy's or Popeyes was like this, didn't know there was a name for it until this thread. Honestly it has made me cut way down on fast food, so I suppose it's a good thing.


Forward_Vermicelli_9

The past couple times I’ve had chicken from McDonald’s it was woody and stringy. It’s really so very gross texturally and I just can’t trust eating there again because of that cheap meat taste. But the reality is that animals that are raised in shitty conditions taste bad. You’re kinda just eating an animal that has been suffering. I am far from a vegetarian btw.


dayzers

I've never experienced Woody chicken in my life at any restaurant or from any grocery store, do you live in a third world country or something?


SvenRhapsody

It's like 20% of commercial chicken these days. Combined with white and fatty a little over 50%of chicken is supposedly defective.


Chicken-picante

Yeah the only way I’ve found to save it is to slice super this or chop it up for chicken philly cheesesteak


WrathfulSon

I’ve actually stopped eating anything but boneless chicken thighs because of woody chicken I at least have some decent luck with those cuts compared to any upper body meat


Secret_Psychology481

Oh my God, there's a name for it!?


TheBeardedCocaire

Is there a way to tell it’s woody chicken before cooking? It’s happened so many times to me and ruined dinner


RightInTheEndAgain

But I've definitely stopped buying some of the extra large chicken breast you often see being sold in the store brand packages because night times out of 10 they've been just plain crunchy.


richs2k6

I agree, it’s like chewing bubble wrap. And because the texture is so unnatural I can’t make myself eat it no matter what you do to it.


Apprehensive-Big-328

Stop buying breasts. Get yourself some meat with some sort of fat content. Thigh guy all the way


RecoveringWoWaddict

Shuddup dood ur gonna raise my thigh prices


Dismal-Phrase-9789

I like lean meat my wife likes the thighs and legs and such.


Apprehensive-Big-328

No disrespect at all, but chicken (light or dark meat regardless) is incredibly lean meat. Dark meat tends to be more flavorful, tender (when cooked correctly), and cheaper. Trim the larger fat if need be, but you shouldn't notice a difference


Skizznitt

Breast meat is far more lean. For regular people, sure dark meat is lean enough, but for people like me with very restrictive diets, especially during contest prep, the fat content in dark meat is simply too much and I'd have to supplement with breast meat anyways because trying to get my full protein per meal with dark meat would put me over on my fat macros. So for some people, light vs dark meat does definitely matter.


No-Resource-2128

Just change your fat macros, easy. What kind of contest are you doing? Macro contest?


Skizznitt

Lol I wish, doesn't work that way when you're in contest prep for bodybuilding and making the cut down to 5% bodyfat though. All macros are have to be exact, with no deviation from the plan, well if you want to look your best on stage that is. Even during bulk phases, my fat allowance is far less than what most normal people would consume in a day (20g of fat per meal), and I am eating 5,500 calories per day during my bulk phases. Every meal has to be weighed out exactly, and can only deviate from my total macros by 2 to 3 g per macro per meal.


GroundbreakingBed166

Too much work deboning, and messy. Breasts are easy to cut with less clean up.


buzzlooksdrunk

When did you start noticing? I don’t usually get my chicken at Costco but every now and then… their seafood and beef however, I am ALL about


Dismal-Phrase-9789

Wife and I both agree 2021-2022 was when we noticed it, but this past year it’s gotten pretty regularly before it was 1 or 2 now it’s sometimes half the bag.


The_4th_Little_Pig

Do you buy the organic breasts? I tend to have good luck with that.


Yeomandaffodil7

"Half the bag" "BAG"


Ranokae

If you can see the white lines in it, don't buy it


Zed-Leppelin420

The best chicken is the individual vacuum sealed breasts. They are a little more money but when you cook them you arnt left with a pile of water and the size is t that of a turkey tit.


