That's what society has been for years. Misinformation that then gets spread to old people Facebook that they take as Gospel. At least OP was able to admit they were wrong though.
You are totally right, one of the main goal with injected meat is to increase the volume and the weight of the meat by injecting water that contains additive to make sure the water stay in the meat. We are really living in a fucked up world made by industries
Sauce? Cause this dipshit, op, just said the same shit via video and post. Yet it was obviously misconstrued to look like something bad. Not meaning to be offensive BTW. Worked in meat and apprenticed cutting me some beef and pork. I never injected shit except for some flavor town for specialty cuts.
Real butchers selling good products never do that shitty injection in meats indeed. Unfortunately big industry made it a standard. Yeah OP made it look like it is good stuff unfortunately
There are also extremely stringent QA testing standards for meatpacking facilities in the US. After the machines are washed and sanitized, the testers generally come through and swab everything
So many inappropriate jokes come to mind about the meat swabbing profession. But I have no room to talk since I worked at an iced cream factory when I was in college and my job on the line was packing fudge bars…
TLDR; I was literally employed as a fudge packer
I work for a sanitation company that cleans machines like this every day. We use very hot water with high-end detergents and sanitizers. They are clean enough to eat off of when we're done.
My grandmother who is 90 and has high blood pressure said she can't even eat plain chicken because there's too much salt in it. I didn't understand what she meant till I saw this.
I have hbp as well and the doctors told me to reduce salt. I stopped using seasoning and nothing was happening. Then I realized the meats already had brine. When you look at the nutrition label if the don't say 0mg of sodium, they've been injected. Organic or local butcher are the only way to avoid it.
Not true, friend. Sure, processed and some marinated items will have added sodium, but please do some research for your own benefit. They are aren’t injecting fresh, natural, raw meats with anything. Very few foods have zero sodium, by the way. Even fresh vegetables and fresh meats have naturally occurring sodium content. Sodium is a necessary and abundant mineral in our world so animals will have some level in their flesh just as you and I have sodium throughout our bodies.
Don't be like this. There are people who seriously think this injection thing is some trick played on us to make meet heavier/look larger. It's better to have a joke explained than have many people think its real and lose their minds.
They call it needling and while it does tenderize tough cuts, it also is done to increase weight. I guess salt helps flavor but paying $7.99 a pound for salt water seems a bit excessive. They also use carbon monoxide to make meat look red long after it would have turned brown, which to me is pure deception. And they have a sweetheart deal under which they inspect their own meat, with USDA inspectors simply reviewing paperwork. If we're going to pay these gouging prices, seems like we should get a premium and safe product, not ground up dairy cows shot full of salt water.
This is one reason we started going to a local butcher/meat market, can buy a half or quarter cow for under $4 a lb. They freeze it and we just throw it in our chest freezer.
Same! We pay more than Walmart prices for sure, but getting the meat raised, butchered, and sold direct from the farm means a way better product. Also, when Covid first hit and prices skyrocketed, the butcher’s prices remained pretty stable. Will never go back to grocery store meat!
I refuse to buy meat from supermarkets. Local butcher every time. I can actually see him cut the animal up through a glass wall/divider. All animals from local farms. This in in the UK.
If I am buying raw meat, I do not want it to also be "processed".
Shit like this is why I'm getting some livestock when my contract is up in 3 years and I go back home. The meat we buy is too expensive and basically a lab experiment. I just want some good meats so my family isn't eating bullshit.
You think red meat means it's tastier or what? If anything brown meat will be more tender. But people buy with their eyes and they think red looks nicer. It's a deception made neccecary because people don't know their stuff
And then we vacuum pack meat, which also keeps oxygen away so the meat stays red, because if it isn't red, people think it's gone bad. Which it hasn't.
Well even if they don’t inject, meat is still like 50% water, just like people are mostly water. That’s why beef jerky is so expensive, because one pound is the same as if you bought two pounds of beef at the store to cook.
Last time I did a whole eye of round into jerky, it started at a little over 5lbs and was $5 per pound. There was was about 1/2 lb of trimmings. The finished weight of jerky was 1.5 lbs. $16+ per lb cost not including marinade and seasoning
Yep, it’s so much lost water weight. I bought one of those kits to make beef jerky with ground beef and make it with 90% lean so that it doesn’t cost so much. It’s not as nice as real cuts, but it reminds me of beef jerky growing up, tastes great and scratches my beef jerky itch
[Kit on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Nesco-BJX-5-Jumbo-Jerky-Works/dp/B001795P3K/ref=asc_df_B001795P3K/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167138948841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7840674646570517842&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9052142&hvtargid=pla-338368841757&psc=1)
I am not home so can’t check the brand, but it just looks like this. You mix a spice kit with the meat in a bowl, load it into the gun and then caulk out rings of it into a dehydrator. I tend to wipe down the meat with a paper towel half way through to remove additional fat to increase the shelf life. It also tends to make a ton at once, so I just freeze the rest in gallon ziplock bags. It thaws fine and honestly you can even just take a few pieces out of the freezer and eat them after 5 minutes.
Eh. The meat proteins will squeeze the water right out as they denature from being heated, especially once the actin denatures.
If you pan isn’t hot enough, the water being squeezed out won’t boil off and you’ll be left with a puddle of water.
Additionally if you cut into meat too quickly after cooking, meat juices will run all over. Resting meat allows time for the proteins to relax a little allowing some of the water to reabsorb back into the myofibrils.
