Blood clot type thing in mince beef?

morganlefay

Now I am an 'older lady' I have come to the conclusion that if something you are planning to eat worries you (even if other people wouldn't mind it) you should just chuck it. I expect that's not wholly OS but I've spent several nights unable to sleep because I've fed us something I didn't quite like the look or smell of, and waiting for hideous tummy problems or even death to strike. Life's too short to give yourself extra anxiety surely ? I am sure many of us on here wouldn't eat some of the things Hugh F-W eats, and indeed wouldn't life be a dull place if we were all the same ? (I'd have chucked out the clots too...) Happy Christmas !!

ChapelGirl

Personally I like a nice bit of black pudding. Lots of lovely pigs' blood plus whatever else the locals put into it. My favourite is the French kind - boudin noir, served with pan-fried apple slices and mashed potato. Delicious!

The problem with buying pre-packed mince is that you have absolutely no idea what has gone into it. If you use a good butcher instead you will get a better product, which will look, cook and taste much better, plus you won't have to dispose of any nasty polystyrene trays.

And on the subject of French butchery, they have special chilled mincing machines on the counter so that you can have your hamburger minced and pressed while you wait. You get to see what has gone into it, and as it is freshly minced there is less oxidisation (where the raw meat goes brown or grey) because the air has less time to get to the cut surfaces. I wonder why they don't do this in the UK?

headcrash27

I tend to just buy from Tesco for the convenience, the nearest butchers to me is 20 minutes away on the bus and i don't drive. I also assumed that it would be more expensive at the butchers. I might take a look next time i'm in town though.

ChapelGirl wrote: »

Personally I like a nice bit of black pudding. Lots of lovely pigs' blood plus whatever else the locals put into it. My favourite is the French kind - boudin noir, served with pan-fried apple slices and mashed potato. Delicious!

The problem with buying pre-packed mince is that you have absolutely no idea what has gone into it. If you use a good butcher instead you will get a better product, which will look, cook and taste much better, plus you won't have to dispose of any nasty polystyrene trays.

And on the subject of French butchery, they have special chilled mincing machines on the counter so that you can have your hamburger minced and pressed while you wait. You get to see what has gone into it, and as it is freshly minced there is less oxidisation (where the raw meat goes brown or grey) because the air has less time to get to the cut surfaces. I wonder why they don't do this in the UK?

balmaiden

Oh dear, it seems everywhere I go on the forum these days , there seems to be a lot of nasty posts creeping in. why on earth can't people answer the questions asked? Instead we have an " I'm better than you, because I shop at xyz and only buy the best" attitude. Frankly it sickens me more than anything I could find in a packet of mince!!!

headcrash27

balmaiden wrote: »

Oh dear, it seems everywhere I go on the forum these days , there seems to be a lot of nasty posts creeping in. why on earth can't people answer the questions asked? Instead we have an " I'm better than you, because I shop at xyz and only buy the best" attitude. Frankly it sickens me more than anything I could find in a packet of mince!!!

So true! It's such a shame because there's no need for it. If they don't have anything nice or helpful to say than why say anything at all. At least they are in the minority.

katholicos

It's a bit too snarky in this thread for my liking, snarkiness isn't what either OS living or the OS board is about. I tend to think of this board and the regulars here as 'neighbourly' kind of people (who, just like real-life neighbours chat about all manner of things, including blood clots in mince, i'm sure), so it is a surprise to see 'attitude' creeping in to some responses to the OP.

Having said that, none of the snarky responses were by anyone whose username I recognise.

Now then, the blood clot.

Sounds very small, so what i would do is just pick out that bit and bin it and then cook the rest of the meat as usual.

ben500

Your meat should not have a blood clot in it if it is mince, a blood clot would not have survived the mincing process, therefore the blood clot is a contaminant of the product not part of it. The blood clot or blood must have been added to the product after processing or worse still dripped off production machinery indicating poor housekeeping as packaged products would not normally come into contact with unprepared produce. Add that to the fact that any blood being emitted from the mince itself would most likely be heavily diluted with water salts and various chemicals and not able to clot.

Common sense dictates you should not eat this meat as the blood clot is obviously not related to the product and therefore you cannot be sure of it's origin and should be concerned that any foreign body could be packaged with your produce, it may just as well as be a spanner or as somebody else mentioned earlier a fingertip, it is a foreign body ie it is not related in any way to the mince.

headcrash27

ben500 wrote: »

Your meat should not have a blood clot in it if it is mince, a blood clot would not have survived the mincing process, therefore the blood clot is a contaminant of the product not part of it. The blood clot or blood must have been added to the product after processing or worse still dripped off production machinery indicating poor housekeeping as packaged products would not normally come into contact with unprepared produce. Add that to the fact that any blood being emitted from the mince itself would most likely be heavily diluted with water salts and various chemicals and not able to clot.

That's really not a nice thought. That settles it for me then, i'm going to take it back. I showed it to my hubby this morning when he came in from work and he thought it was disgusting too and said to take it back.

ben500

You don't need to take my word for it, just think about it a little when was the last time you purchased a JOINT of meat from a supermarket and found clotting blood in the packaging? You won't that's what the nappies are for, to catch the slime eminating from it so that you don't notice that what actually gets emitted from your "finest" joint is most likely to be less than 50% blood the rest being water, salts and other chemicals, which combined together dependant upon the water content will produce a liquid at it's thickest density consistent with single cream. Next time you purchase a joint from a supermarket take a look at the sludge in the bottom of the packaging and ask yourself do you know of any creature that has pink blood the thickness of water?

jexygirl

In fairness a really good post Ben, I hadn't thought about it that much, apart from just putting the clot down to "processing" but you are right, it wouldn't have gotten through the mincer.
My apologies for saying it would be fine, as Ben says, its likely down to unhygienic practices I guess.
Thankfully I get all my meat from either a local butcher, or a local game keeper, so I can pretty safely say that it should all be ok. Apart from anything else, it also supports my local buisnesses, but I do realise that sometimes its more expensive, but in the long run, the quality is better. My joints never shrink, my mince doesnt half once fried, my free range chickens come with a greaseproof covering, not shrink wrapped with a "nappy", and I can also request things that simply aren't available from supermarkets - including leaner cuts, cheaper "unfashionable" cuts etc.
I apologise for saying it would be fine, although it probably would be as (like with anything) you will be cooking it at a high enough temp to kill any bacteria, the thought of why / how it got there really made me think :S
Hope you got a satisfactory response from the supermarket and enjoyed your meal
Jex