The US Food industry’s dirty little secret: meat glue.
Meat glue allows meat processing facilities to make a ‘franken-meat’ by joining ends of various pieces of meat in order to make a larger piece of meat. This enables them to charge more money as it “lures consumers into believing they are buying a prime cut of meat” when in reality, they are getting scraps put together.
Meat glue is made from byproducts of bovine or porcine blood. Yummy. Why is this bad? Aside from the misleading aspect, when two pieces of meat are hobbled together bacteria has a much better chance of growing. Additionally, because the meat scraps could come from different sources, it could prove difficult to find the source of the bacteria outbreak down to cow or even the farm level.
This meat glue is used in all sorts of products including casing-less hot dogs and sausages, imitation crab meat, processed meats like salami (as a binding agent), and chicken nuggets – the ones with chopped up bits of chicken.
How to avoid meat glue is easy. Buy from farmers’ markets or directly from the farmer. Know the source of your food and what goes into it. Grass-fed and finished cattle are best. If you are having trouble locating a source for grass-fed food, check out http://www.eatwild.com/
