Meat Science
What is Meat Science?
The
study of the entire meat
industry from the production
of the animal to the
preparation of the final
product to the marketing of
the product
Types of Meat
Beef
Veal
Lamb
Venison
Rabbit
Sea
Poultry
Pork
Food
Wild Game
Ostrich
Emu
Why is Meat Important?
High
quality protein
Iron
Vitamin
B
Vitamin A
Meat is Composed of
Muscle
Tissue Cartilage
Nerve Tissue Tendons
Fat Tissue
Bone
Blood Vessels Organ Tissue
Edible By-Products
Brain
 Cheek Meat, Ears, Snout
 Pig’s Feet, Knuckles
 Head Meat
 Heart
 Intestines
 Kidney
 Lips
 Tripe
 Tongue

Liver
 Lungs
 Spleen
 Pancreas
 Stomach
 Sweetbreads (Thymus)
 Tail/Oxtail
 Tallow
 Testicles

Meat cuts and by-products:

Beef:
– 62 percent as beef cuts
– 24 percent for hamburger
– 15 percent as by-products

Pork:
– 65 percent of the total is
consumed as processed
meat such as ham,
bacon and sausage.

USDA photo/Ken Hammond
The meat-packing industry provides byproducts like cosmetics, glues and gelatins.
History of The Meat
Industry
 Early
butchers began killing and
cutting animals for other people
outside of their own family
 Meat preservation began with
the packing of meat in a salt
solution in wooden barrels
History of The Meat
Industry
 Animals
were driven “on the
hoof” until refrigeration was
invented
 Huge meat packing plants
developed in the Midwest and
began processing meat and
shipping it
History of The Meat
Industry
 As
cities grew, small meat shops
began to open to the public
 Animals were driven to the
railroad “on the hoof” and taken
to larger cities to be butchered
History of The Meat
Industry
Meat
plants were rebuilt
and/or automated
It became more economical to
ship frozen meat products
than the live animal
Overview of the Beef Industry
Approximately
1.3 billion total
cattle in the world
35 million of these are beef
cows in the U.S.
Segments of the Beef Cattle
Industry
 Seedstock/Purebred
 Cow/Calf
Breeders
Operation
 Yearling/Stocker Operation
 Feedlots
 Meat Packaging/Processing
 Wholesalers
 Retailers
 Consumers
How meat is sold:
Traditionally sold as sides,
quarters or wholesale cuts
 Now mostly sold as
boxed beef
 Some large packers now
prepare consumer-ready
meat in vacuum packages
ready for the supermarket
shelf.

USDA photo
Beef Cattle Breeds








Angus (black and red)
Charolais
Hereford
Limousin
Simmental
Brahman
Salers
Texas Longhorn
Shorthorn
 Belted Galloway
 Holstein and other
dairy breeds???


> 250 beef cattle
breeds
Meat Inspection
The
mandatory evaluation of
the health status of meat
animals and the
wholesomeness of the meat
obtained from them
Government surveillance:

Purposes of inspection:
–
–
–
–


Prevents harmful additives and ingredients
Excludes sick and diseased animals
Eliminates misleading labeling and packaging
Prohibits contaminated and unwholesome meats
Federal meat inspection is administered by
the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
as part of USDA.
States may inspect meat only for use within
that state.
Federal Inspection
Exceptions
to federal
inspection of meat to be sold
are farmers and custom/local
butchers, however, they fall
under state inspection
guidelines
Cutability
The
amount of saleable retail
cuts that can be obtained
from a carcass
Dressing Percentage
Ratio
of the dressed carcass
weight to the weight of the
live animal
(Hot
carcass weight/live
weight)X100
average=62.5%
Wholesome Meat Act of 1967
All
meat must be inspected
before sale
Humane Slaughter Act
All
animals must be
immobilized prior to shackling
and bleeding
Slaughtering practices:
Humane Slaughter Act (1960) requires
animals to be rendered completely
unconscious before slaughter.
 Carcasses are chilled for 24 to 48 hours
before grading and processing.
 Brains, kidneys, tail,
sweetbreads, and the
tongue are by-products.

