Don't Eat That Pizzle!

Pizzle, or bull's penis, is frequently used in the manufacture of chewy dog treats (Photo by Gergely Vass/ Wikimedia Commons)

MT Supermarket (10901 N. Lamar) and some of its employees are facing a civil suit filed by the office of the Texas Attorney General that alleges they sold "non-inspected, adulterated and misbranded beef pizzle as human food." Beef pizzle is the industry term for bull's penis.

According to reporting by KXAN today, the suit alleges that a manager and some employees took pizzle from boxes labeled "inedible beef, not intended for human food" and repackaged it for consumer consumption. They evidently added wording to the re-labeled product stating the meat was inspected and from a registered source. Judgment in the case would call for a $5,000 fine against the store and the employees named in the suit.

In the U.S., beef pizzle is commonly added to chew toys for dogs and is sometimes a component to specialty glues. Some other cultures, however, consider pizzle from cattle and other animals to be an aphrodisiac and stamina booster. The dried and ground form, called cow cod, is sometimes added to foods and beverages in some Asian cultures.