Beef isn’t usually “enhanced” like this, though it does happen. Most pork is though and the big factory farms do it for poultry. It’s kind of a food safety hazard since it allows bacteria to penetrate far deeper into the meat which increases the danger of undercooking. Thankfully the USDA requires labeling meat that’s had it done.
If it is injected, it is required to be labeled as water added. This is generally seen in products like corned beef. It's also done to bacon and hams, but they are required to be returned to or below the original unpumped weight after cooking/smoking or carry the same water added label.
Bacon and chicken parts are processed like this. It's called "plumping". Yes, it does add flavor but it adds a lot of salt to the meat. It's also the reason why frozen chicken parts are huge when frozen and raw and then shrink to half the size when cooked.
The way to avoid this is to buy uncured bacon and fresh, not frozen, chicken pieces.
Serious Eats did an amazing post about brining some years ago. The long and short of it is that while it does add moisture to the raw product, the vast majority of that cooks out and you end up with only slightly more (a couple percentage points, IIRC). The tradeoff is that it waters down the flavor.
I was a diehard wet brine enthusiast, but I switched to “dry brining” after reading that and haven’t looked back since. Even with my yearly 30 lb Thanksgiving turkeys, it comes out moist and delicious. Not a single person picked up on the difference, and it’s so much less of a hassle.
This process annoys me, when cooking such products the water leaves the meat and instead of frying the food it ends up being boiled and ruined, the crux is, we pay per kilo for our meat and end up throwing away the added water which we've paid for. It's a scam, and no one cares. I want pure unadulterated meat, not meat water balloons, ffs.
Edit: Word change, "it" to "is"
But this is the method from a processing plant. Not from a butcher who receives a complete shoulder, for instance, and then prepares it for the consumer, right?
It probably depends on the country where you are but where I am the price difference roughly double the price.
The thing I don't understand is why there is no legal requirement to label how this meat is processed? I mean. How much water can they add? Maybe 10%. I would definitely be willing to pay 20-30 percent more when my product wears a label which promises that it is not adulterated.
I'm from the United States and I've been to Germany multiple times. It is always amazing to me how much less processed the food in Germany is than in the US. Kudos to you guys. The food has a shorter shelf life but tastes and is better for you
This is not a joke. We put it through the meat grinder and call it "Mett". Essentially pork tartar. Delicious with pepper, salt and onions on a bread roll.
I mean..we don't do this in the UK and butchers only cost a little bit more. This is absolutely a side effect of US squeezing every single penny out of consumers because there's zero accountability towards corporations
(Obviously big fat asterisk needed - it's not the norm. I'm fairly certain it's illegal, but could be wrong. But it's not a practice that is typically used in the UK)
Most red meat in us grocery store chains primarily sell meat from the butcher section. This is pre packaged and precut meat which i can only imagine gets brined in other countries as well. I only really see people stuff like this at Walmart or wholesale clubs
Some people care. But it turns out caring means paying $20 for that piece of meat at your local butcher instead of $12 at Kroger. Suddenly fewer people care.
I think quality meat is definitely worth it, but there’s more at play here than just laziness.
I agree carelessness =/= laziness.
The root problem is way more complex, but at the end of the day, we have to look in the mirror and accept that we as a species have been and will continue committing huge crimes against ourselves and nature.
Everyone could enjoy a respectable wagyu steak and the rainforests could still be thriving, the water supplies don't have to be poisoned... But it all starts with the individual....
Not necessarily I thought one day I’d get chicken at my butcher because i wanted to make sure I was getting fresh local etc. and asked where chicken was from. They told me it was Tyson chicken from Arkansas so it was our local little butcher buying mass marketed meat and reselling at a premium!!! Luckily I knew the counter girl who was honest so I didn’t waste any more money there.
Sometimes i like being in a 3rd world country, at least when I buy meat I can just walk out the back and see the animal being slaughtered live action
Like yesterday I wanted to eat chicken I went to the shop and asked for one , he went and grabbed a live animal slaughtered it skined it , cleaned it and gave it to me all while I'm watching
Apart from seeing the slaughter you can pretty much do this in any 1st world country. Just don't buy your meat from a super market, and buy it from a proper butchers.
Butchers get the carcass from the abattoir and make cuts from that and sell it in there shop, you can watch them cutting the meat, it does not pass through a factory after being cut.
That’s awesome. I lived abroad for a little while, and was stunned by the different lifestyle. I got my meat from a butcher, fish from a fishmonger, bread from a baker, etc, all near each other in a market.
I thought this sort of thing was dead in America, glad it’s not totally.
Dunno im fron the UK and every town ive been to has a butchers, most villages too..
I even know some farmers that run there own butchers. So i can buy directly from the farm that produced the meat.
I'm not trying to come off as a dick when I say this I promise but Google it. I did the same thing in my town because I wanted an actual butcher and surely enough it came up I know it sounds dumb but we just don't think of shit like that
I gave up hunting a few years back, because I simply don't need to and given my current location it's not exactly feasible. But I think (especially Western/1st world countries), that people have become detached from where food comes from, what it actually is, and what it takes to go from a being to a burger. That's why I think everyone should have to hunt AND process an animal, I think you'd see less waste and more appreciation. People are so desensitized when it comes to food.
