Sodium and Chicken Breast

Tuckersn
Tuckersn Posts: 149
edited September 24 in Food and Nutrition
I buy Costco Foster Farms chicken breast, boneless and skinless. Foster Farms also sells a chicken breast tenders (just not at Costco) =0) . . . the boneless and skinless sodium is 250mg per 4oz of meat, in comparison to the breast tenders that are 75mg per 4oz.

That is a huge difference. Just curious if anyone knew why? There's the same amount of fat, same nutrients mostly . . . just sodium is different. And I'm trying to watch sodium . . . this is a huge part of my daily diet.

Replies

  • darwintheboxer
    darwintheboxer Posts: 51
    Just a guess...they don't inject as much saline solution into the tenders because the cut is smaller/cheaper.
  • chelekaz
    chelekaz Posts: 847 Member
    I've been watching my sodium too as I realized that was an area that I was really messing up big time. Glad I wasn't the only one noticing / wondering that.
  • frostiegurl
    frostiegurl Posts: 708 Member
    Generally the reason the sodium is higher is because they inject the meat with a "flavoring" solution that contains sodium before they freeze it.

    I buy fresh chicken breast when it's on sale or I buy frozen tenders at Trader Joe's because they don't add sodium to their chicken.
  • skeetpea
    skeetpea Posts: 241 Member
    I was curious about this too because I recently purchased some frozen chicken (without checking the label of course) and realized when I went to log it that there was over 400mg of sodium per 4 oz.!!

    This link helped explain it a lot:
    http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/sodium-in-chicken-00412000070041

    I am now more careful about checking both the sodium and calorie count whenever I buy foods but chicken was one thing that I just didn't think would be a problem. There are lower sodium chicken breasts out there, you just have to be looking for them. :)
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    This is interesting. Seems there are at least a couple of different kinds of foster farms chicken breasts at Costco. I get the ones that are in the refrigerated section, and they come in a big pack of 6 or 8 pouches, with 2 breasts in each pouch surrounded by liquid. Then there's some in the frozen section. I think the frozen ones may be brined. Not sure about the refrigerated ones, but now you got me wondering. I need to look at the label next time I go there.
  • delilah514
    delilah514 Posts: 126 Member
    If you are watching sodium intake you are better off buying fresh chicken as they do not inject those with sodium. They do in frozen ones as sodium acts as a preservative. I love how they can ruin something so healthy buy adding nasty stuff like that!
  • Tuckersn
    Tuckersn Posts: 149
    They aren't frozen when I buy them but they are kinda "bulk", since I get quite a bit (gotta love Costco). So perhaps it is just a way to preserve them for longer. I would rather buy smaller amounts, pay a tad more, and get a quarter of the sodium! Thanks for all the answers, and the link (which I will check out as soon as I have time!).
  • portlandsundevil
    portlandsundevil Posts: 213 Member
    I love how they can ruin something so healthy buy adding nasty stuff like that!

    AMEN!!!!!
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    Weird, I was about to reply that the ones I buy have 75mg for the boneless, skinless breasts and 60 for the tenders. The chicken breast "steaks" (larger breasts) have 115mg of sodium. But I also don't buy mine at Costco. I get them in the small packs at the grocery store. So I wonder if Costco has their own breasts and tenders they alter more to keep 'em fresh longer.

    It could also be a location thing, I'm in CA and not too far from where Foster Farms come from, so maybe getting 'em to Oregon requires additional help in the freshness area?
  • rachelbhattacharya
    rachelbhattacharya Posts: 2
    Hey, I just wanted to flag something since I noticed that a lot of people are responding that you should buy fresh chicken to avoid the added sodium...most major producers add a ton of sodium (via a salt solution) to the fresh ones, too, to increase weight and effectively charge more. I was appalled when I realized how much sodium I was consuming just from fresh, boneless/skinless chicken breasts. It never occurred to me to check the sodium since they're labelled all-natural. Here is a link to a great article on the details, and how to spot modified versus unmodified chicken: http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/sodium-in-chicken-00412000070041/
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