Consumption of processed meat might be making a handful of unsuspecting persons cannibalistic if the outcome of a recent study should be taken seriously.
The study which was conducted on both meat and vegetarian hot dogs revealed that they contain unadvertised ingredients with traces of the ‘human DNA’.
A food analytics company, Clear Food Labs, disclosed that 10% of vegetarian hot dog products contain meat.
Clear Food Labs further found human DNA in 2% of its hot dog samples, and in two-thirds of the vegetarian samples.
The researchers opined that the human DNA most likely came from hygiene issues, such as saliva and other bodily fluids which must have entered the food during the production.
The company also found nutritional label inaccuracies, pork substitution and some unexpected ingredients, including chicken and lamb.
Clear Food used ‘genomic technology’ to examine foods by ingredients, analysing 345 hot dogs and sausages from 75 big U.S. brands at 10 retailers.
The report said: “Sausages are the world’s original ‘mystery meat’ and hot dogs have always provoked ingredient anxiety.
“In mid-19th century America, rumours circulated that some butchers made inexpensive frankfurter-style sausages with ground dog meat.
“This might explain how the hot dog got its name.”
Speakng to CNN about the study, a professor at Michigan State University, Melinda Wilkins, who also specializes in food safety said: “The use of genetic analysis in this type of setting is actually fascinating,
“I think we’re going to see a lot more of this type of analysis happening, seeing how well food content matches food label.
“When you’re working with genetic material, depending on the analytic technique, you can detect a very, very small amount of DNA that’s not supposed to be in there.
“So this accusation of finding human DNA in there, you can detect a very small amount, but they’re not quantifying the amount. It could be just a few cells versus a percentage content.”
