What if today's cold cuts look like a picture when they have no taste, and when put in the fridge they immediately release water, becoming slippery, inedible. Where are the Polish products famous in the world for their good brand? Read the report to find out what preservatives are hidden in cold meats.

Contents:

  1. How much meat is there in the meat?
  2. Dyes and preservatives in cured meats
  3. Ham sparkling with the colors of the rainbow? What does glowing sausage mean?
  4. Sausage, luncheon meat, sausages - what are they made of?
  5. Quality certificates of cold meats. What kind of meat to buy?

Today's cured meat names are dominated by the following terms: "old Polish", "home", "grandma", because producers refer to tradition to suggest good product quality. In the past, cold cuts were produced by natural methods in small butcher's shops, according to specific recipes, without chemical additives. 10 kg of raw ham produced approx. 8 kg of aromatic, delicious sausage.

Until 2003, Polish Standards were in force, which kept the quality of the products, or at least constituted a point of reference for what a real sirloin or sausage should look like. If 1 kg of meat produced more than 1.3 kg of ham, the product was considered to be "similar" to ham. Today, in accordance with EU law, the quality of products is the responsibility of manufacturers who do not apply any standards. The effect is that only 30-50% of the meat is produced. meat, the rest are protein substitutes and, above all, water. The most "creative" producers use 100 kg of pork to make up to 190 kg of ham. Such products are called high-yielding and they have nothing to do with real cold cuts.

Today's standards only define the permissible amount of individual volumizing additives. But they are so overstated that the manufacturer can do what he wants and we don't know how much water his products contain. It is similar with curing mixes and preservatives, which on the one hand are to speed up production and, on the other hand, protect the meat from spoiling before it reaches the store.

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How much meat is there in the meat?

The quality of a sausage product largely depends on the meat content and the method of production. Traditionally, smoked meats, i.e. cold cuts made from one piece of meat (ham, ham, sirloin, bacon), should be cured in brine and herbal brine (or dry) for up to 48 hours, depending on how large the piece of meat is. However, bets that do this are rare these days.

In large modern processing plants, a curing mixture is injected into the meat, made of water, s alt, spices and the addition of substances that bind with water, increasing the volume and weight of the sausage. Among the thickeners and emulsifiers there are

  • proteins (soy, milk, whey)
  • modified starch (E 1414)
  • bamboo fiber
  • guar gum
  • carrageenan (E 407).

We eat this protein too much, without even knowing it, and it is not always indifferent to he alth - in some it causes allergies and stomach problems. Other "fillers", considered harmless in small doses, can cause allergic reactions and irritate the digestive tract, especially in children.

What products are harmful to he alth? See!

Dyes and preservatives in cured meats

The curing mixture contains nitrates and nitrites (E 249, E 250, E 251, E 250). The sausage is pink in color (normally cooked or baked meat is gray-brown) and protects against botulism. The addition of these substances to food is prohibited in some countries. They can harm, mainly children, the elderly, allergy sufferers, and those with a sensitive digestive system. If we eat a lot of them, nitrosamines are formed in the body, which increases the risk of gastrointestinal cancer.

Our safe nitrate content is determined by taking into account a person weighing 60 kg (150 mg / kg in ham, 175 mg / kg in ham). The more intense the pink-red color the meat has, the more color fixers it has. The flavor enhancer - monosodium glutamate - can cause migraine and allergies in sensitive people. It is a source of sodium, which should be avoided especially by high blood pressure and cashews.

Smoked meats are traditionally tasty and aromatic, but contain harmful compounds formed during the burning of wood. According to the current EU regulations, the permissible content of carcinogenic benzopyrene should not exceed 2 g per 1 kg of the product. Products that do not meet the standard,are to disappear from stores. Industrially produced sausages are smoked with preparations of smoke which are sprayed or injected, or the products are immersed in them. There are no carcinogenic compounds in them.

Worth knowing

Ham sparkling with the colors of the rainbow? What does glowing sausage mean?

