What if you eat raw sausages? Is it possible to eat sausage raw? How to cook sausages? How to choose store-bought sausages while following a diet
Today, the composition of sausages is replete with chemical elements: carrageenan, cochineal, phosphates, nitrites, nitrates. Yes, they all make sausages more tasty and attractive, but they are absolutely not healthy.
In addition, this type of product, due to the huge amount of preservatives, leads a person into a state of dependence. A person’s taste buds get used to this taste, and other food seems bland and not so appetizing.
Many people, by the way, believe that sausages and sausages are much safer than smoked sausage. However, it is not. Yes, there are not many spices in these sausages, but there are a huge number of other dangerous components: fillers, flavors, thickeners, dyes, flavor enhancers. But meat in sausages and sausages is, unfortunately, extremely rare today.
Previously, it was an honor for a manufacturer to have its products meet the requirements of GOST. In Soviet times, the production of sausages and sausages required the use of more than 50% natural meat. Now, after the advent of technical specifications (TS), which cost manufacturers much less, the requirements for product quality have decreased significantly.
Harm from sausages and sausages
Today, sausages require 10-30% meat. However, in reality it turns out that this is not meat pulp, but animal fat, skin, and poultry meat. Everything else in sausages and sausages is protein stabilizers and protein-fat emulsions.
Emulsions contain water, vegetable oil, soy protein, and sodium caseinate. As it turns out in practice, the proteins of meat and milk are completely incompatible, but manufacturers do not think about this. Also in the composition of sausages and sausages there is flour, starch, and various cereals.
And how can we then call these sausages a meat product?
As it may seem at first, soy is a harmless product. That’s true, but soybeans are capable of absorbing everything - flavors, preservatives, dyes, etc. In addition, soybeans can be genetically modified. But manufacturers benefit from its low cost, and consumers end up paying double the price.
How does the composition of sausages and sausages affect the human body?
In children, the composition of these products often causes allergic reactions and digestive disorders. After getting used to sausages, children constantly demand to cook them, and they can lead to all sorts of chronic diseases.
The substances contained in sausages and wieners cannot be completely digested purely physiologically. The body does not understand what to do with them and spends its energy on digestion. At the same time, this expended energy is vital for the growth, development and activity of children. Adults are also drawn to sausages after they try them.
However, sausages have no nutritional value. But this does not stop many parents, and they begin to feed their children this product almost from the age of 1 year, justifying their actions by the fact that the child really likes it and at least eats something.
Sausages should never be given to children under 3 years of age. Also, sausages and sausages should not be eaten by pregnant women and women during lactation. In men, these sausages significantly reduce sperm activity.
How to choose the right sausages and sausages and which of them may be less harmful?
Most people will not be able to resist eating this sausage product at least sometimes. Then they should learn to choose a safe product.
When buying sausages or sausages, a child should never buy bright pink or dark products. The rich color of the product indicates the presence of a huge number of dyes, and too dark a color is a sign of preservatives. More or less real sausages contain a homogeneous greyish-pink minced meat. In addition, look for a special symbol on the packaging that allows this product for children. To obtain this badge, manufacturers undergo additional research.
Each consumer can independently conduct a test at home: give sausages to a cat and a dog. The animal will eat a more or less natural product, but will not touch “solid soybeans”.
If the manufacturer states on the packaging that there is no soy in these sausages or sausages, then carefully read the composition of the product. Most likely it states that the sausage product contains fiber or dietary fiber. Of course, these additives are not dangerous, but why would you pay such a price for sausages as if they were made from meat?
In addition, on the packaging of these sausages they write that they allegedly used natural casings in their production. However, keep in mind that if the casing breaks during the heat treatment of sausages or wieners, then it is not natural, but artificial. If, after frying the sausage in a frying pan or cooking it in the microwave, it wrinkles or swells, this means that the carrageenan content in this sausage product is exceeded. This food additive can lead to severe allergies.
It is not recommended to eat overly salted sausages, as they may contain huge amounts of sodium nitrite. Protein additives make very soft sausages. Such sausages can be checked by squeezing the product in your hand.
To find out how much dye is contained in sausages or small sausages, boil the product in salt water. The experiment shows that if the water turns pink, then such sausages should not be eaten.
Remember that the high cost of a product does not mean that the product is made from natural cape. If you are poisoned by any type of sausage, then do not remain silent, but bring the matter to court. You will be entitled to compensation for moral damage caused, and the money you paid for the goods will be returned.
Write an application to Rospotrebnadzor of your city, attaching the product itself and a receipt for it. If, as a result of the examination, it turns out that this sausage product is spoiled, then you will be required to pay money.
