additives everywhere!

[livincountry]

Glad to see the thoughts generated on this one. I regularly visit a nutritionist and he subscribes to the belief that many processed foods contain "stuff" not normally in food. Heavy metals are one group of items in food today. Each person's system handles that "stuff" differently. As someone alluded to earlier; two people can consume the same foods year after year, one dies from heart disease at age 40 and the other lives to be 80. I found it odd that I had to thoroughly review the label to find the sodium injection in the pork roast. This injection, acording to the label, was to enhance flavor not as a preservative but it makes sense that it does both. It reminds me of hot house tomatoes; plenty of size but no taste.

Even in 1900 the life expectancy was 47 years old on average. I think that had more to do with wearing out your body rather than dying of a disease not diagnosed but it's anyone's guess. There are some schools of thought that kids today will be dying of heart disease at a very young age due to inactivity, sugar intake, etc. There's also some thought that kids developing at a younger age is attributed to the growth hormones in our meat supply.

Lots of variables. This all reminds me of the old guy that said. "If I knew I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself." You just never know...

 

[Bird]

the old guy that said. "If I knew I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself."

Hey, are you talking about me? I guess I'm a bit like Eddie Walker in that I eat whatever I want to eat, and since I like variety, I don't think I know anyone who eats as much variety as I do; never paid any attention to "diets". And in fact, now that we're retired, we don't even have any "meal times"; we just eat whenever and whatever we want. I probably eat too many chips and dorritos, but I think my wife is probably Frito Lay's best customer.

 

[livincountry]

Hey, are you talking about me?

You sound like my dad, can eat anything, age 83 and still strong as an ox. Mom on the other hand has to watch what she eats and she still has cholestrol problems but at 83 she too is doing pretty good.

 

[Bird]

Maybe the old medical treatment of bleeding folks actually did some good; I donate blood a couple of times a year and you can later go to the blood bank's website and it'll show what your cholesterol was when you donated. The last couple of years, mine has been 202 to 209, so I never worry about it. Of course, I never worried about it when I didn't know what it was either.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Hey, are you talking about me? I guess I'm a bit like Eddie Walker in that I eat whatever I want to eat, and since I like variety, I don't think I know anyone who eats as much variety as I do; never paid any attention to "diets". And in fact, now that we're retired, we don't even have any "meal times"; we just eat whenever and whatever we want. I probably eat too many chips and dorritos, but I think my wife is probably Frito Lay's best customer.

One area we haven't touched upon is stress. That takes a mighty toll on some folks. My father was from a family of 12. All 11 of his brothers and sisters died by the time they reached their early 60's. My father was one cool and composed guy. Nothing shook him. He ran a successful business. (Home builder and hobby farmer) He made LOTS of money in the 50's, 60's and 70's. That took a lot of pressure off of him and mom. His siblings did OK, but none as well as dad. He ate everything that he SHOULDN'T have. (He LOVED greasey food, being old time German) And he lived to a ripe old age of 89. I've always thought it was because he didn't need to worry like a lot of people, about how he was going to pay bills, feed his family, and live beyond his working days.

Me? I'm the official "worry wart" in our clan. That has me concerned. (Or should I say, that WORRIES me!) Hope that doesn't mean what I think it means.

 

[HomeBrew2]

... Heavy metals are one group of items in food today

OH!, I thought you were worried about simple sodium chloride, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite in the meat. If you've got metal chunks in there, I'd not buy it either!

As far as diet, Copenhagen, diet beer and eating a cold can of ravioli for breakfast and a good homecooked meal about 9pm, just before you crash, is my successful bachleor's regime. No airconditioning in 100° heat and not sitting down much helps too.

 

[3RRL]

Geez, I just read this thread for the first tme and really thought it was gonna be about Power Service or Stabil or something like that!

 

[gordon21]

Injected meats are very common. Far more common than you think. Another common industry phrase is "pumped". Another word used is "marinated". There is nothing wrong with the method, it is merely a way to reduce the price of an item. If you can take a piece of beef, pork or chicken that weighs 1# that costs $2.00 and pump it with 20% additional solution, you now have 1.20# to legally sell on a scale. $2 times 1.2 # means you can now charge $2.40 for the same exact piece of meat. OR, you can advertise it for $1.66# and appear that you are way cheaper. 1.2# times 1.66 = original $2

Salt, water and broth are used because they are cheap. Meats cost $1-$3 per pound. Salt is less than $0.12 per pound in bulk and water is almost free. Selling water or salt for $1-$3 per pound is big business. When you think of large scale operations adding 2000# of water and 300# of salt to a batch of meat weighing 10-12,000#, you can see the reason why this happens. A large processing plant can turn out well over 300,000# per day

Ham is often pumped up the to legal max of 35% water. Chicken breasts are usually pumped to around 18-22%. Beef products are pumped from 5-15%

If you look closely at store labels, you will see the phrase "Ham and water product"

Chicken breasts cooked with the added water do indeed stay moister after cooking, but the shrink rate is horrible. An 8oz pumped breast will lose 3oz. Half of that was natural juice and the other half is what was pumped into it.

By the way, pumped means water/solution added by pressure. Needles are not used. Air pressure forces liquid into the prioduct.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Injected meats are very common...

Great info!

I have to admit that many years ago when I heard a (probably cyclical) public uproar about the water solution put into meat, especially ham, I was somewhat miffed about paying for water at meat prices. Fast forward to making my own hams, brined, not dry cured. That was some of the driest pink pork I had ever had! Light bulb comes on. My cure worked perfectly, ie, removing nearly all moisture from the meat via osmosis thus, minimizing the bacteria spawning environment. Hence, I became a fan of water-added ham and I give mine a little soak in one fashion or another when/prior to cooking.

Question: Re: The chicken info you gave. Is that based on the old (rediculous) 180° recommended finish temp? I never abided by that as I was convinced that ~165° was plenty to kill most anything ... now the USDA is using the 165° measure and I just wondered if the lower temp might lead to less than the 35+% shrinkage. Just wondering. It's hard to ruin dark meat so that's all I eat anyway.

Cheers!

 

[gordon21]

The excessive shrink mentioned was specifically for boneless-skinless chicken breasts. This is what 80% of restaurants use now unless they are doing traditional fried chicken with the skin and bone. The food distributer I work for sells about 100,000# weekly. Probably 70% is pumped or marinated. The rule of thumb is to allow 1.5-2 extra ounces from regular to pumped when they are still raw in order to get the same size after cooking.

A 8oz pumped breast will be just about the same size as a 6oz natural breast. The only health hazard would be excessive salt for some people. Additives keep food safe. Some earlier poster mentioned that Wal Mart produce goes bad very quickly. That is because they buy short life product. All produce has a predictable shelf life. When you get a few days before the end of that life, the wholesale price drops. Fast. High quality produce will literally last weeks from the day it is picked with the exception of a few items like mushrooms, herbs and sprouts. Oranges easily last 2 weeks if truly fresh. However, if a store buys a load that is already 22 days old, then the consumer can't do anything to extend that life.

The typical retail pack of vacuum packed ham, luncheon meat, turkey, etc has a shelf life of anywhere from 60-150 days. Look at the dates on the packs the next time you see a 2 for 1 special on meats. I will bet the expiration date is about 2 weeks away. The mfgr or the wholesalers have not sold it in the past 3-4 months. A 2 for 1 will blow out that inventory. Go ahead and buy it. You will be fine. Just don't keep it more than 20-30 days after the expiration date. There is a cushion built into those dates just like towing limits.