You’ve Been Eating Mechanically Separated Chicken and You Don’t Even Know It

Take a look at the ingredients list of food products including Slim Jims, hot dogs, and other inexpensive meat-based foods that don’t need to actually look like meat, and you’re bound to encounter mechanically separated chicken or turkey, usually as one of the primary ingredients. The name of this ingredient is pretty ominous – what exactly is being separated, and why are machines needed? – so what exactly is it, and how is it made?
Mechanically separated meat (which also includes pork), is found in plenty of foods, including chicken nuggets and frozen pre-formed chicken patties, but while there’s a limit on mechanically separated pork in hot dogs (20 percent), there’s no legal limit on mechanically separated chicken in hot dogs, so you may want to check the ingredients list before your next cookout.