What is this? I bought 8 LARGE cans of canned chicken breast from COSTCO without thinking twice about it...now I read that it contains not only chicken and water but also MODIFIED FOOD STARCH. I'm not sure what kind of filler it is or if I'm allowed to eat it on Atkins..does anyone know? I was planning on making a salad w/ this for dinner, but now I'm not so sure.

Modified food starch is a starch that has been treated physically or chemically to modify one or more of its physical or chemical properties. The "starch" could be from corn, wheat, potato, rice or tapioca--it depends on the manufacturer. By definition, modified food starch must contain less than .5% protein, but, it's up to the manufacturer to abide by that regulation, and there could be an exception.

Doesn't sound like you'd want to consume it. Hope this helps. Happy LCing!!!

"modified food starch" is everywhere ... it's even in baby food

It's usually derived from cornstarch. Depending on the food it's in .. it helps to keep the texture smooth and lump-free, or else it's used to hold water and fat in meat things ... so your can of chicken chunks won't be a few globs of tough chicken meat sitting in buckets of liquid.

It's not harmful or anything like that, but it's definitely a carb that you need to count in your daily total. Like maltodextrin, it's a relatively high-glycemic carb, sort of like white rice. Count the full carbs on the label. If the label says "0 carbs" ... that's because manufacturers are permitted to call anything that's less than 1 gram as zero. In that case, count the chicken as having 1g per serving to be safe. (check the label for serving size)


hth,

Doreen