by winston » Wed Sep 24, 2014 8:09 pm
Mechanically Separated Chicken
With meat prices going up, it looks like "Pink Slime," that hideous meat filler we heard so much about a few years ago will be back on the "menu."
But there's something even more disgusting -- something you've probably never heard about even though it has been in processed food for decades.
And it's something you'll see on food labels, only it's worded in such a way that you would never suspect what it is.
It's called "mechanically separated chicken" and there's a turkey version too. And I'll warn you, it's not pretty.
Mechanically separated poultry is a way for food companies to get every last penny out of chicken and turkey production. And that's about what they sell it for, too.
After most of the meat is removed by hand, the poultry "frames," which is industry lingo for what we would throw away after Thanksgiving dinner, are put in a giant, bone-crushing machine.
The machine spits out a paste-like substance, a kind of "beige slime." It's then sold to some of the biggest brand names in the supermarket. Names like Chef Boyardee, Oscar Mayer, Weight Watcher's, Banquet and Totino's.
So, you're probably wondering what's in this stuff aside from tiny bits of chicken and turkey? The USDA calls it a "blend of soft tissue," but there's more to it, or in it, than that.
There are bone pieces, of course. The ones that don't get filtered out by the giant machine.
And then there are some really "appetizing" extras, like feather particles, hair, lung tissue, kidneys, and...how about some "immature sex glands." That sounds like a great addition to your canned spaghetti or chili!
And mechanically separated poultry can also easily be contaminated with salmonella. Earlier this year almost 40,000 thousand pounds of the chicken version that was on its way to a prison in Tennessee was recalled because of that.
Now this poultry "slime" can turn up in some foods you wouldn't expect. And it's NOT in some of the places you would think it would be, like McDonald's Chicken McNuggets. McDonald's said it no longer uses it.
But lots of food companies still do -- and lucky for us, they must list it on the label.
So next time you see mechanically separated chicken or turkey listed, you'll know exactly what it is.
And that it's just another way for Big Food to put lipstick on a chicken!
Source: HSI
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"