In the Spirit of Sankofa and Update!
Meat Glue: It’s Everywhere, But We Don’t Know It
A succulent slice of foie gras. Makes your mouth water? But that perfect round shape was produced with an enzyme called transglutaminase - meat glue.
The more I learn about meat glue, the more cheated I feel. Since there’s no law ensuring that I be informed, I could be absorbing blood-clotting enzyme without suspecting it. Transglutaminase is said to be used in meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, pasta, and bread. A post on the Cooking Issues blog, which we quoted in our previous post about meat glue, seems to be the main information resource for the layman. Labels certainly aren’t telling.
Safety isn’t uppermost in consumer’s minds. The outrage which lead to meat glue being banned in the E.U. focused on paying premium prices for inferior foods. Yet how much of the blood-clotting enzyme gets into the bloodstream through the skin – a concern for food workers – or through the mucous membranes when we put glued food in our mouths? Nobody knows.
Meat glue is applied to all kinds of foods, not only meat, poultry and fish. It’s an agent appreciated by the dairy industry because it thickens yogurt and cheese at less cost. According to a study published by the Entrepreneur blog.
A chill went through me as I watched the hour-long video. I saw, with rising disgust, a pale slab of chicken stock that flapped in Dufresne’s hand as if made of rubber. The audience, all sciences students, watched in rapt fascination. Nobody seemed to be thinking how unnatural it is to eat synthetically transformed food.
http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/03/meat-glue-is-everywhere/
Meat Glue: It’s Everywhere, But We Don’t Know It
A succulent slice of foie gras. Makes your mouth water? But that perfect round shape was produced with an enzyme called transglutaminase - meat glue.
The more I learn about meat glue, the more cheated I feel. Since there’s no law ensuring that I be informed, I could be absorbing blood-clotting enzyme without suspecting it. Transglutaminase is said to be used in meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, pasta, and bread. A post on the Cooking Issues blog, which we quoted in our previous post about meat glue, seems to be the main information resource for the layman. Labels certainly aren’t telling.
Safety isn’t uppermost in consumer’s minds. The outrage which lead to meat glue being banned in the E.U. focused on paying premium prices for inferior foods. Yet how much of the blood-clotting enzyme gets into the bloodstream through the skin – a concern for food workers – or through the mucous membranes when we put glued food in our mouths? Nobody knows.
Meat glue is applied to all kinds of foods, not only meat, poultry and fish. It’s an agent appreciated by the dairy industry because it thickens yogurt and cheese at less cost. According to a study published by the Entrepreneur blog.
A chill went through me as I watched the hour-long video. I saw, with rising disgust, a pale slab of chicken stock that flapped in Dufresne’s hand as if made of rubber. The audience, all sciences students, watched in rapt fascination. Nobody seemed to be thinking how unnatural it is to eat synthetically transformed food.
http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/03/meat-glue-is-everywhere/