Man furious as he claims to have found 'meat glue' in his steak from supermarket

A supermarket has spoken out after being accused of using 'meat glue' in its steaks.

Some TikTokers have descended down a rabbit hole - or should I say cow hole, although that seemingly takes on a whole new and much more sinister insinuation - spiralling over the state of Woolworths' steaks. Vegetarians and vegans, you may want to look away now:

The panic? That the supermarket is using 'meat glue' to compound its pieces of red meat together.

One TikToker took to the platform to really interrogate the state of two steaks from the supermarket giant, using his hands to pull at the bits of meat and seemingly expose the 'meat glue'.

He can be heard saying: "See that s**t there. That's glue. [...] And this basically when you cut it, see with this one you just pull it a little bit and certain parts come out in sections."

Poking at one part of the steak he adds: "This might be a solid piece, but they've glued it here."

And it's not taken long for people to descend to social media to weigh in.

Woolworths has been accused by some social media users of using 'meat glue' (TikTok)

A Reddit user u/Next-End-4696 took to r/perth to question whether Woolworths uses meat glue on its 'fillet steaks' too.

However, others quickly combatted the claims, one TikToker saying: "That's not glue. It's connective tissue and fat. With glue the striations in the meat would go in diff directions."

"Meat glue doesn’t stretch out like that," another added.

But what really is 'meat glue' and is it as bad as it sounds?

Well, meat glue is a real thing and not just someone who's got some left over from an art project and decided to let loose on a few cut-off pieces of meat to try and make it look like one whole piece.

'Meat glue' - also known as transglutaminase - 'is a food additive used to improve the texture and appearance of foods like processed meats,' Healthline explains.

It adds: "Though major food safety organizations consider it safe, some health concerns surround it, including an increased risk of bacterial contamination."

And Woolworths has since responded to claims it uses the additive in its meat.

Woolworths has since combatted the allegations (Asanka Ratnayake/ Getty Images)

A spokesperson from Woolworths told News.com.au: "We pride ourselves on providing high quality meat to our customers and we can confirm our steaks are whole muscle.

"Eye fillet steak is a very lean cut of meat with minimal connective tissue which is what makes it so tender.

"This is why it is easy to pull apart when pressure is applied."

The account that posted the TikTok has since been deactivated.

UNILAD has contacted Woolworths for comment.

Topics: Australia, Food and Drink, Social Media, Viral, TikTok, Reddit, Health

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.