Restructured steak

Restructured steak is a catch-all term to describe a class of imitation beef steaks made from smaller pieces of beef fused together by a binding agent. Its development started from the 1970s. Restructured steak is sometimes made using cheaper cuts of beef such as the hind quarter or fore quarter of beef.

Allowed food-grade agents include:

• Sodium chloride (table salt) and phosphate salts. Salt can prevent microbiological growth and make myosin-type proteins more soluble. The allowed amount of phosphate in end products is 0.5% in the United States. It increases the emulsification of fat.
• Animal blood plasma
• Alginate: Sodium alginate forms an adhesive gel in the presence of Ca²⁺ ion.
• Transglutaminase: an enzyme that helps the forming of cross-binding proteins.