Pink slime, meat glue, and other dirty little meat secrets
A few months ago, the idea of eating “lean finely textured beef” probably seemed appealing. Lean beef? That sounds good. And the texture is fine? Okay! Fire up the grill!
But when ABC News broke the story of LFTB, they used the less formal name for this meat filler: “pink slime.”
And it was all downhill from there.
Many grocery store chains immediately banned LFTB, even though they’d used it for years.
During this uproar, I couldn’t help but think: “This is not the only scandalous secret of meat prep. It’s not even the worst of it.”
A few years ago I told you about “modified atmosphere packaging.” With MAP, gasses help preserve meat. One of those gasses is carbon monoxide. It helps give the slime, er…I mean “meat” a fresh red color.
That’s right — carbon monoxide. In your LFTB-enhanced ground beef! Yum!
The newest revelation of meat trickery is transglutaminnase. Meat preparers refer to it as “meat glue.”
This “glue” is just an enzyme that permanently bonds proteins. So, for instance, you can take two scraps of meat and bond them into a larger portion. The bond is seamless, so customers like us never know.
But some meat producers get creative with meat glue. They might take beef scraps and form them in the shape of filet mignon. Presto! Meat scraps that would sell for next-to-nothing become high-priced, “gourmet” cuts.
All this makes me wonder what other meat surprises are in store. Chances are, we’ve only scratched the surface of dirty little meat secrets.
Want to avoid slime and glue in your meat? Find a good old-fashioned butcher and watch him cut it himself.
Sources:
“Meat Glue: Pink Slime’s Classier Cousin” Andrew Tarantola, Gizmodo, 5/2/12, gizmodo.com
