Meet Meat Glue

Imagine another huge consumer scare happening to the beef industry that could equal if not surpass lean finely textured beef (LFTB) or "pink slime." 

Well "meat glue" is a relatively new issue in the media to American consumers, but Australians have been dealing with this problem for at least a full year as the following news story outlines:

The meat glue debate popped up in the news recently in Pittsburgh when this story was ran on the evening news.

Here is some transglutaminase in it's packaged form.

Since the story in Pittsburgh got out it has hit mainstream websites like Yahoo! and a similar story was reported in San Francisco which was picked up by the Huffington Post.

The proper name for "meat glue" is transglutaminase, which is a naturally occurring enzyme derived from animal blood. Transglutaminase is used to bind small cuts of meat to make a larger, more expensive cut of meat that resembles typical primal cuts.

While there are health concerns from commingling meat that has potentially been exposed to harmful bacteria, the risk is minimal if the meat is cooked to the appropriate temperature. 

Filet mignon is popular at restaurants, but for how much longer?

The larger concern for the meat industries in the United States and Australia is calling a cut of meat something it is not. Restaurants are making fraudulent claims by calling stew meats that could be cut from many parts of a carcass a filet mignon.

This practice does add value to smaller cuts of filet mignon, but is the monetary value gained worth the black eye it could cause for the meat and restaurant industries? 

You can bet this is not the last you will hear about this story and hopefully this does not become another public relations nightmare like LFTB.

Until next time, happy trails!