I was at our local chain grocery store (Metro Plus) yesterday and noticed cured whole pork butt on sale. It was from a brand name producer, whose label was prominently posted on the package. Also marked in large bold letters on the label was: 18% meat protein. The butcher happened to be there putting the packages into the special display fridge, so I asked him what “18% meat protein” meant. He appeared flummoxed and at a loss to answer the question. We discussed some of the possibilities; “I guess it might mean the meat protein less the fat”, he speculated. That didn’t make sense; there should be a lot more meat than 18%!
Today, as I explained what had happened to my son, there it was, a flash of understanding! “Of course”, I said out loud, “It’s the meat less the fat and the WATER! But why should this be so prominently posted on the label as if it represented some type of positive quality or competitive advantage? Then I realized that when you’re dealing with cured meats, manufacturers (because that’s what cured products really are: manufactured foods), can make their product weigh more by adding more salt and chemicals so that the meat will absorb more water; a nice cheap and unethical way of boosting profitability.
Not much different from shrimp, where processors add tons of salt to make them absorb more water, and also not dissimilar to ice cream….yes ice cream…which has air whipped into it. That’s why ice cream is sold by volume….not by weight! And that’s at least partly why a 500 ml of Haagen Daz costs $6 while you can get 2 liters of cheap store-brand ice cream for about the same money. You’ve surely noticed if you’ve compared both, that the Haagen Daz is hard as rock and takes quite some time to soften up outside the freezer, while cheaper ice cream melts before you can even get home from the store.
“You can’t protect yourself part-time, from people committed to taking advantage of you full-time”.