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Separated Meat Products
In the meat products industry today, the animal is completely processed, so that all components of the animal can be used in a wide variety of areas of the food industry. Be it the gelatine in fruit juices, the feathers and bristles in pasta or the residual meat adhering to the bones of the animals in meat products. This is what is known as mechanically separated meat. It includes the mechanical removal of the meat that cannot be separated from the bone by hand with a knife. To do this, the meat and the bone are pressed under high pressure through perforated cylinders or separated by centrifuges, so that the meat close to the bone can be "separated" from the bone.
As advantageous and positive as this may sound, the pressing process breaks down the structure of the muscle fibers so that remains of bone, tendons, spinal cord and nerve tissue can be detected in the mechanically separated meat (Kolsarici, Candogan, 2002). Even if it is not considered to be a health risk, the mixture obtained is no longer comparable to normal muscle meat, is also susceptible to germs and has an inferior quality in the meat products, which is mainly aimed at people with a migration background.
Where is Mechanically Separated Meat Used?
The meat close to the bone is used in various processed products, whether in sausage, salami, doner kebab, sosis, sucuk, burgers or other meat products. Depending on the extraction process, mechanically separated meat has a consistency similar to minced meat, tough, pasty or even liquid; Due to the high degree of comminution, it is particularly perishable and may only be used in heat-treated meat products.
Because of the BSE scandal, extraction from beef leftover meat is prohibited in Europe. For this reason, the bones with the attached meat from pigs or poultry, such as chicken or turkey, are used for the production of MSM. 88% of the mechanically separated meat obtained in Europe comes from poultry and the remaining 12% from pigs (LGL Bayern, 2014).
Mechanically separated meat is not legally considered meat and therefore falls under the regulation of “substitute ingredients” in the EU Food Information Regulation. Therefore, there is a declaration obligation for the mechanically obtained meat, so that the use and the respective animal species of the mechanically separated meat must be clear to the consumer.
However, in numerous meat products, which are offered primarily in Turkish grocery stores, the proportion of mechanically separated meat is so high that the trade name of a product would have to be explicitly "Merified meat meat sausage" for instance.
For the manufacturer and the Turkish food wholesale and retail trade, this represents a practical alternative to muscle meat, it is cost-effective and economically more advantageous. But how ethical is it to foist this mass of meat and bones on consumers, especially those with a migration background, under a wide variety of names?
It should be noted that products containing mechanically separated meat are a phenomenon of the predominantly Turkish food trade. Such products are not listed in the German food trade because the buyers of the food chains pay meticulous attention to the ingredients and compliance with the guidelines for meat and meat products. A manufacturer of products containing mechanically separated meat and would openly admit to it would also quickly become insolvent, since German consumers would not buy the products and the damage to the image of the retail trade would be very great. The producers of mechanically separated meat products are therefore mostly located in other European countries and primarily only produce for consumers with a migration background.
The following is just a small list of those brands and products that contain mechanically separated meat (the respective numbers after the product names indicate the mechanically separated meat content):
- AFIYET: Tavuk Salam (Meat Mash Sausage with Beef, 45%), Tavuk Dilim (Meat Mash Product, 45%+25%), Sigirli Sosis (Meat Mash Sausage with beef with potato starch, 41%)
- ALADIN: Aladilim Zeytinli (with olives, 30%)
- DESTAN: Tavuk Sosis (chicken separator meat product with wheat flour, 56%), Parmak Sucuk (Turkish style garlic sausage, 55g), Hindi Sosis (chicken sausage with turkey meat and starch, 52%)
- ESMA: Sucuk (chicken and beef garlic sausage, 55g)
- FULYA: Tavuk sosis (Chicken Sausage with Mechanically Separated Chicken, 63%), Izgara Sosis (Chicken Sausage with Turkey, 38%), Tavuk Salam (Meat Sausage Style Product, 55%)
- LEZIZ: Tavuk Salam (chicken sausage with wheat flour, 37%)
- ÖZMIRAC: Mini Sucuk 20%, Tavuk sosis, Sigir sosis, Sade salam, Tavuk Dilim Salam
- ÖZYÖREM: Yumurcak Cocktail Sosis (mini chicken mechanically separated meat product with beef and wheat flour, 57%), Kangal Sucuk (Turkish-style garlic sausage), Sade Dilim Salam (poultry meat product with mechanically separated meat and potato starch, meat sausage-style, 30%)
- SELAM: Yavru Sosis (Mini Chicken Sausages with Mechanically Separated Chicken and Beef, 57%), Yavrum Wiener Sosis (Chicken Sausages with Mechanically Separated Chicken, 51%), Jumbo Sosis 7%
- ŞÖLEN: Doyum Sucuk (chicken garlic sausage 55g)
- TAMTÜRK: Sığırlı Haşlamalık Tavuk sosis (Finely minced boiled sausage for scalding, made from chicken separator meat with beef, 70%)
- TUNA: Dilimli Tavuk Salam (Product of Chicken Mover, 72%), Tavuk Salam (Product of Chicken Mover, 71%)
- YEDOY: Hindi Salam (Boiled Sausage, 65%)
Individual Proofs
Reference
- Kolsarici Nuray, Candogan Kezban: Quality Characteristics and uses of mechanically deboned meat, 2002. Ankara
- Bayrisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit (LGL Bayern): Separatorenfleisch, 2014