The dangers of sausage are not just a myth propagated by vegetarians. For several years now, the World Health Organization has compared the health risks arising from regular consumption of processed meat (sausages, hot dogs and other processed foods) with the danger posed by smoking cigarettes and using asbestos (1).
Experts note that processed meats significantly increase the risk of intestinal cancer and strongly recommend limiting the consumption of such products to 50 g per day. But what is in the composition of sausages and sausages that provokes such negative processes, and how much does a sausage that is “safe” for health cost?
What exactly is harmful in sausage?
It is necessary to understand that modern sausages are a complex chemical product, only a small part consisting of what an ordinary person could call “meat”. None of the key ingredients in the sausage can be considered natural, since they all undergo multi-stage and very aggressive processing.
Separately, it is worth noting that it is strictly forbidden to fry, boil, or subject sausages to any other temperature treatment - the components they contain can oxidize and change under the influence of high temperatures, thereby becoming even more powerful carcinogens that provoke various types of cancer.
Sausage composition: meat quality
Typical raw materials for the production of even expensive sausages are the so-called “intensively fed animals” kept under conditions of limited movement. Since such pigs and cows practically do not move, their meat becomes extremely fatty, while having a light color and loose consistency.
If under normal conditions a cow eats fresh grass, then a cow from a meat processing plant lives on corn (naturally, the cheapest and most modified) and protein supplements, which are often the ground bones of her fellow cows. The result is a shift in the fat balance towards those contained in corn (2).
Vegetable proteins and fats
It is important to note that meat processing plants process up to 98% of the carcass of a killed animal. The fat from the skin and bones is rendered and added to the minced meat to produce a more “juicy” sausage. Additionally, hydrogenated vegetable fats are introduced into the product - unfortunately, during aggressive processing they appear.
Among other things, in cheap sausages and frankfurters, part of the meat can be replaced with soy protein. However, the main problem with this protein is not the soy itself, but, again, aggressive chemical processes. To give soybeans the desired textural properties, they can be soaked in an alkaline solution, bleached, and so on.
The main element of the composition: stabilizers
The initially light and loose meat, minced into fine mince, after adding vegetable fats, becomes even more colorless and looks like a shapeless mass. To create an elastic structure and a red “meaty” color, dyes and stabilizers are added. Both chemicals and dried blood can be used as a dye.
Starch and gelatin (typical ingredients of homemade jellied meat) were traditionally used as stabilizers and thickeners in the production of sausage, but now they have been replaced by hydrocolloids, which bind water and minced meat ten times better. To imagine their effect, think of wallpaper glue diluted in water.
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Sodium nitrite: a dangerous preservative
Sodium nitrite is added to sausage meat for two key reasons. Firstly, it is what gives the colorless mixture of animal and vegetable fats the familiar reddish-pink “sausage” color. Secondly, it is a powerful preservative that interferes with the development of cadaveric bacteria (without which, whatever one may say, the meat of a slaughtered animal is impossible).
Despite the fact that many experts are confident that regular consumption of sodium nitrite in food leads to various diseases and even stomach cancer (3), it is simply impossible to exclude it from the composition of sausage - without this component, the meat will begin to rot intensively within a few hours, even in refrigerated.
Flavor enhancers
The opinion that flavor enhancers are the most dangerous component of sausage and other processed meat products is deeply mistaken. In fact, it is an understood and researched substance that has no side effects on health and is found in many natural foods (including mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese).
Among other things, adding “regular” monosodium glutamate to an absolutely tasteless mass of loose meat, vegetable fat, stabilizers and preservatives cannot solve the problem and actually improve the taste. Spices for sausage are ground in a vacuum at -192C, or in the presence of carbon dioxide and ultra-high pressure.
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The World Health Organization has officially recognized sausages, frankfurters and other processed meat products as unhealthy products and strongly recommended limiting the consumption of processed meat to 50 g per day. The main reason is that modern sausages are a product of multi-stage and aggressive processing.
They used to say about sausages and sausages that they were a lifesaver, especially for working women - after all, the family must be fed in any case. And they are so easy to prepare: you just need to throw them into boiling water for a couple of minutes, and you can serve them on the table - with any side dish. That is why the line for sausages was always longer than for regular sausage.
Today there are much more sausages than before, and no one stands in line for sausages anymore - they can be bought freely. But are today's sausages and sausages similar to those of the past, and do they contain real meat? Is it possible to eat modern sausages and what is the harm from them? These questions are of interest to many people who are concerned about proper nutrition and the health of their loved ones.
According to statistics, every resident of Russia consumes about 40 kg of meat products per year - at least that’s what manufacturers call them.
What it is?
What is included in today's sausages and small sausages resembles the names of chemical elements - and this is actually the case. Nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, cochineal, carrageenan - all this makes sausages so aromatic, tasty and attractive in appearance. We like the taste of these chemicals because we are used to it, and so do our children, because their taste buds are much more sensitive, and food addiction occurs faster.
