Hidden Phosphorus-Enhanced Meats: Part 3

What Is Enhanced Meat? 

Enhanced meat is fresh meat that has been injected with a solution containing water and other ingredients. The other ingredients consist of a mixture of sodium salts, phosphates salts, potassium salts, antioxidants, and/or flavorings. In appearance, enhanced meat resembles fresh meat, however, it differs in nutritional value. Because the meat has been altered from its natural composition, manufacturers must affix a food label stating that the meat product has been enhanced.

Enhanced meats have been made in homes and found in supermarkets for a long time. The self-basting turkey is one example of an enhanced product that has been a staple in many American homes around the Thanksgiving holiday. Alternately, some home chefs choose to enhance their fresh Thanksgiving turkey by soaking it in a salt brine to ensure its juiciness.

Why Are Meats Enhanced? 

Consumer convenience is the first reason that meat is enhanced. Americans are spending less time preparing meals, and, in our “grab and go” society, knowledge about meat selection and preparation is declining.5 Enhanced meat products provide a quick and easy solution to everyday meal planning.

Maintaining tissue integrity is another reason. With increased awareness of food-borne illnesses, consumers tend to overcook meat.5 This produces a dry and tough product. Enhanced meats maintain their tenderness even under the most extreme cooking conditions.

Purge is a term used to describe the liquid that is released from raw meat as it ages. Many consumers find this unattractive when purchasing fresh meat and tend to shy away from choosing packages with high purge. These packages may be discarded, thus resulting in waste and higher consumer prices. Purge also occurs when frozen meat thaws. Phosphate salt enhancers reduce purge.5

Phosphate salts also enhance a meat product’s color, retain its moisture, and reduce rancidity from oxidation caused by the metals within the meat.5 Meat enhanced by phosphate salts has a longer shelf life, a more attractive appearance for consumers, and maintains its moisture if overcooked.

Finally, retailers can see increased profitability with enhanced meats. As discussed above, enhanced meats have less purge, a longer shelf life, and longer-lasting color, resulting in more products being sold than wasted. Additionally, enhanced meats require little, if any, additional labor to bring them from processor to market. Many enhanced meats are package-ready for display, whereas others require repackaging into individual sales units. Because no traditional butchering of the meat is required, labor costs are lower.

Why Are Enhanced Meats Controversial? 

Despite federal guidelines requiring manufacturers to include a notification statement of enhancement and a nutrition label, most consumers are not aware that they are purchasing an altered product. The notification statement is usually written in small print often not noticed by the purchaser. Also, if the product has been repackaged into individual selling portions, the store is responsible for affixing the provided nutrition label on each individual packet. This step may be missed (personal communication; HyVee, Inc; Shawnee Mission, KS; May 2001).

Employees and meat managers may not be certain whether the product they are selling is enhanced. Some stores rely on central purchasing for their fresh meat inventory. One week they may receive meat that is not enhanced, and another week they may receive enhanced meat. If the label is not on the individual selling unit, neither the public nor the store knows for certain (personal communication; Price Chopper, Inc; Overland Park, KS; May 2001).

Some in the food purveyor industry are concerned about enhanced meat products. In the words of Jeff Lyons, Vice President and Senior General Merchandise Manager of Costco, Inc, enhancing meat “is a short cut for manufacturers.” He believes that there are alternate ways to provide a quality product without enhancing meat. Although Costco does provide some enhanced meat products, their fresh signature line, Kirkwood, is not enhanced (personal communication; Jeff Lyons; Costco, Inc; Issaquah, WA; May 2005).

Karen A. Burk, of Media Relations at Wal-Mart, Inc, provided the following information via e-mail on June 29, 2005: At Wal-Mart Supercenters, our case-ready fresh beef selections have been enhanced with up to a maximum 12% solution of water, sodium phosphate, salt, and natural flavorings. This enhancement process improves the overall quality of this product. As a result, many of our customers find case-ready beef to be superior in tenderness, texture, juiciness, and flavor to nonenhanced beef cuts. Natural flavors are spice extractives, derived from natural plant materials such as rosemary, sage, black pepper, garlic, ginger, etc. Wal-Mart also offers our customers a wide variety of poultry products to choose from, including frozen and fresh selections that are high in quality and flavor and have attributes our customers prefer, all offered at a value. These flavor-enhanced offerings give customers a variety of taste-tempting alternatives to make their meals more enjoyable and convenient. All enhancing ingredients are clearly labeled on the package of every product. In addition, we offer frozen selections that have not been enhanced and have no solution added.

