EFFECT OF EXPOSURE OF MEAT AND POULTRY TO CHLORINATED WATER ON THE RETENTION OF CHLORINATED COMPOUNDS AND WATER

ABSTRACT

Pieces of beef, pork and poultry were immersed for 2, 6 and 24 hr in 100 times their weight of water containing 200 ppm chlorine labelled with ³⁶C1. Within 2 hr over 50% of the chlorine had reacted with the meat. Most of the products of chlorination were water-soluble and had leached into the water but small amounts of chlorinated lipids and water-soluble chlorinated compounds were found in the meat. These ranged from 2–3% of the total ³⁶C1 present at 2 hr to 6–8% at 24 hr. Meat treated with chlorinated water was found to increase much more in weight than meat treated with unchlorinated water. Chicken skin was found to absorb more water than lean or fat and increased in weight by 130% after 2 hr in chlorinated water.