PAM FRAMPTON: Fancy some scallops with a side of beef protein 'glue?' Make sure you read the labels closely before you buy

Pescatarians, beware!

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At more than $66 a kilogram, scallops — whether fresh or frozen — are a luxury food for most of us.

I love to cook and eat them, but I don't buy them unless it's a special occasion.

Recently, I picked up a few when I was making seafood paella.

There were rows and rows of them frozen on black Styrofoam trays, and I found a package that didn't break the bank — it had eight or so scallops of a decent size — and went on my way.

It wasn't until I was in the midst of cooking, with the glorious scents of onions, red peppers, saffron and smoked paprika wafting out of the pan, that I had a close look at the packaging.

"Scallop medallions (with) beef fibrinogen" it said. "Product of USA."

Scallop medallions? With beef what?

Scallop medallions? With beef what?

Upon closer inspection, I saw that my scallops weren't whole scallops at all, but clusters of tiny scallops molded together into circular pieces of uniform size. When cooked, their uneven texture reflected that amalgamation.

I thought I knew my way around a product label, but that was a new one on me. Having since done some research on beef fibrinogen, I have learned that it is a food-safe protein that has been used to make scallop "medallions" for 25 years or more.

In 1997, for example, the Wanchese Fish Company of Suffolk, Virginia — a division of Cooke Seafood USA that calls itself the "originators of the formed scallop industry" — introduced medallions to the market when prices for scallops were running high.

Medallions are created when fibrinogen, a protein derived from beef blood, is used to glue a bunch of small bay scallops together.

The mixture is then pressed into a mold or casing and refrigerated until it is firm enough to be sliced into uniform pieces and packaged for your supermarket.

The idea is to make a new, larger product out of small scallops to fetch a premium price.

(A 1998 news release about the scientific research behind seafood medallions likened the product to Chicken McNuggets, boasting that "The product's value is doubled at a small cost to the processor.")

Fibrinogen is also used in some medical procedures, such as antibody tests.

Now, many people know that the seafood industry employs all kinds of techniques to improve product appearance and bump up profits.

We’ve all heard of additives used to make seafood fresher and shinier in the display case and of shrimp and scallops being bathed in phosphates so that they absorb water before being frozen — therefore bumping up their weight and passing that added cost onto you. But I had not realized that bay scallops were being made into a new product using a beef plasma glue.

For the record, the medallions tasted fine — like scallops, which they are, mostly, but they didn't cook the same as whole scallops and the texture was decidedly different.

Now, I know that turkeys don't grow in rolls, fish don't swim around as breaded fingers and crabs don't come in cakes, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone came up with a way to make more money using a lower grade of scallop.

But in a world where we’re increasingly confronted with fakes, there's something about shellfish — pulled straight from what you hope is a pristine sea — that conjures up images of food that is fresh and unadulterated.

I certainly didn't expect shellfish to contain beef-derived proteins. If you’re a pescatarian (someone who eats fish but not meat), beware.

Lesson learned. Always read labels closely before you buy. Some of those trays of scallops might be more than just scallops.

They might be beefed up a little.

Pam Frampton lives in St. John's. Email [email protected] | Twitter: @Pam_Frampton

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