With food, there is no room for deception. That is what the food technologist, Miguel A. Lurueña, defends, who has explained through his social networks what label issues users have to pay attention to when buying meat in a supermarket. The key is in the labeling, he advances in a long thread on X (formerly Twitter).
Users’ doubts were repeated after a video went viral, in which a piece of meat is seen passing through a conveyor belt while needles go up and down to stab along the entire piece.
Lurueña explains that this process is carried out “to inject brine (water with salt), normally along with other ingredients that help retain that water and preserve the food”, for example, antioxidants, he continues.
After its clarification, many asked if it was allowed. And the technologist responded: “Of course yes.” However, he remembers that all this information must appear on the labeling.
“Now, that cannot be sold as ‘meat’ because it is not meat, but rather a ‘meat preparation’. That is, it is a product made up of several ingredients among which is meat,” he continues.
According to the specialist, we can identify a preparation only by looking at the price, “because these products are much cheaper”, given that their proportion of meat is much lower, around 70% in many cases.
Manufacturers also rely on this practice to “offer a more tender and juicy product”, something that is achieved thanks to this injection of brine, concludes Lurueña.