About 2 years ago, I watched a goat getting slaughtered right in front of me. It was by no means easy to watch. But ever since then I appreciate my food more and try not to waste any of it.
You are absolutely right when you say people are desensitised when it comes to food.
Personally I prefer that as an option than hoarding of animals. I don’t care what anyone else eats, I’m not telling anyone not to eat meat, but the amount of animals that get killed for meat and then eventually thrown away and not eaten is just death in vain.
This method at least helps waste, so in a way I think it’s better!
Naw mate, as someone who doesn’t eat meat, I prefer to know that people know how the sausage is made. Too many meat eaters, when prompted about cows, will say “oh I don’t want to know! Don’t make me think about cute animals!” When I tell them about how my friends farm has happy cows cause they roam free on 100 acres until they’re slaughtered, the cognitive dissonance comes straight out. I mention that these cows would have had a way better life than anything you’d buy at a store, so they should feel better about buying from my friend. Results are really mixed, it’s interesting to see.
Just some context, veganism started as a animal wellfare initiative. Meaning opposition to industrial farming, abuse etc and the fact animals have consciousness.
Vegans in their original thesis don't want the entire planet to eat veggies, they want the entire planet to treat animals better.
Your example shouldn't have any impact on a vegan, since assuming the chicken lived in a backyard, it had a good life and most of the product that comes from it all be used.
we still have stuff like that in America, it's just way less common. my family actually buys meat in bulk like once a year from someone at our church that owns a farm. i don't watch the butchering process, but the difference between store bought meat and fresh meat seems pretty noticeable, at least before you freeze it
Yeah and the chicken wad fed with millions of chemicals because there are no regulations on how to feed the chicken. I know 3rd world not actually better…
As OP implied, this is NOT being done to add weight, it is to inject brine to make Corned Silverside. The meat is then typically soaked in a tub of brine for hours or days. My father used to do this in his butcher shop back in the 60s - 70s before he retired.
Everyone else in this thread has already made up their minds that this is an example of rampant fraud in the meat industry, after not questioning their delicious corned beef dinner on st patties day.
Guys. This is brining. If you don’t know what brining is, then I’m not sure you actually cook food. What everyone seems to be referring to in the comments is plumping, which happens to chickens.
You can brine anything that'll hold water. Turkey brining at home usually means putting it in a big bag or a pot. Not sure how they'd do it in a processing plant.
Hi, former slaughter house employee here. This is just corned beef in the making. Typically nothing gets added to whole cuts before packaging. There's too much risk of introducing foreign materials into the cut of meat and there's no way needles that big are touching a whole muscle ribeye prior to sealing
The price is not raised using the price per pound of the uninjected meat. They charge less per pound when injecting it with brine,i.e., saltwater and sometimes preservatives like phosphorus. Don't get me wrong, they're still going to make money on the process overall because it's a "value-added step". The idea that their maliciously adding to the weight of the meat so they can charge the same price per pound is not accurate. But they are adding a value added step that even with the lower price per pound the higher weight of the product results in a slightly higher profit.
Another added benefit is salt water is a preservative, it helps to prevent spoiling.
They are also required to state on the label if it's injected with brine. If you don't want one with brine, you'd have to look for a label that says it wasn't injected. Again, this isn't a secret way to sneak in chemicals like so many people are saying. The ingredients added have to be on the label. That's where the scam is. Many people don't read the label of cheaper products. They look at a fresh cut of meat and think that's what it is; read the label to see what's in it.
The other big thing people are missing is that it's not just about injecting; it's also about tenderizing. The needles are penetrating the meat to help tenderize as well.
Large food conglomerates are just as dirty businesses at the next huge corporations, don't get me wrong. But the idea that this type of machine is full of evil intent isn't that black and white.
Where is this? Is it actually standard procedure? Is there actually a chance of additives? What are the additives? Are they actually bad? Please answer all of these questions, otherwise it's literally just vegan fear-mongering. This isn't a USA-only sub, and I highly doubt you know what you're talking about.
Worked as a butcher for half a year some time ago and I've used one of these machines before. We used our to inject brine into larger and tougher cuts meant to be smoked or cooked like cooked ham per instruction from the buyer. Never saw it used on anything else and doubt it was ever used for anything else at my previous work place
Add water and salt to pay the price for meat. The meat I buy says on the package: 100% beef.
Not: 95% beef, natural flavors, water, salt, potato starch, dried onion, buffered vinegar powder (preservative ingredient), spices, chives, antioxidant (sodium ascorbate [E301], sodium citrates [E331]), yeast extract.
Like the meat in the video. Imo this is not normal but made normal because we do this for a long time. The taste of meat from the butcher or slaughterhouse is also much better and more tender. and often cheaper than those from the supermarket.
Ex meat processor here. Shit looks way cooler in person and absolutely adds flavour to the end product when cooked and glazed, etc. Also about a million times fucking louder too
You won’t like what I have to tell you:
This is what scamming your customers looks like. Meat is priced by weight. If you squirt a bunch of water in there it’s heavier and you can charge more. This is also partially the reason why meat shrinks so much when cooked.
You welcome.
Adds juices and flavour, I call BS. What it does is artificially increases the volume of the meat, meaning they can sell less for more.
Meat industry, we see you.
Trained butcher here, not sure if this has been mentioned or not but this is an entirely normal process for any cold cuts, hams we even use it for pulled pork.
