BEEF

Inspection is Mandatory Grading is Voluntary

The Jungle  1906 Upton Sinclair wrote about Chicago slaughter houses.  American public was shocked  Clamored for change  Pres. Theodore Roosevelt had to react  Legislation started

Grading Began in 1926  A response to consumer’s concerns about meat safety  Willing to pay to assure better quality  Economy good, before Great Depression, people willing to pay for better products

Beef is Graded by 2 Criteria  Marbling- flecks of white within the muscle. The more marbling there is, the softer the meat will be, tenderness & juiciness comes from marbling.  Age of animal — generally cows for beef are months old. Too old and the meat will be tough.

Grading Beef PLAY

Beef Grades  1. Prime –restaurants mostly  2. Choice – supermarkets  3. Select – supermarkets  4. Standard  5. Commercial  6. Utility  7. Cutter-mystery meat  8. Canner-super mystery meat

How To Buy Beef  Prime is hard to buy if no buying power, more expensive, only about 3% of meat produced in U.S. is Prime  Not worth expense depending on menu and how used. Is it marinated, barbecued?  A little more than ½ produced is Choice

If unlabeled?  Why is it unlabeled?  Maybe commercial or utility which sounds unappetizing.  May be grass fed. Needs to say so.

Why Age?  Enzymes within the meat break down the muscle and connective tissue making it tender  Beef aged, usually not lamb, veal, pork because animals are younger and not as tough

2 ways to age beef  Dry aging- place entire carcass in a fridge with controlled humidity for days.  Wet aging- meat broken down and put in vacuum-sealed bags, then in fridge. Ages as it goes through selling process, by time it reached consumer is 7-10 days.

Why do dry aged or wet ?  Dry tastes better, less “bloody” taste than wet. The evaporation leaves a concentration of flavor in dry.  Evaporation also makes meat more tender than wet aging.  Wet-aged meat has no loss of weight due to moisture evaporation  Dry-aged meat must be trimmed of inedible dry crust

Dry Vs. Wet  Dry more expensive but has more flavor  Dry takes up space, whole carcasses hung in large refrigerated room with knowledgeable person handling it  Dry can lose up to 1/3 of weight from moisture loss (but less loss in cooking)  Dry takes days, wet take 7-10 days

© The Meat Buyers Guide by North American Meat Processors Association

Quality Grades of Meat

Pork must be inspected by USDA for wholesomeness as with other meats grades are voluntary the only grades given by USDA are “acceptable” and “utility” (the latter is almost exclusively used by meat processors) pork (as well as beef, veal and mutton) may also receive a “yield grade” of 1-4 and utility

Heritage Breeds “Red Bourbon and Narragasett Turkeys, Dark Cornish chicken, Buff geese, Berkshire pork, Tunis lamb, Red Poll beef and American bison, are only a few of the wide range of heritage breeds being raised by American farms.” ( The Berkshire: a black pig with lean meat. Occasionally, when commercial white pork becomes too bland and tasteless, some Berkshire genes are used to improve it.

USDA Definition of “Natural” Meat   All fresh meat qualifies as "natural."   Products labeled "natural" cannot contain any artificial flavor or flavoring, coloring ingredient, chemical preservative or any other artificial or synthetic ingredient; and the product and its ingredients are not more than minimally processed (ground, for example).   All products claiming to be natural should be accompanied by a brief statement which explains what is meant by the term "natural."