Crab sticks

Crab sticks appeared in Russia for a relatively long time and fell in love almost immediately. Obviously, the main role here was played by the fact that with their use you can cook very quickly, since this is not even a semi-finished product, but an absolutely ready-to-eat product.

Basically, crab sticks are one of the main ingredients of various salads as a cheap substitute for real crab meat or as an affordable source of fish protein. Often crab sticks are part of some of the most popular California rolls. And also, thanks to the high nutritional content and low calorie content, crab sticks can serve as a good snack if you have no time at all to prepare a full-fledged dish.

Whatever you say, this food product is in high demand with us: the price is acceptable, and even recipes using crab sticks are at least enough. In addition, the very name of the product seems to suggest that there is at least a fraction of the delicatessen meat of crabs in their composition. But is that really the case?

Composition of crab sticks

Unfortunately, in the production of crab sticks, natural crab meat is not used at all. They can be made from both fish mince and starch and soy protein. But in order for the crab sticks to include natural products, you need to carefully study the opposite side of the packaging.

So, usually crab sticks include surimi (minced fish), drinking water, starch, egg white, deodorized vegetable oil, sugar and salt. Of course, flavor enhancers, stabilizers and dyes, which are also part of crab sticks, are not useful, but their use in small quantities is not able to harm health.

Benefits of crab sticks

Currently, it is difficult to hear about the benefits of crab sticks, since it is almost impossible to call them a natural product. All vitamins, healthy fats and minerals that are part of the starting product, that is, fish, disappear when making surimi, and only fish protein remains.

Damage to crab sticks

If the benefits of crab sticks are so negligible, what is their harm? To find out, you just need to read what is written on the package. For example, components such as dietary supplements Ye171, Ye160, Ye450 and Ye420 can cause allergies and exacerbation of some chronic diseases.

In addition, in addition to dangerous artificial additives, microbiological contamination can also affect the manifestation of damage to crab sticks, since this product is not subjected to heat treatment before use, therefore, harmful microorganisms may be present on them. In order to avoid the likely harm of crab sticks, you should purchase more expensive and high-quality products in the original packaging, and not for weighing on the market or bazaar.