Mechanically Separated Chicken: Pre-McNugget Meat Paste

Mechanically Separated Chicken, from Fooducate, via Early Onset of Night
The photo above is being extensively passed around online today, and for good reason: it's a peak into the rarely-seen world of mechanically separated meat, or Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR).

Fooducate writes:

Someone figured out in the 1960s that meat processors can eek out a few more percent of profit from chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows by scraping the bones 100% clean of meat. This is done by machines, not humans, by passing bones leftover after the initial cutting through a high pressure sieve. The paste you see in the picture above is the result.

Michael Kindt continues:

There's more: because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.

But, hey, at least it tastes good, right?

High five, America!

The resulting paste goes on to become the main ingredient in many of America's favorite mass-produced and processed meat-like foods and snacks: bologna, hot dogs, salami, pepperoni, Slim Jim-like jerkys, and of course the ever-polarizing Chicken McNugget, where the paste from the photo above was likely destined.

Comments

[chrisfilipek]

07:02 PM on 11/15/2010

raw chicken meat is pink.
chickens are for killing and eating.

[C-Ray]

03:29 PM on 10/06/2010

C'mon, Huffington--let's be responsible in our journalistic presentation of the facts: don't link to someone who doesn't know what they're talking about (these processors don't have beaks, guts, eyes and everything else added to them, as Kindt claims. AND MSP is not "washed in" ammonia). Also, even though this process may apply to other types of chicken nuggets, McDonalds McNuggets have been all white meat in America for years.

The process may be subject to criticism, but at least let them be valid critisms. These embellishments are fodder for spam email circulation--not news reporting! I'm pretty disappointed...

http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/msm.asp

[Josh Rachlis]

06:04 PM on 10/06/2010

Ah, thanks for that, C-Ray. Looks like the posting isn't 100% accurate. Always good to hear the rational side of things. Still, the posting is generally correct. And still pretty gross. On the other hand, maybe it's good that we've got a way to get more meat out of an animal. Seems more environmentally-friendly to use as much of each animal as possible, if you're going to kill the thing anyway. But it's sure going to sway me toward the Veggie Lovers pizza rather than the Meat Lovers.

[Voltage]

03:17 PM on 10/06/2010

If they turned it into swimming pool noodles you could snack while you floated.

[cedy]

08:58 PM on 10/04/2010

It looks like the pink panther has been ground up

[ImageCo]

08:13 PM on 10/04/2010

I can say with some certainty that my 4 year old daughter would actually prefer it if McNuggets were pink.

[oxford85]

08:05 PM on 10/04/2010

It's such culinary moments like these, that makes me feel grateful for being allergic to meat!!

[rsheeran]

07:19 PM on 10/04/2010

You know, that pink past looks a little familiar to me......Dad?

[SouthFloridaDem]

07:04 PM on 10/04/2010

It's also a peek into that rarely-seen world ...

[sve]

06:21 PM on 10/04/2010

I'm getting hungry. Is it lunch yet?

[TomUpton]

06:07 PM on 10/04/2010

OK that does it. I am done with the 6peice...it is all fake.
"The revolution will not be televised..."
TEU

[Don Giovanni]

05:56 PM on 10/04/2010

Lordy, Lordy.

[cedy]

05:53 PM on 10/04/2010

mmm mmm good