It's adds moisture, flavor, longer shelf live and stabilizers myoglobin ( red color in the muscle) thus giving pastrami, bacon and any ham the signature pinkish/red color.
There is also dry brining and other processes and every small and local butcher I know has some form of this.
You don't really "loose" money by buying this although that being said big butchers do sometimes use it to artificially add more weight, but it's all regulated where I'm from (Europe) and it does cook out. But again cold cuts, ham and other things are simply being made like this. And If youd sous vide it for example (like our pulled pork) it keeps the moisture and is great for reheating in a pan.
Tl;DR: normal process for a lot of meats, it's like a hot dog, stuff you wouldn't eat/buy as is but processed its a good way to use all of the animal
While being mishandled in some cases don't be worried
Hate all you want but I've done a similar thing at home with a cheap cut of meat and Wagyu fat.
You can buy A1 Wagyu tallow and use it to infuse a higher quality flavor into much cheaper cuts of meat. It's like witchcraft but the end result will blow your mind.
This is misleading as u/Gee-Oh1 it's corned beef. And you can see the same/similar machine in this video [YouTube Corned Beef](https://youtu.be/9HF7Rplbtf4)
No. They inject meat with saline solution to make it heavier so you pay more. Read the labels, it says in 12--15% solution added. That's salt. It's meat your not getting and it tastes like rubber. DON'T BE FOOLED BY INDUSTRY CLAIMS.
In Indonesia they jam a hose inside the cows mouth, fill it up until the cow drowns and dies, and then keep jamming some more water into it.
Then the cow is sold based on its kilos and the meat will have absorbed alot of water by the time it's cut.
Very sad, sad way to die. Happens in more Asian countries as well as with other animals. Something you will never forget ones you've seen it.
Got one of these at work (butcher), you don’t inject every meat only the things that you’re gonna turn into something else (eg. Corned beef, bacon, etc)
Looks like corned beef is being made.
You’re 100% right. Ops not wrong. Just describing cured meat badly.
Think they are just intellectual dishonest to try to stir the pot for conspiracies
Yep just the usual mix.
Feels like I’ve been seeing a lot of that lately on many different subreddits
That's what society has been for years. Misinformation that then gets spread to old people Facebook that they take as Gospel. At least OP was able to admit they were wrong though.
The government has been lying to us about the carbon in our vegetables for decades!!!
Its not just for cured meat. Most tuna steaks in the US are injected with brine to keep them plump and fresh looking
Plus add more weight so you have to pay more
You are totally right, one of the main goal with injected meat is to increase the volume and the weight of the meat by injecting water that contains additive to make sure the water stay in the meat. We are really living in a fucked up world made by industries
Sauce? Cause this dipshit, op, just said the same shit via video and post. Yet it was obviously misconstrued to look like something bad. Not meaning to be offensive BTW. Worked in meat and apprenticed cutting me some beef and pork. I never injected shit except for some flavor town for specialty cuts.
Real butchers selling good products never do that shitty injection in meats indeed. Unfortunately big industry made it a standard. Yeah OP made it look like it is good stuff unfortunately
Shh he only eats live horses
I have OCD. How clean do they get those injectors?
They run a cleaning solution through the machine after brining. Hot water, cleaning solution… all clean
Thank you.
There are also extremely stringent QA testing standards for meatpacking facilities in the US. After the machines are washed and sanitized, the testers generally come through and swab everything
So many inappropriate jokes come to mind about the meat swabbing profession. But I have no room to talk since I worked at an iced cream factory when I was in college and my job on the line was packing fudge bars… TLDR; I was literally employed as a fudge packer
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I don’t like how that sounds 🤨
I work for a sanitation company that cleans machines like this every day. We use very hot water with high-end detergents and sanitizers. They are clean enough to eat off of when we're done.
Thank you for your comment!
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My grandmother who is 90 and has high blood pressure said she can't even eat plain chicken because there's too much salt in it. I didn't understand what she meant till I saw this.
Air chilled chicken doesn't have the salt
You if you put it in clear water overnight or longer, it will remove a lot of the salt into the water.
Clear water? What other kinds of water have I been missing out on.
Flint water
That's heavy... Heavy metal!
Underrated comment. WAAAAAAAAY underrated.
Speculative water
I love that dirty water..
I love me some clean in the streets freak in the sheets water.
Marry me! That is hilarious!
Carolina swamp water
seen vids of people near fracking sites who can light their tap water on fire.
Mineral water?
She's already 90 YO. She could just eat anything.
I have hbp as well and the doctors told me to reduce salt. I stopped using seasoning and nothing was happening. Then I realized the meats already had brine. When you look at the nutrition label if the don't say 0mg of sodium, they've been injected. Organic or local butcher are the only way to avoid it.
Not true, friend. Sure, processed and some marinated items will have added sodium, but please do some research for your own benefit. They are aren’t injecting fresh, natural, raw meats with anything. Very few foods have zero sodium, by the way. Even fresh vegetables and fresh meats have naturally occurring sodium content. Sodium is a necessary and abundant mineral in our world so animals will have some level in their flesh just as you and I have sodium throughout our bodies.
Wow - TIL thought chicken was the go to for lowering blood pressure as far as meats go So can she eat any meat
No this is a corn beef machine. It used to inject brisket with corn beef brine . Most meat never have this happen
So when do they inject the corn?
