“I saw in a store grocery ad something about ‘Air Chilled Chicken’. What is that?”*
These chickens are fed a vegetable grain diet. They have not been given any chemicals, hormones, or antibiotics. They are killed, hand plucked and gutted. Then hung up and spray rinsed and air dried or chilled. They don't come in contact with water again.
A little more on the Air Chilling process……during the traditional water-chilling process, chickens are slaughtered, cleaned, inspected, and the carcasses are immersed in often-chlorinated water below 40° F. The chickens are moved by paddles through the chill tank from 45 minutes to an hour to bring down their internal temperature to 40° F. After the optimum temperature is reached, the birds are pushed out of the tank and onto a shake table — and then to a drip line to shed excess water that was absorbed during the cooling process. Finally, the chickens are either packed whole or cut up into pieces.
In air chilling, chickens are suspended or sent by conveyor through two large chilling chambers and blasted with icy air. The first chamber reduces about 75 percent of the bird’s heat. The second chamber balances the 32° F to 34° F degree range.
A study by the University of Nebraska relays that air-chilled chicken have bacteria counts up to 80-percent lower than water-chilled chickens, extending its shelf life. Water-chilled chicken has whiter skin and a juicier flesh; air-chilled chicken has creamy-looking skin, a firmer texture, and shrinks less when cooked. Both chickens contain the same nutritional value.
