Profit Trumps Health: Meat and Restaurant Industries Say Meat Glue Safe for Consumption

Susanne Posel, Contributor
Activist Post

The American Meat Institute called a conference last week to discuss the issue of meat glue. With the recent controversy, the trade group wanted to assert that since the USDA considers meat glue safe, they endorse its use in restaurants and grocers.

Transglutaminase, or Activa, is manufactured by Ajinomoto North America. This corporation also manufactures pervasive neurotoxins aspartame and MSG (monosodium glutamate.)

While aspartame and MSG are known to be dangerous for human consumption, transglutaminase has not been studied enough to be conclusively negatively affective. However, the enzyme that binds is covalent; formed by cross-linked, insoluble and irreversible protein polymers.

The binding enzyme in transglutaminase is made by cultivating bacteria using blood plasma from cows and pigs, but also can be created from vegetable or plant extracts. No regulatory body, including the FDA, forced manufacturers to divulge the process they use to create transglutaminase or its bonding enzymes. Even “kosher” meat has a special meat glue created especially for it.

Brendan Naulty, Ajinonmoto North America’s senior vice president would have us believe that transglutaminate is an “ubiquitous enzyme found in nature, basically every animal, in our tissues, in plants, trees and vegetables”.

The truth is that an estimated “400 restaurants have been listed to buy transglutaminase during the last 10 years”, Naulty said. The industry does not want to be caught wasting their money in transglutaminase.

With profits at stake, they have come forward to justify their use of this potentially dangerous product. They are readily willing to put the public’s health at risk for their bottom line.

Meat adhesives are also found in retail stores, catering outfits, tourist attractions and elsewhere.

But using the binding substance to weave together high-quality cuts such as filet mignon with lower-priced meat such as chuck steak is “patently illegal,” said Mark D. Dopp, the American Meat Institute’s general counsel.

Such binding products are used on only about 8 million of the roughly 26 billion pounds of meat consumed annually, or less than half of 1%, Dopp said.

Regardless, California Senator Ted W. Lieu wants to launch an investigation into meat glue. Lieu wants labeling for meats that have been bound together.

In a letter to the USDA, Lieu said that:

• Bound meat may be filled with contagions that endanger the public’s health.
• The glue or transglutaminase may cause adverse allergic reactions because it is created from many different animal parts.

Because E.coli is an obvious threat, Lieu has come out to have authorities create a “plan of attack”.

While the meat and restaurant industries justify their use of meat glue, the public are speaking out by supporting the investigation into the potential threats this binding agent poses. Perhaps a boycott is in order if those in power do not alter their business practices.

We cannot expect those who profit from unhealthy lifestyles to cut their bottom line and do what is right.

We must stand up against these corporations and regulatory agencies to demand better quality food that is safe for human consumption.

RELATED ACTIVIST POST ARTICLE:
Why Are People So Upset About Meat Glue?

Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism. Our alternative news site is dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporately funded mainstream media. You can find us on our Facebook page .