The sausage sparkles with the colors of the rainbow? - too much pickling mixture in it. The sausage should not have the "tears" cut - natural products are dry. Read the composition of the product. Pay attention to the amount of meat. The information "homogenized product" or "high-yield" means that 100 kg of meat produced over 135 kg of sausage - it is better not to buy such products. Always follow the rule: the fewer additional ingredients, the better the quality.

Sometimes meat looks as if it has been submerged in a fluorescent liquid. Why can sausage shine? According to the producers, these are … the laws of physics.

In their opinion, the muscle fibers in the muscles are arranged in an orderly manner. These structures lie on the scale of the wavelengths of light, which consequently refracts on them. That is why the muscle is often shimmering and iridescent. Crystallized s alt can enhance this effect even more.

What is the more likely version? Fluorescence can be caused by chemical additives to food and the related changes in pigments in meat.

Sausage, luncheon meat, sausages - what are they made of?

Sausages are made from a meat-fat mass to which a curing substance, a smoke preparation, is added. That is why they usually contain more flavor enhancers than ham or ham. The most "surprises" are hidden in finely ground sausages and homogenized products, e.g. luncheon meat, mortadella, sausages.

They are characterized by the fact that when cut, no pieces of meat are visible, only a uniform, seemingly "lean" mass. They are made of a collagen-fat mass, made of meat scraps, fat, tendons, skins, tripe and chemical fillers that bind water well. They are high in calories and have little meat in them.

Often there are 20 or 10 percent in sausages. meat, and not as it should be - at least 60 percent. The worst quality is that of products which contain MSM ( mechanically separated meat ). It has nothing to do with meat - it's the remains of tissue adjacent to the bones after the muscles are mechanically separated from them. The most fat and chemicals are in:

  • gelatin-bound blocks
  • mielonce
  • mortadeli
  • sausages in a plastic casing

Liver, pate, sausages, headcheese contain inferior types of meat and a large amount of modified starch, soy protein, flour, semolinaand waste remaining from the production of smoked meats and sausages. Brawn is made from the ears and the muscles of the head, which absorb water, creating jelly, and the udder is added to the pate.

The problem is with pies. There are some that, apart from waste, contain no meat at all!

Quality certificates of cold meats. What kind of meat to buy?

It is best to look for ecological products. They are more expensive and tastier, produced in small local butcher's shops using traditional methods (the guarantee is the "Traditional Product" mark, awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development). Or buy meats from reputable companies. Placing a veterinary mark on the label valid throughout the European Union: in the ellipse the letters PL - Poland, WE - European Community and the number indicate that the product was produced in a plant subject to Veterinary Inspection and is under control.

Choose products that:

  • have a distinct natural meat structure (fibers, membranes, veins inside)
  • irregular shape
  • fat fragments

Pieces of meat and fat should be visible in the sausages.

The perfectly even shape (e.g. cylinder) and structure of the sausage prove that it contains a lot of additional substances and little meat. A good sausage has a light brown or gray color (baked hams and loins, white sausages). Avoid pink and pink-red ones, because they contain the most preservatives. If the pink ham has gray spots, it is a sign that it has not been carefully pickled and will spoil quickly.

This will be useful to you

The fewer ingredients in cured meats, the he althier

As in any other food product, the determinant of a good sausage is price. Because it is impossible to produce good ham for PLN 20 and good sausages for PLN 8. A kilogram of ham or sirloin of good quality costs 40-50 zlotys, sausages - about 30 zlotys. Nutritionists emphasize that we will benefit from he alth if we buy a sausage twice as expensive, but half as much. We should not eat cold cuts every day, because red meat, especially pork, provides saturated fatty acids, which increase our bad cholesterol, increase the risk of atherosclerosis, heart disease, and cancer. People who eat a lot of red meat and meat preparations are at a higher risk of colon cancer. Smoked sausages and hams promote the development of stomach cancer. So it's better to bake a piece of meat or a pate at home, but without chemicals, and put it on a sandwich instead of sausage - it's tastier and much he althier!

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