News today: Meats injected w/ Carbon Monoxide to Keep Them Pink

[livingthelife]

*my italics*

For many meat eaters the proof is in the pink. They use the meat's color as a guideline to determine the food's freshness. But, many meat manufacturers actually inject the food with carbon monoxide to give it that fresh, reddish-pink look. The carbon monoxide binds with a pigment in the meat and keeps the colors vibrant and red.

Japan and Canada along with many other countries in Europe, have banned the use of carbon monoxide in meat. The US Congress is debating whether the producers should be allowed to continue the process in the United States.

Consumers who are unsure whether their grocery store allows carbon monoxide-treated meat and no longer want to use color as a freshness indicator do have other, safer options.

They should look for the freshness date. The meat also should feel springy to the touch and the fat should be white, not yellow in color.

Finally, the best sign of spoiled meat happens once the package is opened. Spoiled meat smells bad and has a slimy texture.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=3863064&page=1

[TylerDurden]

The trouble with the above advice is that healthy grassfed fat is supposed to be yellowish not white - grainfed fat is usually white, except, presumably, for CO-treated grainfed fat.

But it's interesting, thanks. I'll post this on the  rawpaleodiet yahoo group.

[livingthelife]

Yes, that's why I put in the italics, meaning it was inaccurate advice - I wasn't clear, however, so thanks for noting that!

[Nicola]

The trouble with the above advice is that healthy grassfed fat is supposed to be yellowish not white - grainfed fat is usually white, except, presumably, for CO-treated grainfed fat.

I don't know about yellow

http://www.grasslandbeef.com/-strse-Beef-Variety-Meats-cln-Beef-Tallow-Shortening/Categories.bok

The sheep I see are eating grass all day long and I have never had yellow fat from them!

[Sully]

I don't know about yellow

http://www.grasslandbeef.com/-strse-Beef-Variety-Meats-cln-Beef-Tallow-Shortening/Categories.bok

The sheep I see are eating grass all day long and I have never had yellow fat from them!

Maybe its grain finished? I once seen pictures of wild deer meat. The fat seemed whitish, but white tailed deers are foragers not grazers. Although, I think some people put out feeding post for deer that contain grain such as corn. However, I think it is illegal in some places to feed the deers, because they say it spreads disease.

[Raw Kyle]

The suet I get from Slankers looks white to me and they say their animals are 100% grass fed and finished. Maybe it would appear yellow next to suet from a grain fed animal, but to my eyes it looks more white than yellow and I'd call it white if you asked me.

[Dan]

Besides diet, the color of the fat also depends on the species.

Does anyone here get deer/elk, etc. from an area with no agriculture?  I'm curious about the amount and color of the fat, since I'm not sure if local deer are finding any real amount of grain or not.


I recently went shopping for the first time at a supermarket in big city.  I saw this horribly-fake-colored meat and stared slack-jawed.  This was followed by laughter when I saw the prices for meat that even wal-mart would be ashamed to carry.

[avalon]

It was a little over two years ago that I first heard of injected meat. I was eating Wai and although they don't recommed raw beef, I was experimenting. I noticed, while at Walmart, it actually said on the label injected with a something percent solution to maintain color and blah blah blah. UGH! I know, after that, I didn't buy Walmart meat. And made sure to ask at my local Publix if their meat was treated.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/enhancedmeat.html

Just some good info on what enhanced meat means