Interesting facts about meat

I have been a vegetarian on and off for years, so I subscribe to Veggie Times and other mags like it and often read articles about the horrors of meat. I just read an interesting one the other night....

Most of the meat we buy in stores is not all-natural...it's been 'tweaked' in some interesting ways. For example: you often see hamburger or other red meat that is in a styrofoam pan (with sides) rather than the flat tray, and the cellophane wrap is stretched tight across the pan and does not touch the meat. That meat has been "Gas-Packed". It is wrapped in that packaging, then the air is sucked out and gases are pumped in.....gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and even carbon monoxide! This is done to preserve the bright red color of the meat longer, because market studies have shown that people prefer it (even though the freshest meat is actually dark purple-red). In some cases people are buying meat that is really past it's prime and could contain more bacteria.

According to this article, almost all of the red meat at Walmart is now gas-packed. Just wanted to share this, in case anyone is interested...