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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 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 quantit ...
,
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 ...
,
mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...
,
turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
or
chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
, under high pressure through a
sieve A sieve, fine mesh strainer, or sift, is a device for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet materia ...
or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue. It is sometimes called white slime as an analog to meat-additive
pink slime Pink slime (also known as lean finely textured beef or LFTB, finely textured beef, or boneless lean beef trimmings or BLBT) is a meat by-product used as a food additive to ground beef and beef-based processed meats, as a filler, or to reduc ...
and to meat extracted by
advanced meat recovery Advanced meat recovery (AMR) is a slaughterhouse deboning process by which the last traces of skeletal muscle meat are removed from animal bones after the primal cuts have been carved off manually. The machinery used in this process separates mea ...
systems, both of which are different processes. The process entails pureeing or grinding the carcass left after the manual removal of meat from the bones and then forcing the slurry through a sieve under pressure. This puree includes bone, bone marrow, skin, nerves, blood vessels, and the scraps of meat remaining on the bones. The resulting product is a blend primarily consisting of tissues not generally considered meat along with a much smaller amount of actual meat (muscle tissue). In some countries such as the United States, these non-meat materials are processed separately for human and non-human uses and consumption. The process is controversial; ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'', for example, called it a "not-so-appetizing meat production process". Mechanically separated meat has been used in certain meat and meat products, such as
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 bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...
s and
bologna sausage Bologna sausage, informally baloney ( ), is a sausage derived from the Italian mortadella, a similar-looking, finely ground pork sausage, originally from the city of Bologna (). Typical seasonings for bologna include black pepper, nutmeg, ...
, since the late 1960s. However, not all such meat products are manufactured using an MSM process.


History

The practice of mechanically compiling leftover meat scraps dates to the 1950s when hand tools were developed to help remove the remaining pieces of meat and fascia from animal carcasses to minimize waste. Primarily MSM was developed and produced in countries whose agriculture was human conducted and because of it likely were unable to provide mass quantities of regularly processed meat for widespread and affordable consumption. By the 1960s, machines changed from manual operation to automatic operation. This change allowed meat company owners to use meat scraps and sell them to people for a price lower than the price of normal cut meat. During the 1970s these techniques became more common in other parts of the world as well. In addition to poultry slaughterhouses being new to the market, other newcomers recognized the financial gains mechanically separated meat processing provided. Eastern European countries, especially, are known for their import of frozen chicken MSM. In the 1950s mechanically separated meat was mostly used as a raw material for the production of hot dogs. Currently, luncheon meats, burgers, and
mortadella Mortadella () is a large Italian sausage or luncheon meat ('' salume'' ) made of finely hashed or ground heat-cured pork, which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig). It is tradi ...
are regularly made from MSM.


Safety and regulation

In the United States, mechanically separated poultry has been used in poultry products since 1969, after the National Academy of Sciences found it safe. Questions about safety arose in the 1980s, leading to a 1982 report by the U.S.
Food Safety and Inspection Service The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that United States' commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg pro ...
(FSIS) which concluded that mechanically separated meat is safe and established a
standard of identity Standards of identity for food are mandatory requirements that are set by a governing body to determine what a food product must contain to be marketed under a certain name in allowable commerce. Mandatory standards, which differ from voluntary grad ...
. Some restrictions were put in place, however, to limit intake of certain components, such as
calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar ...
, which are higher in mechanically separated meat than in other meat products. These affect what types of products which can contain mechanically separated meat, as well as how much. For example,
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 bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...
s may contain mechanically separated pork, but no more than 20% of the final product. Additionally, ingredient lists must label mechanically separated meats as such. In 1996 a final rule, published by the
Food Safety and Inspection Service The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that United States' commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg pro ...
of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
in the
Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on fede ...
(see 60 FR 55962), took effect. It stated that mechanically separated poultry must be labeled, but is safe to use without restriction. Significant restrictions were, however, placed on mechanically separated beef due to concerns about
bovine spongiform encephalopathy Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and invariably fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of t ...
(BSE), commonly known as "mad cow disease". Ultimately, products with mechanically separated beef were prohibited for human consumption: Concerns over BSE first arose, however, in 1986 in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. Since mechanically separated beef often contained small amounts of
spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the sp ...
tissue, which can carry the BSE
prion Prions are misfolded proteins that have the ability to transmit their misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein. They characterize several fatal and transmissible neurodegenerative diseases in humans and many other animals. It i ...
, consuming mechanically separated meat from bovine carcasses carried an increased risk of transmitting BSE to humans. The United Kingdom tightened restrictions multiple times starting in 1989, to decrease the risk of spinal cord tissue getting into mechanically separated bovine meat. In the mid-1990s the UK banned mechanically separated meat from cattle backbone, which was expanded to include backbone from any ruminant in 1998, and any ruminant bone in 2001. Since then, the sale of any mechanically separated beef for human consumption has been prohibited.


See also

* Specified risk material (SRM) *
Potted meat food product A potted meat food product is a food preserved by canning and consisting of various seasoned cooked meats, often puréed, minced, or ground, which is heat-processed and sealed into small cans. This is different from potted meat, an older nonco ...
*
Lena Groeger Lena Groeger is an American investigative journalist, graphic designer and news application developer at ProPublica. She creates data visualizations and interactive databases on a variety of subjects, including education, politics and healthcare. ...
: science journalist who compared meat textures generated by different mechanical procedures


References


External links


Snopes.com MSP discussion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mechanically Separated Meat Meat industry Intensive farming