– Sold separately as “offal”
– Important source of income
USDA photo
Immobilization
Rendering
an animal
unconscious (brain dead), but
the heart is still beating--technically the animal is still
alive
Methods of Immobilization
Mechanical
(gun, steel rod
gun, captive bolt gun)
Electrical shock
Chemical (carbon dioxide)
Killing
The
bleeding of an animal
until the heart stops beating
(Exsanguination)
Kosher Slaughtering
Butchering
according to
religious beliefs (Jewish
Religion)
Kosher is exempt from the
Humane Slaughter Act
(Immobilization)
9 Components of Meat
Inspection/Facilities Inspection
Sanitation
Ante-Mortem inspection
Post-Mortem inspection
Product inspection
Lab analysis
9 Components of Meat
Inspection/Facilities Inspection
Control and Restriction of
condemned material
Marking and Labeling
Pest Control
Sewage and Waste Disposal
Rigor Mortis
The
“stiffness of death” – the
stiffening of muscles in a dead
animal due to the lack of
energy in the muscle
Occurs about 6-12 hours after
death
Rigor Mortis
 Energy
is needed in muscle in
order for the muscle fibers to
relax
 When an animal is killed there is
no way for energy to be
produced because there is no
more oxygen entering the body
Rigor Mortis
 Rigor
mortis can be thought of
as an irreversible muscle
contraction
 Pre-slaughter death, rigor mortis,
rate of carcass cooling affect
muscle change after death
Carcass Grading
Types
of Fat include:
Subcutaneous – fat found
directly under the skin
Intermuscular – fat found
between muscles
Intramuscular – fat found in the
muscles (marbling)
Grading is voluntary …
Establishes and maintains uniform trading
standards
 Aids in setting the value of various
cuts of meat
 Carcasses are graded by quality and
yield.

– Quality grades for beef:
prime, choice, select,
standard, commercial,
utility, cutter and canner
– Yield: proportion of usable
meat to bone and fat
Microsoft photo
Carcass Grading
 Quality
 Yield
Quality Grading
Degree
of Marbling
Abundant
Modest
Slight
Traces
Prime
Choice
Select
Standard
Degree of Marbling
Quality Grading
Maturity
Bone development
Button formation (ossification)
Whiter and flatter rib bones
A (youngest) -------E (oldest)
Appearance of Ribs
 A-
Narrow and oval
 B- Slightly wide and slightly flat
 C- Slightly wide and moderately
flat
 D- Moderately wide and flat
 E- Wide and flat
Maturity cont’d.
A
B
C
D
E
 9-30
months
 30-42 months
 42-72 months
 72-96 months
 > 96 months
Bone Maturity
Yield Grading
Indicates
cutability
the carcass
Fat thickness between the 12th
and 13th ribs
Rib Eye Area
% kidney, pelvic, and heart fat
1 (> muscling)------5 (<
muscling)
th
th
12 -13
Rib Fat
Ribeye Area
Ribeye area

10 dots=1 sq. in
Lamb Carcass Processing

https://www.dropbox.com/s/143gvs77c2cr
ug8/American%20Lamb%20%20Fabricating%20for%20Value%20vide
o.mov
Video on Jungle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2pp
aJwQ9UM

Meatpacking jungle – christy
Why a recall?
Pathogens
- E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef
- Lm or Salmonella in RTE foods
• Undeclared allergens
• Extraneous materials/chemical
contaminants/residues
• Operating w/o inspection presence
http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0251.html
Examples? . . .
-Wholesale Level – Product has been distributed to
a
warehouse or distribution center, where it is NOT
under
the direct control of the producing company (level
between the manufacturer and the retailer)
-Retail Level – Product has been received by
retailers for
sale to household consumers
- Consumer Level – The product has been sold
directly to household consumers (mail order)
Calling all Consumers!

