ECONOMICS

Detailed explanation-1: -Processing meat involves slaughtering animals, cutting the meat, inspecting it to ensure that it is safe for consumption, packaging it, processing it into other products such as sausage or lunch meats, delivering it to stores, and selling it to customers.

Detailed explanation-2: -Processed meat products include bacon, ham, sausages, salami, corned beef, jerky, hot dogs, lunch meat, canned meat, chicken nuggets, and meat-based sauces. Meat processing includes all the processes that change fresh meat with the exception of simple mechanical processes such as cutting, grinding or mixing.

Detailed explanation-3: -Processed meats are products in which the properties of fresh meat have been modified by the use of procedures such as mincing, grinding or chopping, salting and curing, addition of seasonings and other food materials, and, in many instances heat treatment. Most of these processes extend the shelf life of meat.

Detailed explanation-4: -Binders: Several soluble binders such as soy protein isolate, methylcellulose, carrageenan and modified starches are used in emulsion-type meat analogues. Their role is to improve the textural properties of the products, providing the desirable gelling and thickening (see Section 3.2).