Robot Butchers?
June 18, 2004 on 5:32 am | In TGIF |
Recently I saw that the package of hot dogs I bought for my kids contained, as the main ingredient: MECHANICALLY SEPARATED CHICKEN. I may not be a rocket scientist, but I felt further investigation was in order. The best explanation of what it is and how it is made can be found in this Robert L. Wolke article (from his Food 101 column in the Washington Post) entitled “Meats Meet Machine.” Wolke warns:
WARNING: The rest of this column is rated R for “Revolting.” Reader discretion is advised.
Essentially, mechanically separated meat is the resulting product of crushing all the parts, pieces and bones through a sieve. Yum.
Of course, if someone invented a machine for doing this…there’s got to be a patent. At least 34 of them containing the words “mechanically separated” and chicken, including “Method of preparing a snack food jerky product,” “Reduced fat meat,” and the enigmatic “Helical food product” (pictured above).
I guess that is what explains why the cheap hot dogs are 1/5 the price of the quality ones. So, as you read labels from now on…think of me. (and yes…I will be no longer feeding my kids foods made by RoboChop).
Bon Appetit!
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3 Comments
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Bummer, I read past the warning… sigh.
Comment by Tim — June 19, 2004 #
What brand of hot dogs contains chicken bone and not random cow parts. That’s just disgraceful on the part of the manufacturer.
Comment by Kevin — June 21, 2004 #
Hmm - Robot Butchers is an interesting application, though not one I am sure I would go with. Although I am not strictly vegetarian - I think that vertical farms http://orionrobots.co.uk/tiki-index.php?page=Vertical%20Farm.
More robot stuff at http://orionrobots.co.uk
Comment by orion — January 31, 2005 #