Should you be grossed out by 'meat glue?'

mysticweed

:shock:

Transglutaminase, also known as "meat glue," can be used to stick pieces of meat together, or to help bacon, for instance, adhere to meat without toothpicks.

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/ ... -glue?lite

Still reeling from the specter of "pink slime," beef industry officials on Friday fought off another culinary creep-out: “meat glue.”
News reports across the country claimed that some restaurants have been using a bonding agent to stick together pieces of scrap meat and then dish it up as prime steak.

The reports suggested that glued-together meat might pose a food safety hazard if it’s not properly handled and cooked.
Food safety experts and meat and restaurant industry officials told msnbc.com that the story is not so simple.
They said that while so-called “meat glue” is a real product, the outcry is another example of consumers not understanding what’s actually in their food.
“People simply don’t know you’re eating it,” said Michael Batz, food safety risk researcher at the University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute.
“It is illegal to misrepresent one cut of meat as another,” said Joan McGlockton, Vice President for Food Policy of the National Restaurant Association.
Meat glue, an enzyme called transglutaminase, is commonly used in restaurant kitchens, acknowledged Janet Riley, a spokeswoman for the American Meat Institute. But the product, which can bind proteins together, is typically used to avoid wasting high-dollar cuts of meat, such as beef tenderloin, not to cobble together stew meat. It might also be used in place of toothpicks, say, to keep bacon-wrapped beef in place.
Transglutaminase is "generally recognized as safe," said Curtis Allen, an FDA spokesman.
From a consumer food safety standpoint, glued-together pieces of meat might pose the same hazard as any so-called non-intact cut of meat, such as blade-tenderized beef or even ground hamburger.
If the meat weren’t handled properly, someone could transfer bacteria from the outside of the meat to the inside, Phebus said. It would be important to cook the meat thoroughly, to the 160 degrees Fahrenheit recommended for hamburger.
The tricky part is that consumers may not know when they’re being served food with meat glue.
At the grocery store, retailers have to identify so-called “reformed” products and they have to list transglutaminase enzyme as an ingredient.
Restaurants, however, don’t have to list “meat glue” on their menu.

bigguybigeye

Meat's meat, and a man's gotta eat!

brianlux

:thumbdown: I wouldn't feed that stuff to a dog, a cat or a pig let alone myself or my family.

curlygirly9

Yes.

DS1119

Where's the ketchup?

curlygirly9

There is none, but if you cut the glued meat in half, you might be able to see the "seam" :? (only because there is no vomit smiley)