Pass the Salt

Interesting, the fuss over transglutaminase (the food industry enzyme used to stick proteins together). Sue Kedgley’s complaint to the Commerce Commission – that glueing two pieces of meat together and selling it as a single piece is deceptive – has confronted us with the idea that this sort of thing is common practice.

The meat industry begs to differ. Brent Slater, CEO of Beef + Lamb NZ, says transglutaminase is only used to glue top-and-tailed tenderloins together to create consistent sized portions for restaurants. That may be so in the world of beef and lamb,  but a quick google search reveals chicken nuggets, crab sticks and other reconstituted protein foods make use of the enzyme. Presumably it’s all on the label.

From a food safety point of view, it appears to be GRAS (Generally Recognised as Safe) but whether it’s done for portion control or to make something ‘palatable’ out of scraps, it’s an unnatural thing to do to food. And  it’s not just being used by food processors.  Molecular gastronomes have used it to stick chicken skin to fish and make noodles out of shrimps. Or – in a piece from the NY Times – how about sticking a fish back together after it has been boned? (Why would you do that?)

On a lighter note. The news stories about glueing meat together came just as I was cottoning on to the latest trend for meat that’s been pulled apart. In Wellington I’ve had slow-cooked pulled lamb, and just the other night at the Roxy, a bun stuffed with delicious five-spiced pulled-pork. “What’s pulled-pork?”, asked my daughter who later came up with her own version….

Pulled Pork, by Maddie Tait-Jamieson