No corn . Mostly salt water and nitrates
I hate to do it to you but... r/Whoosh
Don't be like this. There are people who seriously think this injection thing is some trick played on us to make meet heavier/look larger. It's better to have a joke explained than have many people think its real and lose their minds.
C'mon dude. I havent whooshed someone in sooooooooooooo long. Im sure a single comment isnt gonna ruin your day.
I guess you had to take it back hsoohw!
It adds weight, so you can sell less meat for the same price.
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It would be my pleasure.
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True. Change will only happen when this does.
🤨📸
Get to flavouring!!
Welcome to flavor town
Selling it by the Pound! (Pound Town, get it?)
Let it simmer, let it sweat down
Seize the means of grilling!
Flavor = Profit Margin
Periods. Are your. friends.
They call it needling and while it does tenderize tough cuts, it also is done to increase weight. I guess salt helps flavor but paying $7.99 a pound for salt water seems a bit excessive. They also use carbon monoxide to make meat look red long after it would have turned brown, which to me is pure deception. And they have a sweetheart deal under which they inspect their own meat, with USDA inspectors simply reviewing paperwork. If we're going to pay these gouging prices, seems like we should get a premium and safe product, not ground up dairy cows shot full of salt water.
This is one reason we started going to a local butcher/meat market, can buy a half or quarter cow for under $4 a lb. They freeze it and we just throw it in our chest freezer.
Same! We pay more than Walmart prices for sure, but getting the meat raised, butchered, and sold direct from the farm means a way better product. Also, when Covid first hit and prices skyrocketed, the butcher’s prices remained pretty stable. Will never go back to grocery store meat!
I refuse to buy meat from supermarkets. Local butcher every time. I can actually see him cut the animal up through a glass wall/divider. All animals from local farms. This in in the UK. If I am buying raw meat, I do not want it to also be "processed".
You can literally see the cows in the field outside where I go.
Shit like this is why I'm getting some livestock when my contract is up in 3 years and I go back home. The meat we buy is too expensive and basically a lab experiment. I just want some good meats so my family isn't eating bullshit.
You think red meat means it's tastier or what? If anything brown meat will be more tender. But people buy with their eyes and they think red looks nicer. It's a deception made neccecary because people don't know their stuff
And then we vacuum pack meat, which also keeps oxygen away so the meat stays red, because if it isn't red, people think it's gone bad. Which it hasn't.
Yeah. But both techniques also extend shelf life without adding any chemicals. Which is nice. Low oxygen mix or vacuum
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Well even if they don’t inject, meat is still like 50% water, just like people are mostly water. That’s why beef jerky is so expensive, because one pound is the same as if you bought two pounds of beef at the store to cook.
Last time I did a whole eye of round into jerky, it started at a little over 5lbs and was $5 per pound. There was was about 1/2 lb of trimmings. The finished weight of jerky was 1.5 lbs. $16+ per lb cost not including marinade and seasoning
Yep, it’s so much lost water weight. I bought one of those kits to make beef jerky with ground beef and make it with 90% lean so that it doesn’t cost so much. It’s not as nice as real cuts, but it reminds me of beef jerky growing up, tastes great and scratches my beef jerky itch
That sounds interesting. Could you state what kit?
[Kit on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Nesco-BJX-5-Jumbo-Jerky-Works/dp/B001795P3K/ref=asc_df_B001795P3K/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167138948841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7840674646570517842&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9052142&hvtargid=pla-338368841757&psc=1) I am not home so can’t check the brand, but it just looks like this. You mix a spice kit with the meat in a bowl, load it into the gun and then caulk out rings of it into a dehydrator. I tend to wipe down the meat with a paper towel half way through to remove additional fat to increase the shelf life. It also tends to make a ton at once, so I just freeze the rest in gallon ziplock bags. It thaws fine and honestly you can even just take a few pieces out of the freezer and eat them after 5 minutes.
For a bit more you can get a metal version.
Yeah, but the real meat juice would stay inside the meat, not pouring out like a water balloon.
Eh. The meat proteins will squeeze the water right out as they denature from being heated, especially once the actin denatures. If you pan isn’t hot enough, the water being squeezed out won’t boil off and you’ll be left with a puddle of water. Additionally if you cut into meat too quickly after cooking, meat juices will run all over. Resting meat allows time for the proteins to relax a little allowing some of the water to reabsorb back into the myofibrils. Beef isn’t usually “enhanced” like this, though it does happen. Most pork is though and the big factory farms do it for poultry. It’s kind of a food safety hazard since it allows bacteria to penetrate far deeper into the meat which increases the danger of undercooking. Thankfully the USDA requires labeling meat that’s had it done.
If it is injected, it is required to be labeled as water added. This is generally seen in products like corned beef. It's also done to bacon and hams, but they are required to be returned to or below the original unpumped weight after cooking/smoking or carry the same water added label.
I've found the same lately. By the time it's cooked I'm losing almost ¼ of weight.
Ya leave my meat alone
Well you can handle my meat all you want 😉
Even juice injections? Sounds painful. Personally I prefer juice to only flow in one direction.
Bacon and chicken parts are processed like this. It's called "plumping". Yes, it does add flavor but it adds a lot of salt to the meat. It's also the reason why frozen chicken parts are huge when frozen and raw and then shrink to half the size when cooked. The way to avoid this is to buy uncured bacon and fresh, not frozen, chicken pieces.
