In case the shock value from Super Size Me is starting to wear off, here’s an excerpt from the abstract of a paper in the Annals of Diagnostic Pathology. It was published last year, but the point is no less revolting today:
The purpose of this study is to assess the content of 8 fast food hamburger brands using histologic methods. Eight different brands of hamburgers were evaluated for water content by weight and microscopically for recognizable tissue types…Water content by weight ranged from 37.7% to 62.4% (mean, 49%)…The cost per gram of hamburger ranged from $0.02 to $0.16 (median, $0.03) and did not correlate with meat content. Electron microscopy showed relatively preserved skeletal muscle…Fast food hamburgers are comprised of little meat (median, 12.1%). Approximately half of their weight is made up of water. Unexpected tissue types found in some hamburgers included bone, cartilage, and plant material; no brain tissue was present. Sarcocystis parasites were discovered in 2 hamburgers.
Hungry, anyone?
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June 4th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Um, where’s the control? They should’ve included some prime beef that was prepared with extra care for comparison.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Water_in_Meats/index.asp
High water content in meat is actually a norm. Not to say anyone should not be worried about what is added in these processed meats, but something to consider.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
That’s not nearly as bad as I was expecting – I read in a novel somewhere about gym shoes and cats being included in the content of some!
June 4th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I heard mealworms–that “made with 100% pure beef” meant that the company that supplied it was named ‘100% Pure’.
I was sceptical then, but I have to admit: I was at least expecting a dash of rodent.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:50 am
This seems a little silly to me. How are they defining “meat”? Water is part of meat. You can’t have a muscle cell without water. It sounds like they’re saying the equivalent of “Only about 40-50% of your body is real human, because the rest is just water!”
The thing they would really need to measure is ADDED water (or other stuff). As Dennis points out, without a control, this information is pretty useless. And as demonstrator says, most meat is at least 50% water anyway, so it doesn’t surprise me that a hamburger would be 50% or more water!
June 5th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I agree… what are the figures of a healthy burger?
June 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Now I’m looking forward to similar analysis of chicken nuggets.