I know that seafood sticks are generally made from “surimi” - a processed stuff including white fish as its main ingredient.
But I have read that seafood extender is also made from tripe.
Can anyone confirm or deny this? Google wasn’t too much help: a lot of rumours and questions, but not a lot of facts.
Sorry I don’t have a cite or a definitive answer for you, but I’ve been eating both the Louis Rich and the Kroger brand of surimi for about 10 years now, and I’ve read their labels many times, and they’ve always said that the ingredients are fish, basically, plus flavorings and wheat starch. Never seen a mention of “beef tripe”, which would have to be on there.
I’m calling UL on this one (nothing on Snopes).
I do hope so. A friend told me in some detail about this factory near her home that made fishsticks from tripe and “fish essence”, and I haven’t managed to eat them ever since.
Today, a male caller age about 60 on a talkback radio station in Australia told the radio presenter and all listeners that the crabsticks in takeaway stores are tripe. He might have said that he knows because he worked there.
I so happen to have some in my fridge, so I checked, and the ingredient listed is : “fish”. Doesn’t mean that other brands don’t use tripe, of course.
I wouldn’t mind much, anyway, since I like tripes.
Tripe is white meat, like chicken breast, so it could be used for “crab sticks”, escept that it is, I think, too expensive. It costs as much as cheap beef cuts. Unless well cooked it also has a bit of a characteristic flavour ??? Which would be a problem. Given that even chicken is normally too non-fish-like to be used in more than small amounts, I don’t think tripe would fool anybody. Even if it was cheap enough. Which I think it is not.
I had a relative of a friend who also worked in a processing facility in Australia, and yeah, it’s tripe apparently. Not that I buy the stuff as a rule, but whenever I’ve eaten it, it tastes ‘seafood-ie’ enough so I don’t care much about the source.
Sounds like an Urban Legend to me.
Every version of seafood sticks I could see from Australian supermarkets listed either fish or Surimi as their primary ingredient. Australia has a pretty robust food security regime, so I can’t imagine if there was tripe in the sticks it would be omitted from the ingredient list. That would open up the manufacturer to significant penalties, criminal penalties of ($10m or 10% of turnover) and $500k for individuals. Saying nothing of civil penalties. A class action from Hindu/pescatarian/other consumers?
Well the Wikipedia article on Surimi does say that it can be made from land as well as sea animals - though it suggests that these are distinct products. So it sounds plausible that tripe could be included in the Surimi, and this used for fish-sticks (slathered in seafood essence, of course).
Yeah, I can’t find any source that confirms it is sometimes made from tripe – all the Googling suggests this is just a rumor. For me, it doesn’t make sense for economic reasons, though local economics may vary. At the consumer level, tripe around here is $4/lb, but I could find various fish, even filleted, at $2-$3/lb. Plus it seems like tripe would take much more processing to get it to a state where it takes on flavors and doesn’t have (much) a flavor of its own.
I eat a good bit of tripe and love it when prepared well. I guess food science is full of miracles, and it may be just possible enough to turn it into something resembling surimi, but it seems like it would be a lot of work and not cheaper than using fish-based proteins to start.
UGH! I hope not! (not that I eat them)
If nothing else, this thread has inspired me to google the ingredients of crab sticks and confirmed my fears that they are full to bursting with additives and mashed up fishy paste product. Yak, no thanks. Think I’d rather have tripe.
is “seafood sticks” what Americans call “fish sticks”?
AFAIK, it’s more like crab sticks. Where I’m at, it’s usually Alaskan pollack with some other stuff shaped and flavored to vaguely resemble crab. You may know it also as “krab.” I think it’s perfectly fine for what it is.
I assumed that American fish sticks are the same as British fish fingers.
A cursory search confirms this is so.
Considering what is many processed foods surimi isn’t all that bad in terms of additives. I assume there are additive free versions available but maybe not readily so in the US. There are versions of crab stick that contain a lot of actual crab meat, but most have virtually none, just some crab flavoring made from processed shells. Surimi in general is probably better for you than hot dogs.
Also, many Americans have never eaten quality surimi that has never been frozen. The flavor and texture is considerably better.
“Mashed up fishy paste products” have been a staple of human diet for thousands of years - the sea is full of high quality nutrients in virtually unlimited abundance. Many species have been overfished and had their populations decimated, but there are many sustainable options available.
Hot Dogs of the Sea.
Of course it’s mostly “fish paste” (ground up fish). Which of the additives do you find objectionable?