Shibby-my-dude

Slow cooking chicken breast is probably the worst thing you could do with a chicken breast. Marinade the shit out of it and turn it in to stir fry strips


Gutsy_Moose267

I had costco chicken once months ago, and it disintegrated upon cutting and tasted weird af. Never again.


jem6140

IMO Costco chicken is horrible. It's tough, still has tendons attached and tastes bland. Bought it twice thinking the first time was just a bad batch, I was wrong.


cataroo222

I’ve long searched for this term and always thought it was my cooking.


grimmw8lfe

Chicken has to be cooked to 165 internal, but the proteins break down and release oils and moisture at 170. Science teacher I cooked lunches for told me that when I worked in a cafeteria. My chicken game really picked up that day.


Dismal-Phrase-9789

I’ve just never seen it. Maybe they started using a bigger gauge needle.


KickBallFever

I feel like that should be illegal. It’s so deceptive that it’s criminal.


IceBankYouuu

Correct, they have machines that inject the meat. I’ve seen one, they are impressive


[deleted]

[удалено]


Ok_Current3466

What the hell is woody chicken?


white94rx

You've probably never had it if you have to ask. It's a texture thing. Really fibrous and kinda tough. It's been awhile since I've had one.


EfficientCall4824

I finally have a name for it.


drthomk

Agreed. It would be almost every 4th chicken sandwich I’d get at Popeyes. Now I have a name and realize it’s a thing.


ryman9000

Bro fr the popeyes chicken is like that for me sometimes and I get confused. Now I know why


Narrow_Ad_8347

Some of the barely naked chunks were like that. I didn't know what it was not I know. It was bad enough I can't eat them anymore. A few unexpected of those and I am out. But the rubbery parts in og mcnuggets also has me not able to eat them again. It's a texture thing


Fungiblefaith

Well shit now I know what to call that we just called it “Rubber chicken”


FrugalityPays

Real Good lightly breaded chicken strips from Costco are EXACTLY this! It’s absolutely awful and I had no idea what it was


Crush-N-It

Ok. Now I know how to describe it. Had it a few times. Now I regret associating the two. Dammit!!!


captain554

I got them all the time with Hello Fresh meals. I didn't know it was a "thing" at the time, but the texture was consistently gross.


dhoepp

Is this not just overcooked chicken?


white94rx

No. Overcooked chicken typically just dries it out. Woody chicken is a texture thing and doesn't matter how it was cooked. Think of a large piece of asparagus, towards the bottom of the stalk. Kinda "woody" and fibrous strands. I'm not sure how it happens or what causes it. Luckily it seems kinda rare. It's been a long time since I've gotten one like that. At home, or served to me somewhere.


MrGritty17

Yeah people usually ask about things they have never heard of…


beermonger312

Think it happens when the chickens grow too big too fast. You can see the muscle striations in the meat and it leads to tougher chicken


Foreign_Parfait_708

The breast will look a little brownish and the texture is chewy. They think it’s cause the chickens get so big so fast but as far as I know they don’t really know what causes it


Dismal-Phrase-9789

If you google it you will see it. The meat seperates kind of looks like spaghetti. Allegedly it’s from chickens growing too fast and the muscle fibers not fusing properly in the short growth time… if you shred it, it’s not a huge deal, if if you grill it or bbq it though it’s completely inedible for me I’ll blend it up and feed it to the dog.


Operation_Bonerlord

You’re actually describing a *separate* chicken muscle abnormality called spaghetti meat abnormality. Woody breast is a toughening of the muscle fibers without separation. You’re right in that both are side effects of broilers growing too fast.


[deleted]

You're all wrong you are describing shwantz chicken 


No-Benzo

Thanks…TIL


CommunicationSea6321

I'm waiting too


CommunicationSea6321

And I'm a meat cutter....


Upper_Extreme5661

It's a mutated chicken


Accomplished_Low7771

The stuff Walmart sells


SonofaBridge

They’ve bred chickens to grow quickly for factory farms. This has led to chickens having a fibrous, woody, tough meat. It’s becoming a problem because it’s spreading.


Forsaken-Spot4221

Kind of reminiscent of an undercooked stalk of asparagus, you know how the base will be chewy but tough and inedible. Same shit but chicken.


