Mechanically Separated Chicken for Food?–Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
An email message alerting readers to the existence of mechanically separated meats such as chicken and turkey.
The writer says it is a carcass stripped of everything except tissue, immature sex glands, and bone and asks, “Shouldn’t consumers be made aware of what mechanically separated chicken is?”
The Truth:
According to the U.S.Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture, mechanically separated meets are the real thing and are safe.
Very simply, mechanical separation is a way of getting every last piece of meat from the bone of a chicken, turkey, or other food animal.
Bones with edible meat attached are forced under high pressure through a device that separates the bone from the meat.
It’s a process that’s been used since the 1960’s and for a variety of popular products.
A statement from the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service says mechanically separated products are “safe, wholesome, nutritious, and useful in providing consumers with the wide variety of economical meat and poultry products.”
We have not been able to find any reference to the carcass specifically having “immature sex glands.”