Does Pilgrim's Pride Use Peracetic Acid as a Chicken Wash?
Does Pilgrim's Pride Use Peracetic Acid as a Chicken Wash? No current company-wide statement establishing either use or avoidance was found in the sources reviewed.
A July 2010 report says the Boaz and Russellville, Alabama, plants converted to peroxyacetic acid (peracetic acid, or PAA) for Russia exports after Russia banned chicken processed with chlorinated water. That two-plant export history does not establish current US-market treatment. A June 2025 report of a peracetic-acid container spill during transport at Cold Spring, Minnesota, establishes chemical presence there, not a carcass-wash method. Keep your own package’s establishment number and look for a producer disclosure covering that product. Until that evidence identifies the food-contact treatment, the current answer remains unresolved. The brand name alone cannot supply it.
How to identify the inspected plant from your chicken package
The separate question: is Pilgrim’s Pride chicken chlorine washed?
Pilgrim’s Pride chilling evidence and its historical limits
The dated export report and the spill do not identify every current package’s treatment. This review does not measure residues or establish dietary health outcomes.
Chlorine-washed chicken FAQ: all questions answered
Sources
Related questions
Which replacement rinses did the 2010 Russia-export report name?
Under that 2010 Russia-export agreement, the report listed cetylpyridinium chloride, peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide as permitted replacements. That dated list does not establish a current company-wide policy or a particular package’s treatment.
Does the Cold Spring spill prove Pilgrim’s washes chicken with PAA?
No. The June 2025 report establishes chemical presence at that Minnesota facility and describes sanitation context. A spill during transport does not identify use as a carcass wash.