Has anyone on DU heard of this? Meat Glue.

[sir pball]

11. It is neither dangerous nor deceptive unless you've never seen a whole piece of meat.

I'm speaking absolutely and categorically from years of firsthand experience with the stuff.

Your own body produces transglutaminases for many, many reasons, including wound healing - it's becoming not-uncommon in kitchens to use it to seal up cuts that just won't close; peel it open, drop a pinch in, bandage tight and Bob's your uncle. There's probably a physical inhalation risk, but...don't go tossing handfuls of it into the air?

As to it being somehow "deceptive", we had the rumor going here this summer that you can somehow glue all the trimmings from a cow together and make a mock tenderloin...which is just laughable. The grain, marbling, and cartilage penetration of the meat isn't changed by glue so you'd have to very painstakingly align everything piece-by-piece to even try to make a "fake steak". The most common use in restaurants is to make boneless "fish", gluing two filets together skin-side-out. If that deceives you, well, call up Dad and complain he never took you fishing as a kid.

Yes, commercial operations use it to bind meat paste (itself a classic French preparation, believe it or not), but I don't concern myself with the world outside fine dining.