Resident suspects buying water-injected pork; vendor says pork releases water in summer just like people sweat
On August 14, a reporter received a complaint from Xia Lei (pseudonym), a resident of Yongzhou, Hunan. The pork she bought from Hongping Market (Shanhu Vegetable Market) in Fenghuangyuan, Lengshuitan District, was oozing water severely, and she suspected she had bought water-injected pork.
After the pork was cut and placed in a plastic storage bag, blood water kept seeping out
The paper towel that could not burn after testing
Suspects buying water-injected pork; paper towel becomes soaked after pressing and cannot burn
“The meat was a bit damp and not very sticky. I cut it into small pieces and put them in a plastic storage bag, planning to put it in the refrigerator, but found that more and more blood water was seeping out.” At around 11 a.m. on August 13, Xia Lei bought a piece of lean meat from a vendor at Hongping Market in Fenghuangyuan at a price of 15 yuan per jin. Unexpectedly, after taking it home, she found that the meat kept seeping blood water.
“I suspected it was water-injected pork, so I found online the method from official news for identifying water-injected pork.” Following the method provided online, Xia Lei pressed a paper towel onto the cut surface of the pork and applied slight pressure, and found that the paper towel quickly became soaked. Then she lit the paper towel with fire, but found that the soaked part of the paper towel would not burn at all. “Generally speaking, if it is pork fat, it can burn.” Xia Lei said.
Meat vendor: people sweat in summer, and pork also releases water
Through this identification, Xia Lei became even more suspicious that what she had bought was water-injected pork. At noon on August 13, Xia Lei took the meat to the vendor who sold it. The meat vendor said that people sweat in summer, and pork also releases water, and that the meat he sold had no problem. “I think his explanation is a bit funny.” Faced with this explanation, Xia Lei did not agree.
So Xia Lei went to the office of Hongping Market in Fenghuangyuan. The staff member in that office said that their unit could not determine whether the meat was water-injected pork and that it needed to be appraised by a quality inspection department.
Next, Xia Lei called the Lengshuitan District Food and Drug Administration. “I added their QQ number and sent pictures to the Food and Drug Administration staff.” Xia Lei said that because it was the weekend, the bureau's staff member said it would be reported to the leadership for approval on Monday and then handled.
Food is the first necessity of the people. This website will continue to follow the progress of this matter. Please stay tuned for follow-up reports!
Related knowledge
When choosing meat foods, how can we avoid water-injected meat? The following four tips can be used for reference.
1. Touch: touch the surface of the meat with your hand. Water-injected meat feels damp, while fresh pork that has not been injected with water has a certain stickiness and is not wet.
2. Look: after water injection, the muscle color becomes lighter or appears pale grayish red, looks swollen, and appears wet when viewed from the cut surface. Fresh pork that has not been injected with water has white fat, glossy muscle, uniform red color, and a slightly dry or slightly moist surface.
3. Press: that is, observe the elasticity of the muscle. Safe meat recovers immediately after being pressed, with good elasticity; while water-injected meat has reduced elasticity, the indentation recovers slowly after finger pressure, and under heavy pressure liquid can still be seen flowing out from the cut surface.
4. Test: because water-injected meat has a high water content, you can stick a paper towel onto the meat and then quickly take it off. If the paper towel becomes wet immediately and remains very intact when torn off, it may be water-injected meat. Then, use a lighter to ignite the paper towel. If the paper towel does not burn completely, such pork is almost certainly “water-injected meat.”