Recall Release!
– Recall Release uses a standard format to
provide the public with pertinent, descriptive
product information
– Release is sent to media outlets, public
health officials, subscribers, posted on the
FSIS website and Twitter.
Recalled Beef Sold in Mass.
Whole Foods
June 12, 2014 – Boston.com


The US Department of Agriculture says that
Fruitland American Meat, a Jackson, Mo. beef
company, is recalling more than 4,000 pounds
of beef due to a potential risk for Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also
referred to as mad cow disease.
Not all beef is at risk. The bone-in “Rain Crow
Ranch Ribeye” and quartered beef carcasses
bearing establishment number EST. 2316
inside the USDA mark of inspection are
currently being recalled.
Thursday morning the USDA announced that a
Whole Foods distribution center in Connecticut
that serves stores in New England received the
potentially tainted beef.
 Not all beef is at risk. The bone-in “Rain Crow
Ranch Ribeye” and quartered beef carcasses
bearing establishment number EST. 2316 inside
the USDA mark of inspection are currently being
recalled.

These are branches of the cow’s central nervous
system along the spine. If the cow was infected with
BSE, this is the area where the infected tissues would
be located. Regulations require that they be removed
from cattle more than 30 months old. It appears that
procedure was not followed for the beef in question.
 The USDA has classified this recall as a low health
risk, but a Class II recall: “This is a health hazard
situation where there is a remote probability of
adverse health consequences from the use of the
product,” -USDA
 The bone-in ribeyes roasts, according to the USDA,
were distributed to two restaurants:

Answer these questions…

Group of Consumer, USDA, Whole Foods
Who is at fault?
 Time frame?
 Consequences?
 Safety in Future for product

Do Now:

Log on to the computer and find one meat
product that includes packaging and
answer these questions:
– What were they trying to sell?
– How did they reach the demographics?
– What kind is their niche market?
Do-Now

Write down your favorite meat commercial
and why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BafkF
ntxgPw go meat
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WN
dYL8N4zk Jack Link
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwaU
0YNG3Vo Whole Foods

Who, What, Where, When,
How?
What is each commercial marketing?
 What were they trying to sell?
 Who was the audience each was trying to
reach?
 How did they reach the demographics?


What was the Whole Foods commercial
trying to emphasize?
AMS

Agricultural Marketing Services
Administers programs that facilitate the
efficient, fair marketing.
 ensure the quality and availability of
wholesome food for consumers across the
country.

Organic
Labels
 Must include:
 Name
 Ingredients
 Handling
 Sell by date
 Manufacturer
 Nutritional information
 weight
Grass Feed

“Grass-fed. Grass-fed animals receive a
majority of their nutrients from grass
throughout their life, while organic
animals’ pasture diet may be
supplemented with grain. Also USDA
regulated, the grass-fed label does not
limit the use of antibiotics, hormones, or
pesticides. Meat products may be labeled
as grass-fed organic.”-AMS
Organic

“Organic is a labeling term that indicates
that the food or other agricultural product
has been produced through approved
methods. These methods integrate
cultural, biological, and mechanical
practices that foster cycling of resources,
promote ecological balance, and conserve
biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage
sludge, irradiation, and genetic
engineering may not be used.”
Natural

As required by USDA, meat, poultry, and
egg products labeled as “natural” must be
minimally processed and contain no
artificial ingredients. However, the natural
label does not include any standards
regarding farm practices and only applies
to processing of meat and egg products.
There are no standards or regulations for
the labeling of natural food products if
they do not contain meat or eggs.
Components to labeling
Name of cut
 Weight
 Date
 Cooking assistance
 Grade or brand
 Nutrients
 Retailer
 Safe food handling instructions

Appearance of Meat Depends
On
Water
Mixes with and binds to the
protein in meat
Free water found on the surface
of meat (allows bacteria to
grow)
Appearance of Meat Depends
On
Color
Type of meat and amount of
light in contact with the meat
Reflecting of light from the meat
package
Appearance of Meat Depends
On
 Pigments
 Hemoglobin = red pigment found in
blood
 Myoglobin = pigment found in muscle
 The iron in myoglobin combines with
oxygen to change the color of meat
Appearance of Meat Depends
On
Pigments cont’d.
The different kinds of meats
have different iron levels, which
is why they are different colors
Color change usually occurs from
purple – to red – to brown
Appearance of Meat Depends
On
Texture
How the meat feels (cooking
affects this)
Ratio of Meat:Fat
The amount of fat in meat
changes how a piece of meat
looks
Meat Tenderness
Tenderness
is the biting or
chewing of meat
Tenderness is heavily
influenced by many factors
What Affects Meat Tenderness
Age
Cut
Tenderizers
Water
content
processing
Type
of meat
Rigor Mortis
Cooking style
Marbling
Packaging
Variations in tenderness:
Genetics is a big factor.
 Species and age – younger animals are
more tender
 Feeding – indirect effect, grain-fed
animals are younger at slaughter weight
 Muscle variations – amount of connective
tissue affects tenderness
 Suspension of carcass