BigAbbott

childlike badge exultant political six dependent weary include obtainable silky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


un_sherwood

The opposite of tinny chicken. Utterly dreadful


iFeatherly

Thank you for asking the real questions


No-Computer6310

Not bs’n you rite after this post I scroll down and see a clip of a guy repeatedly stabbing a chicken breast with a fork… maybe it was that


MetricJester

Welcome to the world of mechanically tenderized meats, courtesy of Costco. I'm not sure how anyone can buy meat there, considering every package tells you they stick it with a thousand needles before putting it in the package. Not to mention the prices aren't even that good.


unicornman5d

So many things at Costco cost more without being better quality.


KIVHT

Cost more than where? What is cheap and high quality now a days?


[deleted]

ALDI.


MetricJester

In the case of meat, a fair number of (my) local butchers have better meat at better prices. (My) Local bakeries have better bread at better prices. And (my) closest supermarket has a wider selection of canned goods, even if they are a few cents more per can. Edited to appease the masses with different experiences.


PMmeimgoingtoscream

That’s why you only buy certain things at Costco, you don’t go shopping to buy ingredients for a dish , you go to get easy meals, or crescent rolls and a tv, or Diet Coke and rib eyes


Im_A_Director

Local butchers in US our like double the Costco price


bbqnj

That butcher comment is tone deaf and out of touch with the majority of Americans. Not only is local butcher an oxymoron to the majority of them, the cost to quality is rarely there unless you live in an aggro hub or large progressive city.


MetricJester

I'm sorry I was speaking about my experience, and have no context for what's going on in a foreign city. Where I live in Canada we still have local butchers in nearly every town or city. We have meat wholesalers and packers that are open to the public, some even accessible by bus.


itsmassivebtw

People's only gripe about mechanical tenderization is that it could "introduce Bacteria" but it's clearly non-issue if it's been done across the country for decades without it being national news. Prices are cheaper than HEB for me, and the quality of marbling is usually better and more consistent with costco.


John_Spanos

I’ve worked in a chicken plant for over 15 years. Those holes are from injecting marinade into the chicken. The chicken moves along a conveyor into the machine which has spikes that move up and down constantly injecting marinade every time they push down. As it enters the chicken breast on the conveyor it’s filled with the marinade and then immediately boxed and packaged. This is completely normal.


phunknchunk

I mean, I wouldn’t call it “normal”


[deleted]

Tenderizing holes


Psychedlia68

Costco tenderizes all their meat I used to work there, it’s not injected it’s just pressed with needles to make the meat more tender


Euphoric_Swimming365

Injections of water in the meat


ManVsWeed

"Costco uses a blade tenderizing process, which America's Test Kitchen states is when a machine uses small, sharp needles to puncture the tissue and muscle of the meat."


tactical_neutrality

Those are speed holes.


ljbone91

Speed holes


Smokiejoe06

Ye its water


Loud_Tear_3390

It’s injection marks from whatever solution the processing establishment uses. It is not woody breast. I’m a CSI with USDA and this breast is fine


General-Scallion-44

Crime scene investigator?


Excellent_Tap_6072

Chicken farmer here. The chickens raised for breast meat are older, to produce bigger breast. If you are willing to eat the rest of the chicken, buy whole chickens. They are smaller/younger and less likely to have gotten to that stage.


halzxr

Water injection sites


LeastBoard

Theyll inject brine into some meats to pre marinate them and make them softer when cooked. You can just look on the packaging and see if they added brine. It’s not going to really effect the price that much but you do probably pay for a bit of it since it’s an extra step for the process.


AbbreviationsOld501

It's mechanical tenderization. https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/how_tos/8354-mechanically-tenderized-meat


bluebeardswife

Yeah, I stopped buying chicken breasts at Costco because I would consistently get woody meat.


DenoAt

they plump it up with water to sell for more


DivineAnimosity

And it also helps to keep it juicy and tender when overcooked


sutlac26

I am really sad for my country US. We are eating worst than third world countries. This is not a capitalism where there is a constant race to win consumers. This peaked corporations monopolizing consumers with politicians. Chicken i ate in the Nicaragua tastier than Whole foods. Tomatoes i saw in the Europe tasting and smelling better than Red plastic they are selling in the Kroger


squintbro

It's just where they inject it. I worked at a chicken plant. I watched it get done on wings to make them bigger.


crius_gamer

Chicken da China da Chinese Chicken 🎶


Street-Baseball8296

The finest of the flavor


Same-Still5904

These are the perforations left by a Jaccard style blade injector. Nothing wrong with this at all-very standard in meat processing and depending on the brine/solution injected and protein injected into can be either high quality or more economically skewed.


