(Click Here). The first time I saw this video it was by clicking on a link that was posted in a Facebook Butcher’s group. I was very surprised to see whole, un-gutted, hogs being shredded in a hotdog making video; where the remainder of the process remained as expected. The first assumption I made was that someone had enough time and money to waste on equipment and hogs for the purpose of slandering emulsion meat products. After reading comments posted by some other group members it appeared that a few of them had been fooled by what they had seen. As discussion continued it became clear that the opening, whole hog shredding, segment had been filmed at a rendering plant then spliced onto someone else’s legitimate educational video.
When hogs arrive at a harvest plant they must be alive and pass an ante-mortem inspection prior to slaughter. Any hogs suspected of being diseased are marked for post-mortem veterinary inspection to determine carcass wholesomeness. The whole hogs shown in the opening segment were either DOA at the harvest plant or were condemned there as unfit for human consumption. Inedible, dead hogs were then transported to a rendering plant.
Some of the Facebook group members had knowledge and/or work experience in USDA/State inspected slaughter and/or further processing plants and could not believe that anyone would consider the video as real, even for an instant. I pointed out that Mechanically Separated Meat (MSM) has been in use for many years and that we all come from various backgrounds, some of which were solely boxed retail meat cutting. It’s more important that we conveyed the attitude that there is no wrong or dumb question; so we can best help everyone wanting to know the truth. To learn more about MSM click here. It’s truly unfortunate to think about how many non-meat industry related people will be all too ready to accept as fact what they see.
For the benefit of anyone inclined to dismiss me as “an apologist for the man,” I’ll list some easily researchable reasons that further debunk this particular propaganda video. Emulsion type products (wieners, bologna etc.) are the most complex form of meat processing. Finely chopped fat globules must be coated with enough salt-soluble meat protein so that they will not render out of full-cooked end items. Fillers, fat, collagen and salt-soluble meat protein ranges are self-limiting in saleable products. Further, finished products have to test-out as containing what’s on their approved label. There is no economic reason to formulate uncontrolled amounts of skin, bones (tooth hazards), inedible hair, inedible gut contents and organs (some inedible) into emulsion meat products. In fact, there is every reason not to.