Internet users are freaking out about how a common household condiment is causing freshly cut meat to convulse as though it's alive.
On Monday the Twitter account Weird and Terrifying posted a nine-second video of a slab of meat vigorously spasming in a butcher's hand.
The video first went viral on Facebook in 2020 and shows what happens when salt is added to fresh meat.
Salting freshly cut meat draws water from its surface whilst also preserving it in the long run.
In the video, posted to gfycat by user Jackson, a butcher holds freshly salted meat up to the camera.
The surface of the meat seems to be boiling as it reacts to the salt.
This effect is only achievable with the freshest meat as the pulsations are caused by the nerve endings, which are 'still alive', reacting to the salt.
In 2013, a similar video was posted to YouTube by Jaime Tolentino which shows a fresh slab of beef twitching and contracting at the Tagaytay Market in Cavite, Philippines.
The same effect can be achieved by salting fresh frog legs.
Soy sauce on fresh squid produces a similar, very lifelike, reaction (this one is super freaky).
While the central nervous system has been cut off from the meat the muscles still react to the salt because the exposed nerve endings are not yet dead.
Extra sodium, from the salt, sends ions to the cells which trigger them to open up, creating a cascade of chemical activities that cause the cell to fire, and thus the muscle to twitch.
Reactions to the video on Twitter were mixed.
One user called the video "very interesting," while another responded, "It's not cool at all. I feel creepy".
There were also many who declared that, after witnessing the eerie movement, "this could make me give up eating meat" with another declaring "maybe I'll have a salad instead".
