If you’ve eaten a cut of prime cut meat be that lamb, pork, fish, or beef, chances are at one time or on a regular basis you’re eating meat assembled through the use of a power called transglutaminase or “meat glue”. This is an enzyme in power form that is toxic if inhaled as a powder.
What purpose does it serve in meat? Well, wholesale meat producers and restaurants such as buffets collect scrapes of prime meat left over and sprinkle it with meat glue which allows them to fashion the scraps into what appears to be a regular slab of meat. It can then be sliced into what appear to be natural cuts of meat, but they are not natural at all.
Thankfully, the European Union has banned the use of transglutaminase enzymes, but that is not the case in the United States. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) allows companies to use meat glue and customers do not have to be informed of its use. In fact, some businesses can sell what are purported to be prime cuts of meat at full retail price which are really scraps of meat cobbled together in the form of a prime cut.
The trouble is that once the meat is glued together, it is indistinguishable from a regular cut. Grilling or cooking the meat won’t produce any discernible taste difference either. There is one caveat. If the meat is cooked rare, it runs a higher risk of inducing food poisoning. In fact, the risk of food poisoning is hundreds of times higher. This is because the pieces glued together are often end pieces which may carry bacteria. The cooking process kills the bacteria on the outer pieces, but because they have been cobbled together, they are insulated inside to cut of meat.