A reconstituted meat, meat slurry, or emulsified meat is a liquefied

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 ...

product that contains fewer fats, pigments and less

myoglobin Myoglobin (symbol Mb or MB) is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and in almost all mammals. Myoglobin is distantly related to hemoglobin. Compared to hemoglobin, myoglobi ...

than unprocessed

dark meat In culinary terms, white meat is meat which is pale in color before and after cooking. In traditional gastronomy, ''white meat'' also includes rabbit, the flesh of milk-fed young mammals (in particular veal and lamb), and sometimes pork. In ecotro ...

s. Meat

slurry A slurry is a mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. The most common use of slurry is as a means of transporting solids or separating minerals, the liquid being a carrier that is pumped on a device such as a centrifugal pu ...

is more malleable than dark meats and eases the process of meat distribution as pipelines may be used. Meat slurry is not designed to sell for general consumption; rather, it is used as a meat supplement in food products for humans, such as

chicken nuggets 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 ...

, and food for domestic animals.

Poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...

is a common meat slurry.

Beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

and

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

are also used.

Properties and production

The characteristics of dark meat from poultry; such as its color, low plasticity, and high fat content; are caused by

, a pigmented chemical compound found in muscle tissue that undergoes frequent use. Because domestic

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...

rarely fly, the flight muscles in the breast contain little

and appear white. Dark meat which is high in myoglobin is less useful in industry, especially

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

, because it is difficult to mold into shapes. Processing dark meat into a slurry makes it more like white meat, easier to prepare. The meat is first finely ground and mixed with water. The mixture is then used in a

centrifuge A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby separating fluids of different densities (e.g. cream from milk) or ...

or with an

emulsifier An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Altho ...

to separate the fats and

from the muscle. The product is then allowed to settle into three layers: meat, excess water, and fat. The remaining liquefied meat is then flash-frozen and packaged.

References

{{Reflist

External links

UGA scientist takes dark out of chicken meat

BBC News: Junk Food to be Banned in Schools
Meat Fast food Meat industry

Properties and production

See also

References

External links