Mechanically separated meat, also known as mechanically recovered/reclaimed meat, is a paste-like meat product produced by forcing beef, pork or chicken bones, with attached edible meat, under high pressure through a sieve or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue. Mechanically separated meat has been used in certain meat and meat products since the late 1960s. This product can be contrasted with meat extracted by advanced meat recovery systems...
Mechanically separated meat must be labeled as "mechanically separated"... in the ingredients statement. Hot dogs can contain no more than 20 percent mechanically separated beef or pork...
Since bits of the spinal cord (the part most likely to be carrying BSE) and brain tissue often got mixed in with the rest of the meat, products using mechanically separated meat taken from the bodies of bovines were at higher risk for transmitting BSE to humans. As a result, in 1989 the United Kingdom tightened restrictions to help ensure that pieces of the spinal cord would not be present in mechanically separated meat taken from bovines.
The image, from
Wiki, shows "mechanically separated chicken."
