What universal pricing ?

stephen77

Edwardia wrote: »

I guess I was naive in thinking if it said pork loin steak on the front that it IS 100% pork loin steak not 89% It's plain meat after all not chicken McNuggets (45% chicken).

Added water for succulence is complete rubbish, it just means more profit for Tesco. I checked the Sainsbury's, ASDA and Waitrose equivalents and called them and none of them add all those additives or water to pork.

If other supermarkets ARE giving 100% pork no additives no water for non-organic pork then Tesco should be able to do it too.

Just convinced me that whatever it says, Tesco is more interested in profit than being upfront about things. How many people bother to read the back packaging before buying ?

Also, as someone with diabetes I don't assume that plain pork will contain glucose syrup because it doesn't naturally and look at all the sodiums on the front of the chemicals.

Personally I always have a little read of the ingredient dec on the back of pack. Its up to the consumer to look.

Adding water can add succulense, When you cook the meat it does not dry out as much. Also if this water is mixed with salt & sugar solution and is going deep into the meat fibres, it will help break down the collagen with the the muscle fibres.
Adding water & brine will help the pork hold to more moisture when cooked thus giving the meal a more plump mouthfeel.

Look at old recipe eg coq au vin where they used to marinate the chicken in alcohol. This is not seen as cheapening the meat, this is seen as adding value. But doing the same job.

Edwardia

The additives may have long chemical names but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are synthetic chemicals. For example, annato is a colouring extracted from a seed.

Agribusiness is moving into organic food eg Heinz, Weetabix. Smaller companies are selling out eg Green & Black's was sold to Cadbury's which was then taken over by Kraft. This trend follows the American one.

This summer the EU signed a deal whereby they recognise anything certified by the USDA as organic. The USDA has an even longer list of approved additives because agribusiness representatives are routinely voted into consumer and farmer seats on decision-making panels.

Over the Christmas break the FDA allowed GM salmon. Sooner or later the frankenfish will get into oceans.

None of the additives used in food have to be tested long term, they only have to get GRAS status (Generally Accepted As Safe) ie not immediately toxic.

Anyway the main point here is that Tesco adds all this stuff and other supermarkets choose not to. Eating organic food lessens exposure to additives and pesticides.

Adding wine to meat adds flavour, adding salt, sugar and water really does meat no favours.

rufydoofyM

Edwardia wrote: »

I guess I was naive in thinking if it said pork loin steak on the front that it IS 100% pork loin steak not 89% It's plain meat after all not chicken McNuggets (45% chicken).

Added water for succulence is complete rubbish, it just means more profit for Tesco. I checked the Sainsbury's, ASDA and Waitrose equivalents and called them and none of them add all those additives or water to pork.

If other supermarkets ARE giving 100% pork no additives no water for non-organic pork then Tesco should be able to do it too.

Just convinced me that whatever it says, Tesco is more interested in profit than being upfront about things. How many people bother to read the back packaging before buying ?

Also, as someone with diabetes I don't assume that plain pork will contain glucose syrup because it doesn't naturally and look at all the sodiums on the front of the chemicals.

I completely agree with you. When I bought several packs of pork steaks in coop a couple of years ago I was horrified when I noticed ingredients written on the pack, So much so I stopped buying any meat from them. Then when visiting fil I picked some beef up in asda and it just didn't seem right when I opened it. no blood as I cut it and it wasn't discoloured but seemed wrong. On checking the label I found the word ingredients once again:eek::eek::eek: It went in the bin and oh went to the butcher whilst I carried on preparing veg. I know it was wasteful but if I buy meat thats what I expect to get, not 10 to 15 % water etc. It has changed how we shop and now we eat almost all organic. If it's not on offer or reduced we won't buy it. I felt conned. As for prices varying, I often notice differences between asda and tesco in the manchester area and east anglia. Its not just fuel that seems to be much cheaper up there. 5 or 6p cheaper much of the time. :eek:

geordie_joe

Edwardia wrote: »

None of the additives used in food have to be tested long term, they only have to get GRAS status (Generally Accepted As Safe) ie not immediately toxic.

I'm sure you have mentioned this before, and I thought it was a load of tosh. So could you give us proof of this?

stephen77

Edwardia wrote: »

.

Adding wine to meat adds flavour, adding salt, sugar and water really does meat no favours.

While wine does add flavour (salt and sugar do as well), it is also doing similar functions as marinating brine that is percieved to be a bad thing. Its just percieved as devaluing the product as the raw materials and cheaper than wine.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

with the pork..catch 22

you want nice 'lean' meat with practically no fat, so they are going to add stuff to try and give meat some sort of taste and tenderness.

We started rearing our own pigs this year, and when hubby went to pick up the first 2 up, the slaghter/butcher said they had the ideal amount of fat on them, which tbh i thought there was too much fat, BUT after cooking various cuts/joints you can really taste the difference, and the meat is so tender, not chewing etc its like two diff types of meat..

we have grown 2 on to bacon weight, so they will be going in the next 2 weeks, so cant wait to have 'proper' bacon:D

Edwardia

geordiejoe I think you're quite capable of Googling GRAS and FDA

cooltrikerchick..your own bacon, excellent :T I don't mind eating fat personally, it's not as bad for us as we've been led to believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRe9z32NZHY
Enjoy Saturated Fats: They're Good For You
Dr Donald W Miller Jr MD, Professor of surgery, Cardiothoracic Division, University of Washington

frugal_shopper_2

Edwardia wrote: »

The additives may have long chemical names but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are synthetic chemicals. For example, annato is a colouring extracted from a seed.

There are numerous natural additives which are not permitted in organic food such as E100 which is a natural colouring derived from turmeric. Although turmeric itself is allowed as an ingredient in organic foods the extract is not.

Edwardia wrote: »

None of the additives used in food have to be tested long term, they only have to get GRAS status (Generally Accepted As Safe) ie not immediately toxic.

Gras status is for US food additives, additives used in the UK have to be certified by the EU who have more stringent controls, it can take up to 10 years of testing for a new additive to get approval & previously permitted additives are routinely reassesssed.
http://www.faia.org.uk/food-additives/how-safe-are-additives/safety-assessment/