What's Happening To Our Food?

[Dave]

What on Earth is happening to our food industry?

I fancied an Indian for tea so grabbed a Tesco Indian meal for 2 on the way back from an outing. One was lamb and the other was chicken allegedly.

It was disgusting. The meat was processed to within an inch of it's life and tasted of nothing. I struggled to tell the difference between the lamb and the chicken. They had both obviously been mechanically reclaimed mixed with something then reformed in to meat shaped pieces.

Honestly it was so horrific I've actually emailed Tesco about it. I rarely complain about anything but couldn't help it it was so bad.

Is this a new thing? I tend to cook almost everything from scratch so aren't used to ready meals and the such like. I'd hate to think this is becoming the new norm because it's disgusting.

My email to Tesco below.

Hi Tesco, just some feedback on a product I got today. I bought an Indian meal for 2 (5052003553637) with a lamb rogan josh and chicken tikka. I'm afraid to say that the quality of the meat in both curries was nothing short of disgusting. I expected to find lamb and chicken in them but alas no, it was some sort of processed muck reformed in to meat shaped pieces. I'm not entirely sure why meat needs to be processed then put back in to meat shapes because meat tends to already be shaped like meat but I digress.

The "meat" was bland, had an awful texture and completely ruined the whole thing. I've had ready meal curries in the past but have never come across such poor meat content.

Call me old fashioned but when i buy a curry with meat in it, I expect to have meat in it rather than some bizarre meat flavoured paste. Even bullet proof mutton would have been better. Suffice to say I won't be buying another one but just for you to take note.

 

[blue max]

They'll probably send back a standard reply saying it was horse and not to worry. And a voucher.

 

[Dave]

They'll probably send back a standard reply saying it was horse

I wouldn't mind what meat it was if only it was actually meat.

 

[Pack Dude]

If people eat crap they will be sold crap. All Tesco should care about is how much money they can make for their shareholders.

Tesco Tikka And Rogan Josh Meal For 2 Sorry, this product is currently unavailable!

A serving contains 1300 calories, 4.3g of salt!

 

[blue max]

If people eat crap they will be sold crap. All Tesco should care about is how much money they can make for their shareholders.

Tesco Tikka And Rogan Josh Meal For 2 Sorry, this product is currently unavailable!

A serving contains 1300 calories, 4.3g of salt!

Think you have to keep it in context of a curry really. No-one expects it to be healthy.

I think they taste poor because they have to meet so many dietary targets (as well as cost). Your local curry house has no such restraints!

 

[Dave]

Think you have to keep it in context of a curry really. No-one expects it to be healthy.

I think they taste poor because they have to meet so many dietary targets. Your local curry house has no such restraints!

Exactly, I wasn't expecting 5 star food but what I was expecting was actual meat.

 

[gibbsy]

Exactly, I wasn't expecting 5 star food but what I was expecting was actual meat.

Best not try Tesco's Finest Steak Pie *Now with 10% more meat*. One mouthfull and it was binned.

If that was their finest I so so glad I didn't go for the value pie.

 

[blue max]

They're all as bad. Tesco's foulest, Sainsbury's Can't taste the difference

 

[Foebane72]

I believe this entire "horsemeat scandal" was engineered by vegetarians and vegans to turn the rest of us against consuming animals or their products, and to become like them.

It's a worldwide conspiracy, I tells ya!

 

[bluedroog]

What do you expect from a Tesco ready meal?! Buy crap, get crap! Not all ready meals are bad, those Charlie Bingham one are pretty tasty and good value but loaded with saturated fat.

 

[Lancia34]

I've had the Sainsburys one a few times in the past and not surprised they taste awful. Processed food always has done.

Simple fix - make your own curry. Easy as anything, tastes amazing and works out cheaper

Same for pretty much all foods!

 

[blue max]

I've had the Sainsburys one a few times in the past and not surprised they taste awful. Processed food always has done.

Simple fix - make your own curry. Easy as anything, tastes amazing and works out cheaper

Same for pretty much all foods!

But never as easy as 20mins 160C.

 

[amcluesent]

A serving contains 1300 calories, 4.3g of salt!

