Hilary’s beef with ‘glued meat joints’

SOME perfect looking joints of meat are several different cuts “glued” together, a top chef has warned.

Factory-produced “joints” can contain a substance called transglutaminase which binds together meat from different parts of the carcass.

Hilary O’hagan-brennan revealed: “It is basically a glue. All meats are different sizes, different shapes, different forms so if you are in a factory setting and you are trying to create one uniform piece of a joint you are going to use that to create that piece of meat.

“It is not an ingredient so you won’t find it listed.”

In the latest episode of RTE’S hit show What Are You Eating? Hilary reveals how it’s done.

She takes three pieces of beef from different parts of the cow, covers them in transglutaminase, shoves them tightly together and packs them in cling film.

Hours later the cuts are “glued” together as one joint and will not fall apart.

Hilary says: “You have a nice round rib of beef. A brand new joint!”

Presenter Philip Boucher-hayes added: “It’s a muscle that never existed in nature.

“It could be a bit of shin, a bit of neck, a bit of topside but looks like one uniform piece.” When cooked, the two agreed it looked perfect but found it had a taste of ammonia. Phillip said: “I was completely taken in by it until I ate it.”

Chef Darina Allen, of the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork, hit out at multinational food companies and said: “The reality is a lot of the food we are eating today is doing us damage.”

What Are You Eating? is on RTE One, 8.30pm on Wednesday.