Delicious chemical additives of sausages
Many children do not want to eat meat - for example, cutlets prepared by their mother, but they are ready to eat sausages three times a day. A small experiment was conducted in one of the kindergartens in Moscow. After afternoon tea, the children were invited to play. The table was set in the room: on plates lay freshly cooked sausages, which had previously been checked for safety.
The children were asked to sit at the table for only 2 minutes, and if during this time the sausage remained intact, they would receive a new toy as a gift. Of the 20 children, only three were able to withstand the allotted time, and the rest ate the sausage, some in the first seconds, some in the last, but could not resist.
After the afternoon snack, the children were not hungry, but they chose a sausage rather than a new, yet unknown toy - a very eloquent example. Chemical food additives contained in sausages and sausages have a much stronger effect on our children - so is it worth introducing them to them?
Clearly unhealthy composition
However, many people believe that sausages and sausages are much safer than sausage, especially smoked sausage. There are few spices in them, there are no so-called combustion products - for example, resins, but there are many other, no less “interesting” and harmful to health components: flavor enhancers, dyes, thickeners, flavorings, fillers, but meat is rare. So think about it, is it possible to eat such sausages?
Many years ago, GOST requirements were developed obliging manufacturers to use natural meat - more than 50% - for the production of sausages and sausages. These requirements were met; Perhaps today there are manufacturers who strive to produce a quality product, but the vast majority of them have abandoned this. Technical specifications (TU) are much cheaper than GOST, and the quality requirements for products manufactured in compliance with them are much lower.
Harm from sausages and sausages
It is enough to look at the composition of sausages and small sausages to understand what harm to your health you cause by eating them.
About 10% of real meat, and even not of the highest quality, is included in sausages made in accordance with specifications. 30% is animal fat, leather, poultry meat (and in fact, the remains of their meat).
We can say that everything else is protein-fat emulsions and protein stabilizers. What is not there: pork skin, chicken skin, tendons, blood, fat (pork, beef, horse).
The emulsion contains soy protein, vegetable oil, water, and sodium caseinate, a substance based on casein, the main protein in milk. First, this protein is made into a powder, then dissolved again - in sodium hydroxide, and added to meat products to increase the protein content.
No one thinks that the proteins of milk and meat are incompatible with each other, but this is not the main thing: the usefulness and safety of all these substances is very doubtful. Starch, flour, and various grains are also added to sausages. Does it make sense to call it a meat product?
You don’t even have to think about soy products: everyone knows about them, and besides, soy is not the biggest evil. The point is different: soy absorbs everything: flavors, dyes, preservatives and other additives; It retains moisture perfectly, preserves the taste, and is much cheaper than meat. And everyone also knows that soybeans are often genetically modified, and such a product costs even less. But consumers pay for sausages is not so cheap...
Dangerous effect on the body
Additives used in sausages, including frankfurters, often cause allergies and digestive disorders in children. Having become accustomed to sausages and sausages, children demand them regularly, and hence the emergence of various chronic diseases.
The substances contained in familiar and convenient semi-finished products cannot be physiologically digested and absorbed: the body simply does not understand what to do with it, and begins to spend its resources, which children need for something completely different - for growth, development, activity. The adult body also does not feel its best, but the craving for sausages has already taken hold, and there is no strength to give them up.
Meanwhile, there is no nutritional value in sausages - it’s just a concentrate of substances we don’t need, but they can be eaten quickly and without problems, and children don’t need to be persuaded either. Most parents feed their children sausages and sausages because they simply cannot teach them to eat healthy food, and justify this by saying that this way the child will eat at least something. Even babies who have recently turned one year old are fed by their mothers with sausages, and not always those produced for children.
Let's look at the composition of the product, for example: “lean pork, beef, sausage lard, cheese, pork heart, pork skin, salt; granulated garlic, paprika, white pepper extract, spice extracts, starch, water, flavorings, food coloring, food phosphates, sodium nitrite, skimmed milk powder, granulated sugar with dextrose, lactic acid, sodium lactate, sodium erythrobate, guar gum, methylcellulose, soy concentrate (or isolate).” Are all these substances really useful for children, and adults too? Here is the answer to the question that interests many: “Is it possible to eat sausages and small sausages”? Of course not.
Do not feed sausages to at least children under 3 years of age; They will also bring nothing but harm to pregnant and lactating women, and men should remember that many substances contained in sausages significantly reduce sperm activity.
What kind of sausages and sausages can you eat?