And 54g of fat. TBH, it it's going to kill you, it's only common decency to make it taste yummy.

 

[Dave]

I think the general point has been completely lost on some people.

I didn't buy the ready meal for it's culinary excellence, I'm not thick and do realise that ready meals are highly likely to contain less than 100% raised on fairy dust organic produce and a ton of salt. That's why as I already stated I make my own stuff from scratch 99% of the time.

My issue is with the "meat" when it's what can hardly be described as meat. It never used to be this way the last time I had a ready meal.

 

[Foebane72]

Are those large pieces of skinless chicken breast sold at Tesco's "processed food"? I'm quite fond of having those, oven-baked, wrapped in foil at nearly gas mark 5 for an hour, at least a couple of times a week. Tastes closest to the roast chicken and chips my parents used to make!

 

[Foebane72]

My issue is with the "meat" when it's what can hardly be described as meat. It never used to be this way the last time I had a ready meal.

Yeah, what is WITH that? I've had Tesco Chicken and Pasta Bake ready meals a few times, and the chicken hardly tastes like chicken at all, too "textured" and even "chewy".

Once I had a premium chicken curry ready meal and it was a bit closer to how it would taste naturally, at least in terms of take-away natural - cost a lot more, though.

 

[Trollslayer]

There is an industry that produces machines to turn entire animals into 'meat'.
Anything to keep to the price point that people will pay.
Visit a decent farm shop or cook from ingredients a bit more are part of the answer.
Want a decent pizza? You can get a reasonable frozen one for £3, add some diced frozen peppers, diced frozen onions and put it in the oven.
I do this and get a decent meal for about £3.20 with little effort.

 

[DPinBucks]

I think you're getting hung up on the definition of 'meat'.

Is minced beef meat? I think it is. Was the 'meat' in your curries of less texture than that? Did the packet say 'chunks' of chicken/lamb? Or did it just say 'Chicken/Lamb'? If the former, you have a case. If the latter, sadly not. There is no requirement for a curry to be chunky.

What about Ardennes Pate? Is that meat? Again, in my opinion, yes.

 

[IronGiant]

Are those large pieces of skinless chicken breast sold at Tesco's "processed food"? I'm quite fond of having those, oven-baked, wrapped in foil at nearly gas mark 5 for an hour, at least a couple of times a week. Tastes closest to the roast chicken and chips my parents used to make!

There's a reason why they take the skin off

It makes it easier to force extra fluids and chemicals into the meat to bulk it up without the injection holes showing

 

[amcluesent]

It's mostly offal and Pink slime

 

[Foebane72]

There's a reason why they take the skin off

It makes it easier to force extra fluids and chemicals into the meat to bulk it up without the injection holes showing

I suppose the skinned ones are more "au naturelle", eh?

Yes, I've heard of such meat being injected with water - too much in some cases. There's a butcher's shop called "The Meat Market" in Cardiff, whose produce seems particularly suspect - what's more, there's always a strange odour about the place, which I can't really describe.

 

[wormvortex]

I think the general point has been completely lost on some people.

I didn't buy the ready meal for it's culinary excellence, I'm not thick and do realise that ready meals are highly likely to contain less than 100% raised on fairy dust organic produce and a ton of salt. That's why as I already stated I make my own stuff from scratch 99% of the time.

My issue is with the "meat" when it's what can hardly be described as meat. It never used to be this way the last time I had a ready meal.

I buy the birdeye chicken tika ready meals for when neither me or the misses cannot be bothered to cook. It's not bad IMO. I would pay for it in a restaurant but then I wouldn't get a meal for <£3 either

 

[Greg Hook]

I had this exact meal tonight. It tasted pretty good actually.

Each to their own!

In fact I got three different ones as Tesco were doing 3 for 2.

 

[aVdub]

I'm sure that should be 'What's Happened To Our Food"

?Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us? by Michael Moss - Washington Post

 

[Dave]

I had this exact meal tonight. It tasted pretty good actually.

Seriously the sauce, rice, bhajis and naan weren't bad. Certainly not great but not bad either. It was just the vile meat type stuff.