| dc.description.abstract | An assortment of 1,551 retail cuts were purchased from eleven cities across the
United States to study their physical and chemical composition. Information with regard
to external fat thickness, package weight, price per kilogram, and total package price
were collected at the retail store. Cuts were purchased and later dissected into four
different separable components, separable lean, external fat (carcass and cut), seam
(intermuscular) fat, and bone and heavy connective tissue. Chemical fat analyses were
conducted on the separable lean component of each dissected cut.
Dissection data showed that cuts originating from the round had the highest
means for separable lean percentages, resulting in the lowest means for separable fat
percentages. Cuts from the rib were found to have the highest separable fat percentage
means, thus the lowest separable lean percentage means.
Chemical fat data mirrored dissection data, with round cuts having the lowest
means for percent extractable fat for the separable lean (only) and rib cuts producing the
highest means. In general, ground beef packages had a lower percentage of extractable
fat than the fat percentage that was declared on the retail package label.
This study was designed to acquire data on cuts presently available at the retail
level and compare their composition to data presented in the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. It must be noted that separable fat percentages are not available
for many of cuts sampled for this survey. Additionally, data reported in the Nutrient
Database encompasses only retail cuts trimmed to 1.25 cm, 0.6 cm, 0.3 cm, and 0.0 cm.
Cuts from this study consistently had fat thickness measurements between 0.0 cm and
0.3 cm; thus, there is no nutritional information in the Nutrient Database for beef cuts
trimmed to these levels. | en |
