BASIC TRAININGJEFF'S EATS
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| Cauliflower Saute |
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| Beef loaf |
THINGS THAT ARE BAD
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| Chicken? This is so Gross |
Today's topic is mechanically separated chicken paste. This is really sick stuff. This is what most baloney, hot dogs, processed meats and most fast food chicken nuggets and chicken burgers are made from. This paste is made of of all the undesirable (normally uneatable) parts of a chicken. Basically, the entire chicken is pressed through a sieve—bones, eyes, guts, everything, and it comes out in this pink paste. This paste is often filled with bacteria (because it's essentially a waste bi-product), so it's then washed with ammonia! Then, if you can believe it, it tastes awful so yummy artificially flavours are added to it as a final touch. And one more thing, it's then died so it resembles chicken and not a strawberry sundae made of chicken parts. Who wants chicken nuggets? Actually, chicken fingers and hot dogs don't have to be made from pink paste. Elana's cookbook has a delicious chicken finger recipe made with real chicken breasts fried in almond flour and oil. And, there's even a 'good for you' hot dog out there, this is one of my favourite creations - split a real chicken sausage down the middle and fill it full of all the fixings. Hot dog without the bun, and without the paste. Yum!
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| Now you know where these come from - Pink paste covered in flour and deep fried |
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| Hot Dog sans pink paste!! |
Yes — it’s true. Poultry is sometimes mechanically separated and when it is, the resulting product is called mechanically separated poultry (MSP). It is NOT true, however, that this is how chicken nuggets are commonly made. The vast majority do not contain MSP. Nuggets are usually made from pieces of white meat and sometimes from a combination of white and dark meat.
ReplyDeleteSome processed meat products, like hot dogs and lunch meat, do contain MSP and this is stated on the ingredient label by law. This process is regulated and inspected by USDA, and if used, is included in the ingredient statement. The entire chicken is NOT pressed through a sieve, nor is it soaked in ammonia.
Even Snopes.com has an entry about the claims in this piece. Anyone who took the time to read the Huffington Post piece should also visit http://bit.ly/b7zg2t and http://bit.ly/cSALAM for the facts.
And read what a food scientist at Penn State has said on the subject: http://meatgeek.org/2010/10/07/mystery-of-the-meat-batter//
I ask that you update your post, instead of fueling a viral internet rumor without checking the facts.
Using technologies like this helps prevent the waste of food, plain and simple. It is just a more technological and economical way of cutting the remaining chicken meat off of the bone.
Tom Super, American Meat Institute
Thanks for your comment and insight Tom. I’m glad we now have the right facts from you. Have you ever made the pumpkin pie crust from Elana’s cookbook?
ReplyDelete