Turkey Ham?
What is Turkey Ham?
When I wrote on Monday 5th ( Wild birds not to blame ) about the Lorries from Hungary, mainstream media were still reporting the sparrow through the ventilation shaft story, and the Bernard Mathews offcial line seemed to be that the outbreak of H5N1 in Hungary was not connected in any way. “All our birds are British,” he said. “The fact that we have a Hungarian operation is immaterial”
Now the truth is beginning to emerge .
Bernard Matthews, Britain’s largest turkey producer, imports 37 tonnes of partly-processed turkey meat from Hungary every week
And now the Telegraph reports
Supermarkets are facing a possible nationwide recall of processed turkey products in an attempt to halt the spread of bird flu.
What are processed turkey products?
From Is Bernard Matthews stuffed?
He invented the “self-basting” Golden Norfolk Turkey, to address the bird’s tendency to produce dried-out meat. And he followed that over the next two decades with products rejoicing in names such as Turkey Breast Roast, Turkey Fillets, Crispy Crumb Turkey Steaks, Golden Drummers, Mini Kievs and – dubious though middle-class parents may have found it – the UK’s first shaped poultry product for children, Turkey Dinosaurs
….Turkey Twizzlers – became the object of the chef Jamie Oliver‘s scorn. He singled them out for criticism in his campaign to improve the nation’s school dinners in his television series Jamie’s School Dinners. The product, in which processed turkey was combined with pork fat, contained – Oliver complained – outrageously unhealthy levels of saturated fat. The firm dropped the product, a move that coincided with a £13m drop in operating profits.
Bernard Matthews is the No 1 brand of cooked meats in the UK – one pack of its Wafer Thin Turkey Ham is sold every second, perhaps as a low calorie or cheap alternative to real ham.
What is turkey ham made from? Well it turns out that is does contain some turkey, but no pork meat. There is a cow product though, about one third water, and far too much salt. Ingredients:
“turkey (60%), water, salt, stabilisers, potato & rice starch, milk protein, dextrose, whey protein, flavouring, antioxidant, acidity regulator, flavouring, preservative, yeast extract, garlic” So that’s what turkey ham is made from.
