At first, this seemed totally new to me. The words ‘Spaghetti Meat’ stopped my scanning eyeballs in their tracks. But fter reading the source post for today’s offering, I realized I was already familiar with the Spaghetti Meat phenomenon…
We don’t see it all that much here in Canada. We have different poultry raising standards and prac-tices than they do in the US. The specifics will become clear anon…
Creeps me out
The concept creeps me out, frankly. ‘Spaghetti Meat’ (particularly in chicken) is the popular term used to describe a muscle-fibre defect that renders meat stringy and insubstantial. And, in some cases, ‘mushy’.
My first thought when I first beheld a piece of ‘spaghettified’ chicken breast was, “The nefarious types at the packing house overdid it when they pumped this breast full of water to pump up the weight of the package!”
That’s just one of the tricks meat pack-ers are legally allowed to use to mislead and deceive consumers – and pump up their profits.
Cause and effect
Researchers explain, the muscle defect, officially known as ‘myopathy’ – causes chicken meat to ‘unravel’ into soft strings. Dr. David Gerrard, Director of Virginia Tech’s School of Animal Science, explains, “has been attributed to decreases in connective tissue strength that holds the muscle bundles together.”
“Gerrard estimates that myopathy affects between 10 and 35 percent of chickens in the American poultry industry,” a new Delish! story reports. “The occurrence of spaghetti meat is influenced by the bird’s genetics as well as the facilities in which they’re grown and processed. While the correlation is not fully confirmed, many experts in the field associate spaghetti meat with the increased growth rate that happens at the industrial level.”
In fact, poultry producers have been tweaking their birds to grow faster since the 1950s. That’s optim-ized their profits, allowing them to get more birds to market in a given year. The problem is, the chickens’ muscles literally burst out of their bundles. The same phenomenon has been observed in human body builders who’ve abused steroids…
Is it safe?
There is no known danger to humans associated with spaghetti meat. But there have been many reports that the stuff doesn’t always react as hoped through the prepping and cooking process. Research has shown that spaghettified chicken tends to shrink more than regular chicken during cooking. An offshoot of which can be dry, stringy texture.
Other studies have revealed spaghetti meat has reduced nutritional value.
Producers are aware
Producers and packers are aware of the spaghetti met phenomenon, of course. Insiders say the worst cases of myopathy are set aside at the plant for use in alternative products such as chicken nuggets, which are made from mechanically-deboned, ground chicken.
My take
The US FDA (and other food regulation authorities) suggest you choose chicken from smaller, more-local suppliers, or splurge for ‘organic’ chicken to avoid ‘spaghetti meat’. Organic production uses no hormones or other artificial means to speed up the growth of chickens. In Canada, we have stricter regulations than in the US on what poultry farmers can do and what they can feed their flocks.
The USDA also offers a ‘rule of thumb’ for identifying potentially myopathic chicken: You can’t tell just by looking at the ‘exposed’ portions of the meat. But if a breast is bigger than your hand, it’s probably going to be stringy…
~ Maggie J.