Of course, most people are unlikely to give up sausages and sausages, but everyone who wants to maintain at least the appearance of health should be able to choose safer products (they cannot be called healthy). Which sausages, so to speak, are less harmful? What to choose from the huge assortment? Let's try to figure it out.
If you buy sausages for a child, do not buy hot pink or dark ones: in the first case there are a lot of dyes, in the second there are preservatives. Look for a product with homogeneous minced meat, grayish-pink in color, and look at the packaging: if there is no icon indicating that the product has been further researched and is approved for baby food, do not buy it.
After buying sausages, do a little test: offer them to a cat or dog. If the animal is not delighted with the treat, you are also unlikely to eat such sausages and sausages.
If the product label indicates that there is no soy, read the composition even more carefully: instead of soy, it often contains dietary fiber and fiber. Of course, it is not dangerous, but why pay money as if it were a meat product?
On packages of sausages and sausages it is often written that natural casing was used. If it breaks during heat treatment of the product, then it is artificial. The carrageenan content in a product can be determined by frying the sausage or cooking it in the microwave. A wrinkled or swollen sausage means that the manufacturer did not spare carrageenan, an additive that can cause allergies.
There is no need to eat a very salty product: such sausages may contain a large amount of sodium nitrite - this is very harmful. Sausages that are too soft are clearly made mainly from protein additives: the meat should be firmer. Test the product by squeezing it in your hand. To find out how much dye is in sausages, cook them in salt water: if the water turns pink, do not eat these products.
The high price of a product does not mean that the product is necessarily of high quality. In case of poisoning from sausages, sausages or any meat products, do not leave everything as it is: you can receive compensation for moral damages, and not just return the money paid for the product.
The local branch of Rospotrebnadzor is required to accept your application; of course, along with the product and a receipt for it. If, as a result of the inspection, it turns out that the product is damaged, you are required to pay the money.
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In recent years, a debate has erupted among consumers over whether raw sausages can be eaten. Theoretically, yes, since it is the same boiled sausage, but with more chopped minced meat. In theory, the product is ready to eat in its raw form. However, there are some “buts”.If you boil sausages, the smell of spices and the taste of the product intensifies. If it is already on the verge of its expiration date, then heat treatment will save a person from a possible intestinal disorder. In addition, during cooking, many chemical additives and dyes are released into the broth. As a result, the product becomes more “clean”, which cannot be said about it when it is in its “raw” form.
Is it possible to eat raw sausages in their natural casing without removing it? “Wrapper” is animal entrails, intestines. For sausages, processed small and large intestines are used. However, is it worth eating the product with such a shell? The intestines accumulate harmful substances and heavy metals. Some of this “alloy” remains in the multilayer shell. Therefore, even after careful processing, it is not recommended to eat such a “wrapper” of sausages; it can be harmful to health.
How are sausages different from boiled sausage?
Sausages and sausages differ from boiled sausages in that they have more ground minced meat; they also differ in shape - they are produced in the form of small bars. Sausage, unlike sausages, can be stuffed (with the addition of bacon, tongue), and by-products are added to liver meat. They also produce blood sausages, which differ in their mince and color.Sausages are not produced in this form. Although they can also have different colors, thickness of the bars, patterns on the surface and shell. And sausages may also differ in composition. If sausages are always made from minced meat, then sausages and similar products can consist of the following ingredients:
· ground veins, leather;
· flavorings;
· semolina;
· wheat and milk protein;
· large amounts of fiber;
· starch.
In addition to the above, a lot of water, thickeners and flavor enhancers are added to sausages. More often, cheap products have this composition.
What sausages can be eaten raw?
To choose sausages that can be safely consumed raw, it is important to pay attention to the composition. The “correct” product should contain only natural ingredients, without the addition of soy protein. It is also advisable to choose sausages with a minimum content of dyes.The composition of any product must be indicated on the label. Of course, there is no information on the casing of each sausage, but it is available on the packaging. You can ask the seller to read the ingredients. If it is not available, this is a direct violation of consumer rights and it is better not to buy such sausages at all, and even more so not to consume them.
Good sausages should be smooth, without a strong aroma of spices and a natural light pink color. Some products contain liquid smoke. It is also not recommended to eat such sausages raw. Liquid smoke only imparts a smoked smell, but without heat treatment it is harmful to the body.
Now another question: “Can children eat raw sausages?” Against the background of the above, it is undesirable. Sausages can only be given to children in boiled form. Moreover, it is advisable to include the product in the diet no more than twice a week. Moreover, the children's body is more susceptible to dyes and chemicals and can react with allergic reactions.
After sausages are cooked, the water often turns pink. The broth turns out very fatty. This means that some of the harmful substances and dyes went into the water during heat treatment. However, we must think about whether it is worth eating sausages raw, when all this “beauty” is sent not to the broth, but to the body?