Variations in tenderness (cont.):
Electrical stimulation improves
tenderness.
 Chilling rate – rapid cooling toughens
meat
 Aging – beef is aged for 7 to 10 days
 Quality grade – age plays a big factor
here
 Mechanical – grinding or cubing
increases tenderness

Variations in tenderness (cont.):
Chemical – salt or enzymes increase
tenderness
 Marinades – may include salt, acid,
enzymes, alcohol, oil to soften collagen,
increase water uptake and break down
connective tissues
 Freezing and thawing
 Cooking method
 Carving against the grain improves
tenderness

Types of Cookery
Heat
from the cooking
process denatures (breaks
down) the protein in meat
Dry Heat Cooking – cooking
meat with hot, dry air—includes
broil, grill, stir fry, roast, fry
Types of Cookery
Moist Heat Cooking – cooking
meat in a closed container with
added water—includes cooking
in water and pot roasts
Microwave Cooking – rapid
cooking of meat by using
electromagnetic waves
Microorganisms Found In Meat
Bacteria
Yeast
Mold
These microorganisms can grow
from 40 to 115 degrees F.
Microorganisms Found In Meat
begins at 40”
Most bacteria are killed at
around 120 degrees F.
Pasteurization occurs at 155165 degrees F.
“Life
Microorganisms Found In Meat
 Microorganisms
have many factors
affecting their growth
 pH of meat
 Water content
 Temperature
 Oxygen
 Type and quality of packaging
 Nitrates
 Initial # of bacteria in the meat
Common Sources of Meat
Contamination
 Knife
Machines
 Animal hide
Facilities
 Intestinal tract
Seasonings
 Employees
Packaging
(hands,
clothing,
Storage areas
health)
Characteristics of Spoiled Meat
 Color
 Odor
– sweet or sickening
 Flavor - rancid
 Texture – sticky or tacky – liquid
coating
 Date of packaging
 Freezer burn
How to Prevent Spoilage
Use
proper sanitation
Store at right temperatures
Keep packages sealed
Cook thoroughly
Follow all directions
Types of Meat Storage
Refrigeration
Chill carcasses after killing
The lower the chilling
temperature without freezing,
the more shelf life is increased
Chilling tries to slow down
bacteria growth
Types of Meat Storage
Freezing
Used for long term storage
(recommended 6 mo. – 1 yr.)
Freeze quickly after slaughtering
Commercial -10 to 20 degrees F.
Home -10 to 0 degrees F.
Watch out for freezer burn!!!
Types of Meat Storage
 Curing
 Adding ingredients to extend the shelf
life/preserve the food
 Ingredients include salt,
nitrite/nitrate, sugar, water, spices
 Cured meat examples include ham,
bacon, dried beef, bologna, beef jerky
Types of Meat Storage
 Dehydration
The nearly complete removal of
water from foods under
controlled conditions
The removal of water decreases
spoilage and bulkiness and
increases the convenience of the
food
Types of Meat Storage
 Vacuum Packaging
 Storing food by compressing all of the
air out of the food source
 Tends to make the meat look purple,
which may turn consumers off
Types of Meat Storage
 Controlled Atmosphere Packaging
 Similar to vacuum packaging, but tries
to control the gasses inside the meat
package so bright red color remains
Types of Meat Storage
 Irradiation
 Uses different kinds of radiant energy
to destroy living organisms that would
normally spoil food
 Takes the place of chemicals being
applied to the food
 No radiation is left in or on the food!
Meat Packaging
 The
goal of meat packaging is to
keep the meat fresh and decrease
the chance of spoilage, change in
color, or leaking of water/juices
while still making it appealing to
the consumer
Types of Packaging Materials
 Saran
wrap
 Foam trays
 Freezer paper
 Aluminum foil
 Vacuum bags