A stomach-curdling video of freshly cut meat "spasming" has left many people considering becoming vegetarians permanently.
A clip shared on the X account @weirdterrifying has circulated on the internet and shows a man, presumably a butcher, holding a slab of meat to the camera so viewers can get a better look at it.
After the meat is slathered in salt - which is done to draw out the water from the surface and help preserve it in the long run - it suddenly bursts into spasms.
This disturbing side effect makes the flesh look as though it were still alive, leaving many people considering a plant-based diet as a permanent lifestyle choice.
Watch the unsettling video below:Maybe this is what Gordon Ramsay was talking about when he screamed, "It's so raw it's still moo-ing".
In response to the video being shared on the platform X, one shocked user reacted: "I’m a vegetarian now," while another shared a similar comment: "Planning vegetarian diet from now on, that’s horrible!!"
A third person shared: "Well, this picture could make me give up eating meat," and a fourth user added the video is why they "prefer not to eat meat, where possible".
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals organization also offered their thoughts after watching the unsettling clip, advising people to give up meat. "Here’s a reminder that your meat was once a living being. Horrified? Go vegan," they penned in one post.
In another, they explained: "We can harm fewer plants by going vegan, because eating plants directly, rather than feeding them to animals and then butchering those animals for their flesh, requires far fewer plants and hurts fewer animals."
Credit: Cultura/Jacabel / Getty
Thankfully, there's a scientific explanation behind the contractions.
According to NPR, when salt (or a salty substance such as soy sauce) is added to freshly killed meat, it causes a chemical reaction that forces the intact and still operational muscles to spasm.
"Extra sodium (the salt) sends ions to the cell that trigger the cell to open up, creating a cascade of chemical activities that causes the cell to fire, so the muscle twitches," Robert Krulwich from NPR explained.
Lv Suwen, an expert at the local animal health department also shared some comments, noting: "You can rest assured, this piece of meat is very fresh and is from a freshly slaughtered animal," per Daily Mail.
"The central nervous system is dead but the nerve-endings in the muscles are still firing resulting in the jumping, because the nerves are not yet dead. This will stop after a short time," she added.
