One of my heros… Marian Burros (New York Times food writer and author of my favorite cookbooks of all time including “Cooking for Comfort” and “20-minute menus”) has a story in today’s Times about all the additives the agribiz folks pump into meat including salt and water… for which consumers pay a premium price.
Here’s that excellent article.
Does this give you pause? What’s the best approach to being a savvy consumer?
Read this
Responses to “Another scary meat story…”
August 9th, 2006 at 10:29 am
I don’t like the idea of adding salt solutions to beef and fresh pork, but they are probably necessary in turkey and hams, since they are often so lean. When I lived in NY many years ago, I would often buy chicken at a Kosher market, because it tasted so much better, even though it was expensive. That is an option to get meat whose production is strictly controlled, but finding a wide variety may be difficult in Memphis-I don’t know, but would like to see some input from others. And, of course, those of us who savor pork would be out of luck. By the way, I would think that anyone who really worries about salt solutions and still eats any sausage, hot dogs, or bolonga, might be a bit of a hypocrite. If you like bratwurst (and I do), don’t take a tour of the manufacturing plant!
August 9th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
As a registered lobbyist, Jim, I concur with your comment at the bottom. It’s the same for capitol hill in Nashville.
August 10th, 2006 at 11:22 am
I recently read a taste test of various brands of hotdogs in the Cooks Illustrated newsletter that was an eye opener. I have always gone for the ones that taste good to me, but the variations in ingredients among brands is quite significant. The gist of the taste test was how many different brands contain corn syrup. That is a good example of all the hidden ingredients in foods that might undermine a diet or aggravate an allergy. I have become a more informed consumer after learning to read the ingredients lists. A particular eye opener is how many foods contain soy products, to which I am sensitive due to a blood clotting disorder. I ate hotdogs raw when I was a child & lived to tell about it. But I’m a little less apt to do something foolhardy like that in adulthood when I read what is in some of these concoctions (yuck!) That said…does anyone know what brand of hotdogs they use in the pretzel dogs at Auntie Anne’s pretzels? Those things are addictive 
4 comment.