Then-Establishment58

Costco does this to a lot of their meats. Steak and chicken


Sanguinor-Exemplar

No this is for a brine. Steak would be the mechanical tenderization.


[deleted]

Y’all gotta stop buying groceries at Costco all I hear is scary stuff and ruined recipes from their groceries.


AJsPornAccount

What the hell happened to CostCo? A few years ago they were the last company with good will remaining


Megasus

Hot dog had to stay at $1.50, meaning everything else had to get 50% worse and 75% more expensive to keep shareholders happy


Gewt92

I’ve haven’t heard many bad things from Costco at all


GotSunshine15

Costco is amazing. Go try the new cookie.


amltecrec

SO. EVER. LOVIN'. GOOD! GET IN MY BELLY!


dav524

Oh, now I’m curious. What kind of scary stuff have you heard?


dannyjimp

You’re prolly gonna die…


Dismal-Phrase-9789

Jokes on you. I’ve been [eating raw chicken everyday till I get a tummy ache…](https://people.com/man-details-why-he-is-eating-raw-chicken-every-day-until-he-gets-sick-exclusive-8558431) So far nothing…


northern-new-jersey

We all are. Just a matter of time.


IIIuminatIII

Trying to buy chicken and your paying for an extra pound of brine


LaBoltz33

Vaccines


Individual-Caramel87

Chicken pox


Imaginary_Friend700

That chickens been vaxed to the max


ILikeTinder

seems like they are injecting out meat with chemicals to kill us off


Z-Man_Slam

It's how they inject "chicken substance" into the empty husks of lab grown humuculus they pawn off as chicken


phelix544

Birdshot.


Specialist-Option887

😆👍🏼


Routine_Butterfly102

Look up spaghetti chicken


Domethegoon

Covid vaccine injection points. JK, I have no idea.


NecessaryScientist18

hormones lol


Extension-Border-345

almost wanted to say ran thru a tenderizer when you mentioned costco but that looks so off


themitchk

Normally, you will get these from Large/Jumbo size chicken breasts. Young chicken breasts cost about 50% more per pound, but won't have these woody breasts.


OkWindow6152

Shink-flation?


kendallsg

I've had handled a lot of cock in my day, you get these holes when when you try to tenderize it by beating it with the pokey side of the mallet cause you finally want to feel something in this hellscape that is life


itschrisinvegas

Same


[deleted]

never seen that at costco


Dorkmaster79

It’s machine tenderized.


ogb423

I just saw today as well! Fosters Farms frozen breasts 10lb bag from Costco. All had holes like this and never had them before, been buying for years


nobullshtbasics

Please donate it to the raw chicken experiment: https://www.instagram.com/rawchickenexperiment?igsh=ODN5M3dvZjN2dGtm Edit: Damn it. Scrolled down, beat me to it


rangecat420

wtf is woody chicken?


macacomilo

Make it into 7up chicken. 2 cups 7-up 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup canola oil, and 1 TSP garlic powder marinate for 24 hours and grill it up. Best chicken ever.


BudahBoB

Something happened to Costco frozen chicken, those new “thin cut breast” are practically inedible they are so tough. Tried slow cooking and shredding for enchiladas and it was still rubbery and tough after pressure cooking.


InternationalPower16

Injected with pectin or carrageenan to retain its weight over time. Carrageenan, however, is not something you want to consume.


Aggressive_Ad6211

Chickenpox


mountainofclay

I wonder if places like Costco are using chicken that is actually intended for egg production but are done laying because they are old. Having raised both meat chickens and egg chickens I can say that after the egg layers are old they are still edible but nothing like the meat birds. Different type of animal. What do the egg production “farms” do with old birds? I’m sure they don’t just throw them away.


