Sausage-Induced Headaches: Another Clue Points to Carrageenan

A few years ago when I started a low carb diet and started eating sausage again, I found some sausages gave me a headache, but others didn't. At first, eating them was a crap shoot, but I soon found some I couldn't eat (Applegate Farms Organic & Natural Meats) and some I could (McDonald's Restaurants and Ranch Foods Direct, a local pastured meat company).

Some of Applegate Farms' products contain carrageenan (a highly processed, seaweed-based food additive used to induce pain and inflammation in research animals). McDonald's and Ranch Foods Direct sausage doesn't contain it.

Why put carrageenan in sausage? According to Applegate Farms' website,

Carrageenan, which is derived from red seaweed (Chondrus Crispus), activates extracted protein in the meat to help it bind together when formed. As the meat cooks, the heat forms a gel network, increasing moisture retention and improving the sliceability of the product. Without the addition of carrageenan, there is an increased chance that the protein in the meat "will release water during the cooking cycle, leaving pockets of water between the cooked meat and the casing. Not only is this excess water unappetizing when the product is sliced, but it contributes to microbial growth as well". (Scott Hegenbart, New Product Design, September 1991)

The ironically named book Making Healthy Sausages gives another use for carrageenan: a fat reducer.

In emulsified meat products, such as sausages, pates and meat spreads, pectin enables fat reduction and by adding carrageenan to in edition [sic] to pectin a superior texture may be obtained.

This is a bit off my beat, but as with low-fat diets, politics and money may have played a role in getting this toxin in American foods. Back in 1991:

Handicapped by a foreign bank debt of about $29 billion, the Philippines needs to boost exports to generate more taxable revenue. The country had a trade deficit of $3.9 billion in 1990. In addition, the economy has been wracked by political uncertainty and natural disasters the past two years. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their livelihood when farms, shops, offices and factories were swept away by the eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo. The country's unemployment rate is now about 17%....The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently ruled that Phillipine carrageenan, a low calorie food additive derived from seaweed, can be sold to processors in the United States. With American demand for low-fat food on the rise, Phillipine companies expect to boost sales of their food additive filler dramatically and bolster the Phillipines' economy.(1)

 The issue is complicated, but the answer is simple: just eat real food.

Source: "Seaweed a Godsend for Filipinos : Trade: The fat substitute carrageenan could be a big boost to the economy. But U.S. producers are trying to derail imports" by George White. Los Angeles Times, September 09, 1991.