Coping with a fear of functional meats

Yum! Grab a plate and tie your napkin around your neck. We are serving up a whopping helping of functional meats.

Sounds delicious!

Umm…not to me. In fact, just the phrase “functional meats” scares me.

Nevertheless, development of fortified and functional meats is shaping up to be a promising sector of the functional foods industry. But according to NutraIngredients, U.S. regulations are getting in the way.

The problem, according to one food expert, is “in the definition of what meat is.”

Only the FDA (and possibly Bill Clinton) could get bogged down over the definition of meat.

You see, in the U.S., when omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients are added to meat, current regulations say it can’t be called meat anymore.

The sad thing is that decades ago, poultry and cattle grazed and ate the things they desired. They didn’t live on dirty, overcrowded factory farms. They weren’t given hormones and antibiotics. And their meat was naturally rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

Just treat animals well and feed them right and you’ll get all the “function” you’ll ever need from meat.

To your good health,

Jenny Thompson

Sources:
“Regulations preventing functional meat advance?” Nathan Gray, NutraIngredients-USA, 10/5/10, nutraingredients-usa.com