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So last week I talked about people who are a little bit afraid of cooking with squash, especially Fall and Winter varieties with hard shells and odd shapes. Personally, I think the fear is a little unfounded because I adore such sweet gourds, which are in my kitchen all the time. But let me tell you about something I’m genuinely afraid of. Terrified. Disgusted.
I am frightened to sickness over processed meat products, and it’s a fear I can back up with solid factual and photographic evidence. Photos like this.
Photo via Early Onset of Night
The strawberry ice cream goop you see above is “mechanically separated chicken,” which makes up all fast-food chicken nuggets and patties as well as processed, frozen chicken found in consumer stores. (Even the dinosaur ones at Costco. Sorry.) The “product” — because in my opinion, it can no longer be called simply meat — is made by taking what was previously unused parts of the carcass and passing it through a sieve, tendons and eyes and all. To get rid of the bacteria, which is inevitable when some of the digestive system of the chicken is included, the mixture is then soaked in ammonia. That removes flavor, so artificial flavors come next. Lastly, because no one wants to eat a strawberry-pink chicken nugget, it’s artificially dyed.
Jamie Oliver did a great demonstration of the process for school kids on his show “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” that you can view on YouTube here.
Yum, am I right? I don’t think anyone can salivate at mechanically separated chicken. Disgust aside, such processed and artificial products are downright unhealthy and unsafe. It’s the sort of product nutritionists are pointing toward when they say, “there is no food in your food.” Does your body naturally recognize this as food and use it efficiently for energy? No. However, can chicken nuggets make you fat, contribute to heart disease and more? Of course.
It’s not only chicken that goes through this “advanced meat recovery” process. Pork and beef also have been, though it’s now illegal for the latter: In 2004, as a result of mad cow disease , the USDA halted the process because testing showed that parts of the bovine central nervous system ended up in the meat. (Source)
I talk a lot on this blog about why to buy local. To sum up: You support the local economy, you support sustainable farming, you avoid additives/hormones/antibiotics, and you eat more delicious, fresh food. But there is also the fear. When I buy local meat from a source I know and trust, I can be sure that what I put in my body is real food, whole food, food that will nourish rather than hurt my body. We particularly love the meats found at Ranch Foods Direct, where they can tell me exactly what ranch/farm my meat came from, it’s processed on site where I buy it by local people and it’s clearly labeled what is in every package. (No, they don’t pay me. I just love them.)
But even if you don’t buy local, deeply consider buying from the butcher instead of the drive through or the frozen foods section — for you, for your family as well as to teach meat producers that this kind of processing is just downright wrong.
Craving some chicken nuggets? Try out our recipe for Oven-Baked Chicken with Honey Mustard. It’s fast and easy and no member of the family will ever complain about the healthy substitution. In fact, it’s a huge favorite around our house. (To make them even faster, construct them in advance, flash-freeze them, then store them in a ziploc for a dinner that can be thawed anytime.)
