Meat Science Flashcards
Before there was an established meat industry, when was meat processed and how?
In the fall because it was cooler, and the meat was pickled, salted, or smoked.
What is one thing the meat industry really depends on?
Water
What was a hypothesis about the consumption of meat?
It was hypothesized that meat consumption led to higher cognitive development.
When was the domestication of animals?
Neolithic Period
What was the use of railroads in the meats industry?
It was used to transport cattle, however there were very few that could be transported at a time, leading to packing plants moving southward.
When was refrigeration first invented?
In 1867 the first load of beef was refrigerated and transported.
Where are packing plants predominantly located?
Upper midwest: Illinois, Iowa, Missouri.
Who was Uncle Sam?
Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from NY in 1812.
Why was Uncle Sam called that?
He sent meat to government stores during the war of 1812 marked with U S, so they started calling him Uncle Sam .
What is “meat”?
The edible parts of animal: muscles, fat organs, skin, connective tissues.
What is “carcass”?
The portion of the animal that remains after the removal of the head, covering, internal organs, and feet.
What do we classify as “red” meat?
Any meat that has a high myoglobin content.
What animals typically fall under red meat?
Cattle, Sheep, Swine, and Goat
What do we classify as “white” meat?
Any meat that has a low myoglobin content.
What animals typically fall under white meat?
Poultry: Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Geese, etc. There can be “dark” or “light” meat but it is all white meat.
Consumption of what meat has increased over time and why?
Poultry: Its more economical than most other meats, its vertically integrated so changes can be made easier and its more consistent, and its white meat.
What meat consumption has decreased over time and why?
Beef and Pork: both are red meat, and more expensive than poultry. Pork is relatively consistent since it is also vertically integrated. Beef is not as consistent since it isn’t vertically integrated.
What is a rough composition of meat?
Water: 65-75%
Protein: 18-20%
Fat: 2-12%
Other: >2%
Why do we consume meat?
High quality protein, vitamins, minerals, and taste.
What is meat science?
The study of meat including its production, preparation, and preservation.
Where are meat packers and slaughter houses located?
The upper midwest: Minnesota, Iowa, and North Carolina for pork. South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa for beef.
What happens at the lairage?
Where the animal is inspected before slaughter to ensure it is healthy.
What happens at the stunning and bleeding?
Animal is stunned and made unconscious or unable to feel pain, then the jugular or carotid is cut and the animal is bled out.
What happens at the scalding?
Animals are defeathered (chickens), dehaired (pigs), or skinned (beef, sheep, goats).
What happens at evisceration?
This is when the head, skin, GI, and feet are removed.
What happens during carcass chilling?
Animal goes in a “hot box” but it’s a chilled space. Called this because the animal itself is still hot. The animal can hang here for weeks to age.
What happens during the fabrication process?
The animals are cut into primals, subprimals, and retail cuts.
What happens during the freezing/delivery process?
You can guess it, its frozen and delivered.
What sectors are clean and which ones are dirty?
Dirty is lairage, stunning/bleeding, scalding/skinning/etc., and evisceration. Clean is carcass cleaning, fabrication, and freezing/delivery. Once the organs are removed the animal is considered “clean”.
What does FSIS stand for?
Food Safety and Inspection Service
Is FSIS or AMS required?
FSIS, unless it is a custom harvest.
What does AMS stand for?
Agricultural Marketing Service
What does AMS do?
It is a voluntary grading process on your livestock meat. The better the grade, the better the price. A lower score is better. Scored on a 1-5 scale.
What book inspired the 1906 Meat Inspection Act?
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
What was the purpose of the Jungle and what message did people actually take away from it?
The purpose was to expose America to the horrible working conditions for Chicagan immigrants. The message people took though was how unregulated our meat processing system was.
What did the 1906 Meat Inspection Act enforce?
Pre and postmortem safety and health inspection of the animal. Checks for the 4 Ds
What are the 4Ds?
Downed, disabled, diseased, dead
What is the most regulated food product in the US and why?
The meat industry because of the 1906 Meat Inspection Act.
What did the 1967-68 Wholesome Meat and Poultry Act do?
It forced states to adopt inspection guidelines on an intrastate level. Combined all prior inspection laws, especially the poultry ones. Mandated that meat going to consumers has to meat federal safety guidelines.
What did the 1978 Humane Methods of Slaughter Act do?
It requires animals to be treated humanely prior to the slaughter and during the process.
What are the methods to render an animal insensible to pain prior to exsanguination, and which animals are they used on?
Captive Bolt: results in them becoming braindead
- Cattle, goats, sheep
CO2/Electric Shock: knocks them out
- Swine and poultry
What was the 1996 Pathogen Reduction Act?
It shifted the meat industry to become preventative rather than reactive. HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) were established. That’s a plan in place for what to do should contamination occur.
Steps in slaughter process:
- Antemortem inspection (4Ds)
- Stunning
- Exsanguination
- Removal of skeletal parts
- Removal of hair/skin
- Evisceration
- Carcass Splitting (except in sheep)
- Trim
- Wash
- Cooling
- Aging
What is dressing percentage?
Percentage of the animal meat left from the carcass (i.e., after skin, guts, head, etc., are removed).
What are the dressing percentages for swine, ruminants (beef), and sheep? What about poultry?
Swine: 72%
Beef: 62%
Sheep: 52%
Poultry: 75-80%
What is inspection vs grading?
Inspection is required by the FSIS, whereas grading is a voluntary process with the AMS. Inspection is pair for by federal tax dollars, whereas grading is paid for by the packer.
What are the two types of beef grading?
Quality: predicts overall eating experience. Measured using marbling and maturity.
Yield: predicts percentage of carcass weight that will be made into usable cuts. Measured on a 1-5 scale, 1 is best.
What affects beef yield grade and how so?
Fat decreases YG
Surface area increases YG
Carcass weight decreases YG
How is pork graded?
Color, texture, exudation.
What is PSE in pork grading?
Pale, Soft, and Exudative. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.
What is RFN in pork grading?
Red, Firm, and non-Exudative. THIS IS IDEAL.
What is DFD in pork grading?
Dark, Firm, and Dry. This has a high water-holding capacity and isn’t necessarily ideal.
How is lamb quality graded?
Break joints, a cartilage growth plate is broken and if it splits it’s a young animal (<14m). If it doesn’t break it’s an older animal.
What does 2 break joints indicate on a lamb. What about 2 spools? What about one of each?
Two break = lamb (>14m)
Two spool = mutton (>24m)
One of each = Yearling (12-25m)
What affects lamb yield grading, and how so?
Leaner meat results in a higher YG
What goes into lamb grading?
Yield grade and quality
What are the poultry grades?
Grade A: intact w/ no missing parts
Grade B: moderately messed up
Grade C: looks like it was run over with a lawn mower
No grade: no chicken
What are the beef primals and where are they located?
Round: at the hip/but
Loin: between the hip and ribs
Rib: Between the ribs and shoulders
Chuck: between the shoulders and the head
What are the pork primals and where are they located?
Ham: hips to butt
Loin: top half from the hips to the shoulder
Side/belly: bottom half from the hips to the shoulder
Boston Butt: top half of shoulder
Picnic Shoulder: lower half of the shoulder
- Boston Butt and Picnic Shoulder can be summed up as “shoulder”
What are the lamb primal and where are they located?
Leg: hips back
Loin: top half from the hips to the ribs
Rack: top half from the ribs to the shoulder
Shoulder: you guessed it, the shoulder
