Mystery Meat is a disparaging term for

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

products, typically ground or otherwise processed, such as burger patties,

chicken nugget A chicken nugget is a food product consisting of a small piece of deboned chicken meat that is breaded or battered, then deep-fried or baked. Invented in the 1950s, chicken nuggets have become a very popular fast food restaurant item, as we ...

Salisbury steak Salisbury steak is a dish originating in the United States and made from a blend of ground beef and other ingredients and usually served with gravy or brown sauce. It is a version of Hamburg steak. Background Hamburg was a common embarkatio ...

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

s, or

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

s, that have an unidentifiable source. Most often the term is used in reference to food served in institutional

cafeteria A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school ...

s, such as

prison food Prison food is the term for meals served to prisoners while incarcerated in correctional institutions. While some prisons prepare their own food, many use staff from on-site catering companies. Some prisons support the dietary requirements of sp ...

or a North American

school lunch A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...

. The term is also sometimes applied to meat products where the species from which the meat has come from is known, but the

cuts of meat A primal cut or cut of meat is a piece of meat initially separated from the carcass of an animal during butchering. Examples of primals include the round, loin, rib, and chuck for beef or the ham, loin, Boston butt, and picnic for pork. Different ...

used are unknown. This is often the case where the cuts of meat used include

offal Offal (), also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but usually excludes muscle. Offal may also refe ...

and

mechanically separated meat Mechanically separated meat (MSM), mechanically recovered/reclaimed meat (MRM), or mechanically deboned meat (MDM) is a paste-like meat product produced by forcing pureed or ground beef, pork, mutton, turkey or chicken, under high pressure thro ...

, or when non-meat substitutes such as

textured vegetable protein Textured or texturized vegetable protein (TVP), also known as textured soy protein (TSP), soy meat, or soya chunks is a defatted soy flour product, a by-product of extracting soybean oil. It is often used as a meat analogue or meat extender. I ...

are used to stretch the meat, where explicitly stating the type of meat used might diminish the perceived palatability of the product to some purchasers.

Use in marketing

In 2016, Nissin, a Japanese food company that produces

Cup Noodles Cup noodle is a registered trademark of Nissin Foods and is known as precooked instant noodle with flavoring powder and/or seasoning sauce sold in a polystyrene, polyethylene, or paper cup. The flavoring can be in a separate packet or loose in t ...

, started to call their ingredients as self-deprecating ''Nazoniku'' (literally Mystery Meat) as part of their official marketing campaign. Nazoniku, or formally known as ''Daisuminchi'' (literally Minced Meat Dice), are made from pork, soybeans and other ingredients.

References

Fast food Criticism of fast food Meat Pejorative terms related to technology Ethically disputed business practices {{meat-stub

Use in marketing

See also

References