Restructured steak is a catch-all term to describe a class of imitation beef steaks made from smaller pieces of beef fused together by a binding agent. Its development started from the 1970s. Allowed food-grade agents include:
- Sodium chloride (table salt) and phosphate salts. Salt can prevent microbiological growth and make myosin-type proteins more soluble. The allowed amount of phosphate in end products is 0.5% in the U.S. It increases the emulsification of fat.
- Animal blood plasma
- Alginate: Sodium alginate forms an adhesive gel in the presence of Ca2+ ion.
- Transglutaminase: an enzyme that helps the forming of cross-binding proteins.
Read more about Restructured Steak: Problems
Famous quotes containing the word steak:
“Being American is to eat a lot of beef steak, and boy, we’ve got a lot more beef steak than any other country, and that’s why you ought to be glad you’re an American. And people have started looking at these big hunks of bloody meat on their plates, you know, and wondering what on earth they think they’re doing.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)