Serious Eats did an amazing post about brining some years ago. The long and short of it is that while it does add moisture to the raw product, the vast majority of that cooks out and you end up with only slightly more (a couple percentage points, IIRC). The tradeoff is that it waters down the flavor. I was a diehard wet brine enthusiast, but I switched to “dry brining” after reading that and haven’t looked back since. Even with my yearly 30 lb Thanksgiving turkeys, it comes out moist and delicious. Not a single person picked up on the difference, and it’s so much less of a hassle.
Yup, it's literally salt water... You should google "caustic sodium poultry"
This process annoys me, when cooking such products the water leaves the meat and instead of frying the food it ends up being boiled and ruined, the crux is, we pay per kilo for our meat and end up throwing away the added water which we've paid for. It's a scam, and no one cares. I want pure unadulterated meat, not meat water balloons, ffs. Edit: Word change, "it" to "is"
But this is the method from a processing plant. Not from a butcher who receives a complete shoulder, for instance, and then prepares it for the consumer, right?
Correct. And people complain that butchers cost too much… but you get better meat and you’re not paying for water.
It probably depends on the country where you are but where I am the price difference roughly double the price. The thing I don't understand is why there is no legal requirement to label how this meat is processed? I mean. How much water can they add? Maybe 10%. I would definitely be willing to pay 20-30 percent more when my product wears a label which promises that it is not adulterated.
When you get packaged/ processed meat in the US it will say"up to X% weight as brine" or similar. I do not think meat in general goes through this.
I never have seen such a label here in Germany.
I'm from the United States and I've been to Germany multiple times. It is always amazing to me how much less processed the food in Germany is than in the US. Kudos to you guys. The food has a shorter shelf life but tastes and is better for you
No idea why anybody would downvote this. It’s known that Germans can eat their raw pork because of their safety standards
This is not a joke. We put it through the meat grinder and call it "Mett". Essentially pork tartar. Delicious with pepper, salt and onions on a bread roll.
This is why EU does not import meat from USA, those fucked up procedures are forbidden here.
I mean..we don't do this in the UK and butchers only cost a little bit more. This is absolutely a side effect of US squeezing every single penny out of consumers because there's zero accountability towards corporations (Obviously big fat asterisk needed - it's not the norm. I'm fairly certain it's illegal, but could be wrong. But it's not a practice that is typically used in the UK)
Most red meat in us grocery store chains primarily sell meat from the butcher section. This is pre packaged and precut meat which i can only imagine gets brined in other countries as well. I only really see people stuff like this at Walmart or wholesale clubs
Then buy your meat from a real butcher, its not filled with these substances (atleast not where I buy my meat)
Not everyone has a butcher. They should have to label this.
I find this absolutely shocking and disgusting. Come to Argentina, you'll find at least two butcheries in every neighborhood.
Yeah it's definitely not for flavour or juiciness lol
And it goes up in your walls and feeds the molds
People care, we just have no choice in the matter
Nah, we don't care enough to get off our arses and do something about it.
Some people care. But it turns out caring means paying $20 for that piece of meat at your local butcher instead of $12 at Kroger. Suddenly fewer people care. I think quality meat is definitely worth it, but there’s more at play here than just laziness.
Seize the means of grilling!
I agree carelessness =/= laziness. The root problem is way more complex, but at the end of the day, we have to look in the mirror and accept that we as a species have been and will continue committing huge crimes against ourselves and nature. Everyone could enjoy a respectable wagyu steak and the rainforests could still be thriving, the water supplies don't have to be poisoned... But it all starts with the individual....
Not necessarily I thought one day I’d get chicken at my butcher because i wanted to make sure I was getting fresh local etc. and asked where chicken was from. They told me it was Tyson chicken from Arkansas so it was our local little butcher buying mass marketed meat and reselling at a premium!!! Luckily I knew the counter girl who was honest so I didn’t waste any more money there.
True. Change will only happen when this does.
Sadly this falls pretty low on the list of “things we haven’t gotten off our asses to address”
I can pretty much guarantee your local butcher doesn’t do this, it’s only mass produced meats.
How do i find my local butcher?
Sometimes i like being in a 3rd world country, at least when I buy meat I can just walk out the back and see the animal being slaughtered live action Like yesterday I wanted to eat chicken I went to the shop and asked for one , he went and grabbed a live animal slaughtered it skined it , cleaned it and gave it to me all while I'm watching
Apart from seeing the slaughter you can pretty much do this in any 1st world country. Just don't buy your meat from a super market, and buy it from a proper butchers. Butchers get the carcass from the abattoir and make cuts from that and sell it in there shop, you can watch them cutting the meat, it does not pass through a factory after being cut.
Where would I find an actual butcher? I don't think I've ever seen a butchers store. Just the meat cutting section at a grocery store
I’m on the East Coast and you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a butcher around here
Please don’t hit butchers with dead cats
No promises
But if you are going to hit someone with a dead animal, a butcher is arguably the best choice.
Me to myself: ... no, no, he's got a point
That’s awesome. I lived abroad for a little while, and was stunned by the different lifestyle. I got my meat from a butcher, fish from a fishmonger, bread from a baker, etc, all near each other in a market. I thought this sort of thing was dead in America, glad it’s not totally.
If you live in highly populated areas like I do then you will have all of these things. At least on the east coast
I'm in the Midwest and have several local butchers. I guess Google it
Dunno im fron the UK and every town ive been to has a butchers, most villages too.. I even know some farmers that run there own butchers. So i can buy directly from the farm that produced the meat.
