Potted Meat Product: Small Can Not so Small Ingredients

Have you ever wondered what is in some of the foods that we eat? Unfortunately, I let my mind get the best of me and wandered to the back side of the label to explore the unexplored on an interesting food item.

Potted Meat Product: Potted Meat Product is a canned meat product with a long shelf life and is a love it or hate it kind of food. This product is considered a staple for people that like to camp and quite a few members of the military like to receive a few cans of potted meat product in their care packages.

Once I ventured into the land of the unknown and read the label, I quickly realized that this is one very interesting little can! One of the first interesting items that I found was Beef Tripe, what is beef tripe, you say? Well according to wikipedia beef tripe is made from the lining of the stomach from cows. Yeah, that sounds good.

The next item on the list is mechanically separated chicken, what in the world did the chicken do that it had to be mechanically separated? Well I looked this one up too, and from what I found the term mechanically separated chicken is a term used for the mechanical process by which you strip every last bit of chicken from the bone extracting it into a paste like form. Partially defatted cooked pork fatty tissue, partially defatted cooked beef fatty tissue, pork skin, and vinegar make up the remaining list of primary ingredients.

While is seems that potted meat is a good source of vitamin C, calcium, and iron. The amount of saturated fat and sodium is through the roof. This small little can, which is only 3 ounces, contains 770mg of sodium more than 30% of your daily allowance for sodium. If you had an afternoon snack of two cans of potted meat with crackers you could surpass your daily sodium intake and this does not even take into account for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

While I will admit that I have ate a can or two of potted meat product myself, it can really turn your stomach to think of the contents and the process by which this amazing little can makes it to your grocery store shelf. I also understand that many foods on the market today have ingredients that we cannot even pronounce much less know exactly what they are, but we need to be aware of what we are putting into our body. The occasional can of potted meat product probably would not hurt anyone, but I wouldn't want to make it my first choice for an afternoon snack.