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"Meat glue" is yet another food industry practice that has beenaround for decades, but the public is only now learning about.Headlines like "Should you be grossed out by 'meat glue'?" and"Meat glue' poses health risks for consumers" are swirling aboutthe Internet, and, especially after the pink slime PR disaster, themeat industry is trying to get in front of this one. Transglutaminase (TG) and beef fibrin are enzymes used to bindproteins together. These ingredients are used mostly in meatproducts, to bind pieces of meat together, but also can be used inyogurt, baked goods, or seafood and they have both been usedwithout incident since the 1990s. Recent media coverage of thepractice has flung the issue into the spotlight. "We're definitely making an effort to engage," said Janet Riley,the head of public affairs for the American Meat Institute, whichrepresents the major players in the meat industry. Riley has made apoint of addressing transparency concerns head on, noting that thepractice of using TG and beef fibrin is "absolutely not a secret." As articles about "meat glue" began to flood the Internet, AMIpulled together a press call with TG-maker Ajinomoto and beeffibrin-maker Fibrimex to "set the record straight." According to the industry, TG and beef fibrin are used primarily infood service -- think casinos, hotels and catering companies -- toallow for flexibility in the sizes and shapes of cuts they serve topatrons. One of the common uses for these binders is to mold twolarge beef tenderloins together. When the combination tenderloin issliced it has a more uniform size, which is especially helpful ifyou're serving a large number of people. It is not clear exactly how widely the ingredients are used. Areport this week by veteran food journalist Andrew Schneiderestimated that between "11 to 35 percent of all packaged and slicedham, beef, chicken, fish, pizza toppings and other deli productsare enhanced, restructured or molded using the meat glue," but theindustry says that ingredients are actually used in a "very, very,very" small fraction of beef and pork products. AMI estimates that, at most, 8 million pounds of meat are served toconsumers with these ingredients, which is far less than 1 percentof all meat produced in the United States, but there is independentdata to back up either estimate. "Meat glue" sure sounds gross, but is it safe? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declared both ingredientsas "Generally Recognized as Safe," otherwise known as GRAS. But, if an intact steak is contaminated, it will only havepathogenic bacteria on its exterior, which means it's generallyconsidered safe to order that filet mignon rare. Doesn't bindingcuts together mean the filet should be cooked to a highertemperature? Dana Hanson, an extension meat scientist at North Carolina StateUniversity, said that it is possible that different cuts puttogether could be more susceptible to contamination by potentiallyintroducing pathogens into the center of a pieced-together steak.But Hanson said that federal cooking recommendations would besufficient to kill any bacteria. "We find that the safety of this product is very acceptable," hesaid, adding that there have been "no negative food safety issues." And the meat industry was quick to point out that the U.S.Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Servicerecommends that a meat product produced with TG be cooked to atleast 145 degrees, with a three minute rest period, which is thesame recommendation the agency makes for an intact steak. There hasnever been a foodborne illness linked to meat product produced witheither ingredient, according to the manufacturers. Interestingly, that advice doesn't seem to square with the factthat FSIS recommends other non-intact meat products like groundbeef, mechanically- and needle-tenderized steaks reach an internaltemperature of 160 to ensure any pathogens are killed. Unlike lean finely textured beef, aka pink slime, in which ammoniumhydroxide was considered a processing aid, not an ingredient (eventhough the ammonia does linger), TG and beef fibrin are bothconsidered ingredients and are federally required to be labeled onconsumer packaging. But it's not likely you will find either ofthese products listed, since the most common use, especially forTG, is at the food service level. A recent report by San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO-TV, whichsparked media attention across the country, alleged that somerestaurants might use meat glue to mold lower quality cuts of meattogether and pass them off as a single, higher-quality, moreexpensive cut. Both Ajimoto and Fibrimex say they discourage their customers fromthis practice, but it's not known how widely such consumerdeception might occur. "We would not condone that behavior because it is patentlyillegal," said Mark Dopp, senior vice president of regulatoryaffairs and general counsel for AMI, explaining that state andlocal consumer protection laws would forbid the mislabeling. "Wedon't believe that is taking place. In the unlikely event that itis, that is a state and local issue." Whether consumers will react like they did to lean finely texturedbeef, or "pink slime," remains to be seen. A quick look at twitter reveals dozens of comments like "Ewww! Timeto become a vegetarian," "Gross," and "Reaffirming my commitment toa vegan diet," but so far the issue has not sparked a full onconsumer revolt. 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