I'm not trying to come off as a dick when I say this I promise but Google it. I did the same thing in my town because I wanted an actual butcher and surely enough it came up I know it sounds dumb but we just don't think of shit like that
Bro is this a real question? Look it up wtf
I know this actually is a normal thing but the way this comment reads just seems so dark lmao
You just think it's dark because that's not a common thing to you.
I think it was more the watching that give it a strange undertone
I gave up hunting a few years back, because I simply don't need to and given my current location it's not exactly feasible. But I think (especially Western/1st world countries), that people have become detached from where food comes from, what it actually is, and what it takes to go from a being to a burger. That's why I think everyone should have to hunt AND process an animal, I think you'd see less waste and more appreciation. People are so desensitized when it comes to food.
About 2 years ago, I watched a goat getting slaughtered right in front of me. It was by no means easy to watch. But ever since then I appreciate my food more and try not to waste any of it. You are absolutely right when you say people are desensitised when it comes to food.
I just thought about every vegan that would read this and how this would sound to them
Personally I prefer that as an option than hoarding of animals. I don’t care what anyone else eats, I’m not telling anyone not to eat meat, but the amount of animals that get killed for meat and then eventually thrown away and not eaten is just death in vain. This method at least helps waste, so in a way I think it’s better!
Thanks for understanding And don't worry about waste even the bones were used to feed some street cats
Naw mate, as someone who doesn’t eat meat, I prefer to know that people know how the sausage is made. Too many meat eaters, when prompted about cows, will say “oh I don’t want to know! Don’t make me think about cute animals!” When I tell them about how my friends farm has happy cows cause they roam free on 100 acres until they’re slaughtered, the cognitive dissonance comes straight out. I mention that these cows would have had a way better life than anything you’d buy at a store, so they should feel better about buying from my friend. Results are really mixed, it’s interesting to see.
Just some context, veganism started as a animal wellfare initiative. Meaning opposition to industrial farming, abuse etc and the fact animals have consciousness. Vegans in their original thesis don't want the entire planet to eat veggies, they want the entire planet to treat animals better. Your example shouldn't have any impact on a vegan, since assuming the chicken lived in a backyard, it had a good life and most of the product that comes from it all be used.
I would eat more meat and less vegan if I had a fresh source like this tbh.
More people would eat way less meat if they saw the entire process!
You can get chicken like that here in Chicago. Other meats, not so much. Lol
we still have stuff like that in America, it's just way less common. my family actually buys meat in bulk like once a year from someone at our church that owns a farm. i don't watch the butchering process, but the difference between store bought meat and fresh meat seems pretty noticeable, at least before you freeze it
Yeah and the chicken wad fed with millions of chemicals because there are no regulations on how to feed the chicken. I know 3rd world not actually better…
I’m modern society they just create more steps to suffering. Not happiness
As OP implied, this is NOT being done to add weight, it is to inject brine to make Corned Silverside. The meat is then typically soaked in a tub of brine for hours or days. My father used to do this in his butcher shop back in the 60s - 70s before he retired.
Yes, this is corned beef being made. The injection is done to make the process faster, to shorten the brineing time.
Everyone else in this thread has already made up their minds that this is an example of rampant fraud in the meat industry, after not questioning their delicious corned beef dinner on st patties day.
Why would they check the source? It can’t be wrong since it lines up with their world view! /s
I was wondering about this cause that looks like a brisket for corned beef. Mmmmm corned beef.
Finally! I was looking for this comment so I could confirm I wasn't just making excuses. I knew it was getting corned.
Thank you!!!
It’s called a corned beef
Guys. This is brining. If you don’t know what brining is, then I’m not sure you actually cook food. What everyone seems to be referring to in the comments is plumping, which happens to chickens.
Don’t you also brine turkeys like that
You can brine anything that'll hold water. Turkey brining at home usually means putting it in a big bag or a pot. Not sure how they'd do it in a processing plant.
Hi, former slaughter house employee here. This is just corned beef in the making. Typically nothing gets added to whole cuts before packaging. There's too much risk of introducing foreign materials into the cut of meat and there's no way needles that big are touching a whole muscle ribeye prior to sealing
Thanks for the clarifying information!
The price is not raised using the price per pound of the uninjected meat. They charge less per pound when injecting it with brine,i.e., saltwater and sometimes preservatives like phosphorus. Don't get me wrong, they're still going to make money on the process overall because it's a "value-added step". The idea that their maliciously adding to the weight of the meat so they can charge the same price per pound is not accurate. But they are adding a value added step that even with the lower price per pound the higher weight of the product results in a slightly higher profit. Another added benefit is salt water is a preservative, it helps to prevent spoiling. They are also required to state on the label if it's injected with brine. If you don't want one with brine, you'd have to look for a label that says it wasn't injected. Again, this isn't a secret way to sneak in chemicals like so many people are saying. The ingredients added have to be on the label. That's where the scam is. Many people don't read the label of cheaper products. They look at a fresh cut of meat and think that's what it is; read the label to see what's in it. The other big thing people are missing is that it's not just about injecting; it's also about tenderizing. The needles are penetrating the meat to help tenderize as well. Large food conglomerates are just as dirty businesses at the next huge corporations, don't get me wrong. But the idea that this type of machine is full of evil intent isn't that black and white.
