With the start of the football season, Aggies are revving up for the delicious treats and meals that come with tailgating. To keep nutrition and health in mind this game season, Sanderson Farms has launched "Sack the Sodium."
The program aims to help sports fans create healthier tailgating menus with lower sodium recipes.
One easy way to keep tailgating cuisine healthier is to begin with low sodium ingredients, noted a Sanderson Farms press release. This is true even when considering buying chicken meat.
Consumers spend nearly $40 billion on chicken a year. Studies have shown that certain poultry corporations inject the chicken meat with saltwater and other additives for flavor and to increase the weight of the meat.
Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride, the largest chicken processor in the United States, prints on labels the poultry is 100 percent natural. However, written in the smaller print, about half of the chicken the company sells is "enhanced with up to 15 percent chicken broth."
To enhance a piece of chicken is to inject the meat with broth, salt, or carrageenan, a type of seaweed extract.
"Chicken should be sold the way it's found in nature and not with added ingredients such as salt water and broth," said Sanderson Farms Public Relations Account Manager Danielle Storm. "It's kind of deceitful- people think they're eating something healthy and that's not necessarily true."
The United States Department of Agriculture allows poultry meat to be labeled "all natural" even though it may be enhanced by artificial ingredients or fillers.
From the package, a single serving of enhanced chicken, about four ounces, may contain more than 440 milligrams of sodium. Pumped chicken has more sodium than a large order of fast food fries with 350 milligrams of sodium or a bag of potato chips with 180 milligrams, according to the Truthful Labeling Coalition.
A serving of chicken, which contains no additives or artificial ingredients, contains about 70 milligrams of naturally occurring sodium. For those on a low-sodium diet, a serving of saltwater enhanced chicken, before seasoning and preparation, may be more than half of the daily allowance of sodium.
To monitor sodium intake, tailgaters should check the labels of food they buy, said Texas AgriLife Extension Service Registered Dietitian Mary Bielamowicz.
"A healthy person should eat 2300 milligrams of sodium a day-a teaspoon of salt- and only 1500 milligrams for people with hyper tension or high blood pressure," Bielamowicz said.
Sanderson Farms has created a Web site http://SacktheSodium.com to educate people on the nutritional facts of their chicken and provide hundreds of recipes for healthier meals and budget saving tailgating tips.
"We would love for fans to get on there and find out what tailgating recipes can help them eat healthier," said Sanderson Farms Public Relations Account Manager Emily Crouch. "There are food related tips and budget tips to save time and money."
Sack the Sodium is really informative, said tailgater and freshman finance major Allie Mosley.
"I didn't even know there was such a thing called enhanced chicken," Mosley said. "My family has a risk of heart attacks, and I always look for low-salt foods, so I'm glad that Sanderson Farms is letting people know about how much sodium is in their foods to help the consumers make the right choice."
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