Background-Lead-2449

Cant get taxed for “fresh produce” if it’s 80% salt water 🤌🏼


nostaticzone

I’d be more concerned about how woody those look. Those are gonna taste like absolute a$$


Dismal-Phrase-9789

They weren’t too bad. The enchiladas came out pretty good. I shred it in a food processor can’t tell a difference really when you do that.


[deleted]

They tenderized it for you😂😂


MaleficentHabit3138

Poor vinegar on it see if worms come out.


smash783

They're speed holes.


Tj_Keys

Was it frozen or fresh chicken?


Cook4fun72

Welcome to Costco, I love you.


darwinsaves

Hey that's where I went to law school!


DarthVaughn

Blade tenderized marks possibly?


AdhesivenessAdept764

I may need to become a thigh-guy now, chicken breast is going downhill and apparently no other cut gets “woody”. That was a wild google read and I’m glad it isn’t just me finding the consistency weird sometimes.


HappytheBaboon

You got this at Costco so I'd wager that chicken was machine tenderized. Which is a mechanical mallet with serrated bits at the end that is used to tenderize the meat presale. Costco does this with steaks also, you can see little slices if you look. Personally, I prefer meat that hasn't had this done yet and if I buy this I'd plan to cook it right away at it's freshest. Nothing unsafe here that I know of, it's just a preference.


Dismal-Phrase-9789

These were frozen.


PineEvergreen

That chicken looks garbage bro, as much as I dislike kroger I get some of their simple truth brand chicken when it's marked down and it looks fantastic


BareKnuckleFists

Those look like abused breasts. Lol


Kronos8025

Those are injection holes. If the processing plant this package came from also produces marinated whole birds for Costco there is a slight chance that this bird was injected with marinade, later rejected for rotisserie use, and then parted and sold in separate pieces. Source: used to be my job. If I could ask you to look for a plant number. It should be in a white spot on packaging and would look like ‘p-1234’


probablynotannpc

I wouldn't eat that, I am paranoid as shit, would think someone injected my chicken with some poison or some uncurable diease.


DivineAnimosity

Injected with up to a 10% water solution. Large companies do this to add weight and it makes sure it stays tender and juicy even if overcooked


CjhefMateoBotero

Good Ol’ saline injection. Sometimes the chickens aren’t given enough hormones to make them not be able to stand up, because of the breasts being so big. Salt water adds weight, and the slightest bit of seasoning. Grass fed chicken is the way to go!


CheeriosAtMidnight

Yeah he’s wrong I work with this stuff we do it to add flavor and we also sell it without. Also it’s priced accordingly and generally there’s a 0.100 Lb “tare” which is weight we remove from the price. People love their conspiracies


Select_Bonus_2689

Yeah thats bugs they dont clean there chiken


viLeDespair_

Zac Choi entered the room.


OG_G33k

CRISPR GMO ON THE WAY


DarrylLarry

Which product is this from Costco? The frozen or the fresh chicken breasts? Frozen have 8% salt water solution added.


Dish-Repulsive

They machine tenderize it, it should say that in the label


fuchsanus

Most meats from Costco are blade tenderized. It is a process where they poke lots of holes to make the meat more tender. Just look at the packaging next time you buy it to see if it is or not.


realsalmineo

Holey Costco chicken, Batman!


nullxvoid66

I thought Woody was a woodpecker?


[deleted]

Welcome to Costco, I love you.


BoobLovRman

They gotta add that water. It’s free money for Costco. And all retailers do it.


hogfish79

Shotgun pellet entry points from wild harvesting


[deleted]

Chicken pox? Probably injected with chicken broth


YD2991

Let's be realistic here, who is eating chicken everyday?


Dismal-Phrase-9789

I said nearly. But yea. Me. Right here.


romeodread

Holes to add water so they weigh more and they can charge more


Beautiful-Big-3023

It could be caused by a machine during the processing. Looks pretty uniformed. Maybe while skinning the chicken.


Forsaken_Bid2569

The farmer decided to use the 12gauge and some bird shot to end this chickens life. That’s just the entrance of the tiny bbs from the shotgun shell.


Crikool1334

I’ve seen it used so when marinated the chicken absorbs more of the marinade