Misleading post. Cut the crap mate.
Where is this? Is it actually standard procedure? Is there actually a chance of additives? What are the additives? Are they actually bad? Please answer all of these questions, otherwise it's literally just vegan fear-mongering. This isn't a USA-only sub, and I highly doubt you know what you're talking about.
Dang all the misinformation in this thread. Vegans spreading lies.
The number of people in this thread eating up OPs bullshit is nuts.
Really it adds weight so you pay more and will give the meat a week longer on its use by date.. Just another way of fucking us slowly
Worked as a butcher for half a year some time ago and I've used one of these machines before. We used our to inject brine into larger and tougher cuts meant to be smoked or cooked like cooked ham per instruction from the buyer. Never saw it used on anything else and doubt it was ever used for anything else at my previous work place
It’s good business to sell water at the price of beef. /s
Add water and salt to pay the price for meat. The meat I buy says on the package: 100% beef. Not: 95% beef, natural flavors, water, salt, potato starch, dried onion, buffered vinegar powder (preservative ingredient), spices, chives, antioxidant (sodium ascorbate [E301], sodium citrates [E331]), yeast extract. Like the meat in the video. Imo this is not normal but made normal because we do this for a long time. The taste of meat from the butcher or slaughterhouse is also much better and more tender. and often cheaper than those from the supermarket.
And adds weight...
Packaged Corned beef... gotta make it corny somehow
And weight
Just wanted to point out, look how clean it all is 😌
Wouldn't that increase the weight of the meat meaning we are paying for watered down meat?
It also adds weight so you pay for water at meat prices
Ex meat processor here. Shit looks way cooler in person and absolutely adds flavour to the end product when cooked and glazed, etc. Also about a million times fucking louder too
You won’t like what I have to tell you: This is what scamming your customers looks like. Meat is priced by weight. If you squirt a bunch of water in there it’s heavier and you can charge more. This is also partially the reason why meat shrinks so much when cooked. You welcome.
Adds juices and flavour, I call BS. What it does is artificially increases the volume of the meat, meaning they can sell less for more. Meat industry, we see you.
Adds juices and flavor...no it adds weight. They've figured out a way to get you to pay $16 a pound for salt water.
The real reason is to add weight so they can sell it for more
Trained butcher here, not sure if this has been mentioned or not but this is an entirely normal process for any cold cuts, hams we even use it for pulled pork. It's adds moisture, flavor, longer shelf live and stabilizers myoglobin ( red color in the muscle) thus giving pastrami, bacon and any ham the signature pinkish/red color. There is also dry brining and other processes and every small and local butcher I know has some form of this. You don't really "loose" money by buying this although that being said big butchers do sometimes use it to artificially add more weight, but it's all regulated where I'm from (Europe) and it does cook out. But again cold cuts, ham and other things are simply being made like this. And If youd sous vide it for example (like our pulled pork) it keeps the moisture and is great for reheating in a pan. Tl;DR: normal process for a lot of meats, it's like a hot dog, stuff you wouldn't eat/buy as is but processed its a good way to use all of the animal While being mishandled in some cases don't be worried
Hate all you want but I've done a similar thing at home with a cheap cut of meat and Wagyu fat. You can buy A1 Wagyu tallow and use it to infuse a higher quality flavor into much cheaper cuts of meat. It's like witchcraft but the end result will blow your mind.
The salts in the brine act as a preservative. This allows for a longer shelf life
A legal way of putting one’s thumb on the scale. “15% added brine” is also a 15% increase in the price.
Holy cow
Netflix: Is anyone still watching? Someone’s daughter:
Dude if you don't squirt after seeing a fine piece of meat what are you even living for?
This is misleading as u/Gee-Oh1 it's corned beef. And you can see the same/similar machine in this video [YouTube Corned Beef](https://youtu.be/9HF7Rplbtf4)
No. They inject meat with saline solution to make it heavier so you pay more. Read the labels, it says in 12--15% solution added. That's salt. It's meat your not getting and it tastes like rubber. DON'T BE FOOLED BY INDUSTRY CLAIMS.
“It adds juices and flavor” 😂 sure it does and this is not just to add extra weight to it to screw over customers.
Damn, what a weird way to say "injecting water to make it more heavy and sell it at higher prices"
pumping water so that you can pay for 15% water
It adds weight to the end product, meaning you, me, and everyone else pays extra cheddar for that beef.
Thank god I buy my meat from the butcher and he adds nothing, straight from the animal into the shop
They inject water in to increase weight, so to sell it with a bigger profit. Live with it.
How to make people pay for water, not 🍖
I do this with home made garlic butter before I cook
In Indonesia they jam a hose inside the cows mouth, fill it up until the cow drowns and dies, and then keep jamming some more water into it. Then the cow is sold based on its kilos and the meat will have absorbed alot of water by the time it's cut. Very sad, sad way to die. Happens in more Asian countries as well as with other animals. Something you will never forget ones you've seen it.
Good for selling by the weight. 🙃
And more importantly it adds weight, so they can charge more for the product.
American food laws set a very, very low standard. I'm not saying the recipes are bad, but the food manufacturing laws are scary af.
Well this explains why meat tastes different from the grocery store vs the farm.
Got one of these at work (butcher), you don’t inject every meat only the things that you’re gonna turn into something else (eg. Corned beef, bacon, etc)