Potted meat food product

Potted meat food product

 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A potted meat food product or potted meat is a food, similar to a pâté, made using a method of food preservation, canning, consisting of cooked meat product, seasoned, often puréed, minced, or ground, which is heat processed and sealed into cans.

Various meats, such as beef, pork, chicken, turkey and variety (nonskeletal) meats are used. It is produced internationally as a source of affordable meat. Its long shelf life and cooked state make it suitable for emergency food supplies, and for military and camping uses, although the high content of fat, and/or preservatives may make it unsuitable for frequent consumption. The final product typically has a spreadable consistency, and typically contains high amounts of salt as a preservative.

Reputation

Canned meats have a mixed reputation on account of the taste, texture, ingredients, preparation and nutrition. The canning process produces a product with a generally homogeneous texture and flavor. The low-cost ingredients used also affect the quality. For example, mechanically separated chicken or turkey is a paste-like product made by forcing crushed bone and tissue through a sieve to separate bone from tissue. In the United States, mechanically separated poultry has been used in poultry products since 1969, after the National Academy of Sciences found it safe for use. On November 3, 1995, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a final rule in the Federal Register (see 60 FR 55962) on mechanically separated poultry, stating that it was safe to use without restrictions.^[1] However, it must be labeled as "mechanically separated" chicken or turkey in the ingredient statement. The final rule became effective on November 4, 1996.

Ingredients

• Armour Star: Mechanically separated chicken, beef tripe, water, salt, and less than 2%: mustard, natural flavor, garlic powder, vinegar, dextrose, sodium erythorbate, and sodium nitrite.

• Hormel: Beef tripe, mechanically separated chicken, beef hearts, partially defatted cooked beef fatty tissue, meat broth, vinegar, salt, flavoring, sugar, and sodium nitrite.

• Libby's: Mechanically separated chicken, pork skin, partially defatted cooked pork fatty tissue, partially defatted cooked beef fatty tissue, vinegar, less than 2% of: salt, spices, sugar, flavorings, sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite.

 

The entire wiki link can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potted_meat_food_product

Poster's comments:

Consider potted meat as a way to add meat fat flavor to your meals. While the ingredients may sound yucky to many, it is supposedly still safe to eat. I've tried it, and it worked for me. The meal tasted fine, and I did not die.

I remember one story from Saudi Arabia as shared by a fellow Marine during Desert Storm. He had some surveyors traveling with a Saudi group who traveled with their own goats and chickens, which they would periodically slaughter and grind up, like the whole thing to make some kind of mush to eat. In the case of chickens, even the feathers and bones went into the brew as the story was related. They (the Saudis) then ate the mush; I assume the temperature of cooking the mush killed all the bad germs. Anyway, some American Marine told them something like it was their religion to not share and eat this Saudi food, and so ate their own American military food, whatever that was. All lived of course, and to fight another day, too.