Where is the meat in ham? It's all starch and additives

As a convenient food that can be found everywhere, ham sausage has always won the hearts of a large number of foodies with its advantages of being cheap and delicious.

But there are always voices around you telling you:

The preservatives in ham can cause cancer!

Where is the meat in ham? It’s all starch and additives!

Who knows what kind of meat it is? Maybe it’s rat meat!

Is ham sausage really that scary? Practice makes perfect!

We bought 10 popular ham sausages, including double H, gold L, beautiful H, and various kings of kings~

Before my colleagues and cats in the office ate them all, I sent them to the laboratory for testing.

Finally I found out that this is what ham sausage is made of.

1. The meat is not small, but the lean meat is not much. Strictly speaking:

Lean meat = good meat

Pig skin, chicken bone paste, etc. = leftover meat

Look at the ingredient list of ham sausage. The ingredients at the front are all meat. Does that mean we can eat meat with confidence?

We use the LC-MS/MS method to specifically detect the lean meat content in 10 types of ham sausages (currently only the lean meat content can be detected).

Result: The lean meat content in ham sausage is not that high. The top students can get about 1/5 of the total content, while the poor students can get only 1/10.

The lean meat is mainly chicken, and pork is generally very rare.

We also learned from some relevant people in the industry that many sausages now have low lean meat content.

The reason is that due to cost control considerations, manufacturers are more willing to add leftover meat such as pig skin, chicken skin, chicken frame puree, and chicken neck puree. These are not only cheaper, but also provide some protein and taste.

After all, whether it is good meat or leftover meat, it is actually "meat".

For example:

If pork is replaced with pork skin and chicken breast is replaced with chicken puree, the cost can be reduced by 2.5 times.

Second Brother Saigao

However, as long as the source is standard, there will not be much difference in the taste of these scraps of meat after being processed into ham sausage.

2. Don’t panic, fat people. The fat content is not high. Although there is not much lean meat, the fat content in the ham sausage is surprisingly not high either.

After actual testing, the fat content of the 10 types of ham sausages was basically less than 10%, and the better ones were similar to lean pork.

The fat content of lean pork is 6%

After analyzing the reasons, it may be that the fat content of raw materials such as pig skin, chicken skin, and chicken frame paste is relatively low, but the water content is high.

Therefore, the overall fat content of ham sausage is not very high (it seems that using leftover meat has its benefits).

3. There is not much starch, and there is no need to have no starch. The starch content in ham sausage has always been a point of complaint.

Many people hold the view that "the starch content determines the quality of ham sausage."

However, the national standard has always had requirements and regulations on the starch content of ham sausage.

Even the cheapest ham sausage has a starch content of no more than 10%.

We also measured the starch content of 10 types of ham sausages, and the results all met national standards and were all below 8%.

It turns out that starch-free ham sausage does not contain any starch at all, but the content is relatively low.

4. It is true that it is cheap, and it is also true that it contains a lot of water. When it comes to ham sausage, everyone cares more about the meat and starch, and it seems that no one ever cares about how much water it contains.

In fact, in addition to meat and starch, ham sausage is largely supported by water, including water brought in by the raw materials and added water.

After testing 10 types of ham sausages, the overall water content was above 60%.

This is because:

Without water, it is difficult to make the ham sausage chewy and tender.

It can reduce costs to a certain extent. After all, there is nothing cheaper than water.

Therefore, the reason why ham sausage is cheap and delicious cannot be attributed to starch alone.

5. There are many types of additives, but the content is not high. The additives in ham sausages on the market are basically the following:

Most of these additives are used to lock in moisture and are added in very small amounts, such as phosphates, colloids, and starch.

We also tested nitrite, an additive that everyone is worried may cause cancer.

Actual test results: The residual nitrite content in all 10 types of ham sausages is very low.

In fact, the addition of nitrite in meat products is very necessary because it is the most effective preservative against botulism so far.

In short: as long as the type and content of additives meet the standards, there is nothing to worry about.

On the contrary, blindly pursuing additive-free food safety will lead to greater food safety risks.

6. Average appearance, but extremely high salt content. Although the ham sausage may look small in size, its salt content is quite high, even higher than that of the very salty luncheon meat.

In our previous 9 luncheon meat evaluation experiments, the average salt content of luncheon meat was 1.75g/100g.

The average salt content of the 10 types of ham sausages is about 2.4g/100g.

If you add a bucket of instant noodles to it, your daily salt intake will go off the charts.

China's dietary guidelines recommend that adults should consume no more than 6g of salt per day

The truth about ham sausage: there is meat in ham sausage, but not much lean meat, mainly leftover meat;

The reason why ham sausage is cheap is because of the clever combination of meat, which uses a lot of water, and it is really not a starch pot;

Starch-free ham sausage is neither 100% starch-free nor has much to do with pure meat;

People who want to lose weight should not rush to throw away sausages, because they are not high in fat;

The amount of additives is scary, but the salt content is not high. However, the salt value is off the charts. When eating, it is better to pair it with vegetables and eggs instead of instant noodles.

Instead of worrying about whether you can eat ham sausage, it is better to strike a balance between nutritional health and appetite, eat it in moderation, and learn how to match them.

After all, there is no junk food, only junk eating habits.

References:

[1] Liu Wanchen, Liu Aiping, Zhao Rong, Chen Shumin, Rong Hui. Changes and safety analysis of nitrite content during meat processing and storage[J]. Food Science, 2010, 31(01): 113-116.

[2]ΓΚΟΒΑΡΗ, M. & Pexara, Andreana. (2018). Nitrates and Nitrites in meat products. Journal of the Hellenic Veterinary Medical Society. 66. 127. 10.12681/jhvms.15856.

[3] Gao Xiangjiang. Nutritional value of chicken bone paste and its food processing technology [J]. Meat Industry, 2005(08):16-17.