The Impact of Enhanced Meats for CKD Patients 

Enhanced meats are hidden sources of phosphorus. Table 1 lists the most common phosphate salts used in the meat industry. Each salt has multiple names, making it harder to identify added phosphate ingredients on the nutrition label.

Table 1. Most Common Phosphate Salts Used

	Phosphate Salt	Alternate Names	Purpose
	Disodium phosphate	Sodium phosphate, dibasic; DSP/A; disodium monohydrogen; orthophosphate; disodium monophosphate	Texturizer
	Monosodium phosphate	Monosodium dihydrogen orthophosphate; sodium phosphate dibasic	Emulsifier
	Potassium tripolyphosphate	Pentapostassium triphosphate, KTPP	Moisture retention
	Sodium acid pyrophosphate	SAPP; disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate; acid sodium pyrophosphate	Color
	Sodium hexametaphosphate	HMP; sodium polyphosphate; graham’s salt	Reduce purge, emulsifier
	Sodium tripolyphosphate	Sodium triphosphate; pentasodium triphosphate; STPP, STP	Flavor enhancer
	Tetrasodium pyrophosphate	Sodium pyrophosphate; tetrasodium diphosphate; sodium diphosphate; TSPP	Moisture retention
	Trisodium triphosphate	Sodium phosphate; tribasic; TSP; TSPA; trisodium monophosphate	Antimicrobial

Note: Data from Astaris Incorporated, http://www.astaris.com/products.

Currently, there is no practical way to know how much additional phosphate enhanced meats have. The nutrition label no longer requires the inclusion of phosphorus, and specifics about how much phosphate salt is used is considered proprietary information by the food manufacturers.

Enhanced meats are also significantly higher in sodium than fresh, unadulterated meat. Although most fresh meats contain 50 to 75 mg sodium for a 3-oz serving, enhanced meats contain over 300 mg for the same serving size.

The Impact of Enhanced Meats for the General Population 

Phosphate consumption has been increasing over the past decade and a half. In 1990, phosphorus additives contributed to an estimated 470 mg/d to the American diet.6 Today, it is estimated that phosphate additives contribute up to 1,000 mg/d, depending on an individual’s food choices.6 Because these additives are more absorbable than phosphates found naturally in foods, the public may be consuming more phosphorus than is needed. Diet-induced secondary hyperparathyroidism is often overlooked in the general population.7 This, coupled with the altered calcium homeostasis seen with high-phosphorus diets, could contribute to bone loss in the non-CKD population.8

The additional sodium found in enhanced meats is also of concern for many Americans with hypertension who follow a low-sodium diet. As dietitians, we encourage the use of fresh meat over processed meats. Enhanced meats look like fresh meat and are sold alongside of fresh, unenhanced meats, thus many with hypertension may believe they are choosing a healthier product. Poorly controlled hypertension can lead to renal disease.

What Can Be Done? 

Because enhanced meat products affect not only the CKD population but also the general population, both the renal and the lay community can take actions to bring this topic to the forefront.

Both populations can inform the local media of the potential dangers of enhanced meats. Once consumers are aware of the problem, they can work to make changes. Consumers can express to their grocers that they do not want to purchase enhanced meat products. Businesses are more apt to respond to direct consumer requests. Both the professional and the lay communities can contact their Congressional leaders asking that the Food and Drug Administration look at the long-term effects of phosphate salt overexposure. Although the additives are listed in the Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) formulary, new evidence of secondary hyperparathyroidism caused by excess phosphate exposure could require review of their use and possible restrictions.

CKD patients need to be informed of this hidden source of phosphorus. The best way to help them to identify an enhanced meat product is to provide a list of brands found locally. It is also important for the dietitian to check with local food purveyors on the use of enhanced meat products and the availability of fresh meats. Providing options to patients whose diets are already limited is a great benefit.

Finally, as this series on hidden phosphorus foods concludes, it is vitally important that we encourage our CKD patients to read nutrition labels. Patients are their own best champions for phosphate control. The more they know about the foods they are choosing, the better choices they can make.