Guess What's In The Picture [Foodlike Substance]

Is it strawberry ice cream? Pre-processed plastic foam? Is it possible that it's chicken? For the squeamish among us, avoid this all too enlightening exploration of enigma edibles.
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A) Strawberry ice cream

B) Chicken

C) Plastic foam

D) None of the above

Answer below.

What you need to know:

Folks, this is mechanically separated chicken, an invention of the late 20th century. Someone figured out in the 1960's that meat processors can eek out more profit from chickens, turkeys, pigs and cows by scraping the bones 100% clean of meat. This is achieved using 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.

This paste goes on to become the main ingredient in many a hot dog, bologna, chicken nuggets, pepperoni, salami, jerky etc...

The industry calls this method AMR -- Advanced Meat Recovery.

In 2004, as a result of mad cow disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) ruled that beef could no longer be processed this way, because testing showed that parts of the bovine central nervous system ended up in the meat.

As for products using mechanically separated chicken and pork, FSIS ruled that they are safe to eat, but required them to be labeled as such.

Despite them being safe, FSIS states that no more than 20% of the meat in a hot dog come from mechanically separated pork.

What to do at the supermarket:

It's always a better choice to see a real cut of meat at the butcher counter in the supermarket and then decide what you want done with it. Buying something prepared in a factory, such as chicken nuggets or hot dogs, you'll always get the worst meat, and it will always be combined with additives and other sources of fat.

More Guessing at Pictures at the Fooducate Blog.

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