Neither. The top spot goes to Prime Beef.

Followed by Choice, then Select, then 6 more levels.

The USDA defines 9 quality levels for beef. They are stamped on the carcass but by the time you buy your cuts at the butcher counter, you’ll only know by examining the sticker pasted onto the plastic packaging.

From the USDA:

• Prime grade is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle. It has abundant marbling and is generally sold in restaurants and hotels. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking (broiling, roasting, or grilling).
• Choice grade is high quality, but has less marbling than Prime. Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib will be very tender, juicy, and flavorful and are, like Prime, suited to dry-heat cooking. Many of the less tender cuts, such as those from the rump, round, and blade chuck, can also be cooked with dry heat if not overcooked. Such cuts will be most tender if “braised” — roasted, or simmered with a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan.
• Select grade is very uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but, because it has less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Only the tender cuts (loin, rib, sirloin) should be cooked with dry heat. Other cuts should be marinated before cooking or braised to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor.
• Standard and Commercial grades – are frequently sold as ungraded or as “store brand” meat.
• Utility, Cutter, and Canner grades are seldom, if ever, sold at retail but are used instead to make ground beef and processed products.

Want to take a guess what’s in your TV Dinner, hot dog, or burger?

What to do at the supermarket:

We used to never remember what the top 3 grades where. A friend suggested remembering the acronym PiCkS when buying beef. good luck.

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A) Strawberry ice cream

B) Chicken

C) Plastic foam

D) None of the above

Answer below

Read more…

photo credit: avlxyz

A venerable foodstuff that has been relegated to the checkout counter in gas stations and convenience stores, beef jerky actually has a proud heritage. Here are somethings you might want to know.

1. Jerky is a means to preserve meat without refrigeration.

2. Traditionally meat was dried and/or smoked and/or salted. Marinading is another technique used to add additional flavoring.

3. Although beef is the most common type of jerky, one can also find jerky from wild game such as venison, elk, caribou, and moose. Even kangaroo meat.

4. The origin of the word Jerky is from Native American “Charqui” which means “to burn meat”.

5. Jerky quality varies greatly and depends on the choice of meat, the preservatives, and the preservation technique.

6. There are many jerky-like products that consist of highly processed, chopped and formed meat, rather than traditional sliced, whole-muscle meat. Try to stay away from them.

7. A good jerky is very lean; fat usually causes spoilage. In cheap products with high fat and water content, many chemicals are added as preservatives to prevent spoilage.

8. Here’s the ingredient list of a leading brand of jerky (Jack’s Links)
Beef, Water, Sugar, Less than 2% Salt, Corn Syrup Solids, Dried Soy Sauce (Soybeans, Salt, Wheat), Hydrolyzed Corn and Soy Protein, Monosodium Glutamate, Maltodextrin, Flavorings, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite.
Unfortunately the consumer can’t tell what the beef quality is from the ingredient list. The package does state that it 97% fat free though.

9. Nutritionally, jerky is low in fat and high in protein. The major issue is the exorbitant amount of sodium. A 1 oz serving contains up to 15 grams of protein (25% of the daily value), but 600mg of sodium (25% of the daily maximum). The protein is nice to have, but as most Americans are getting enough protein in their diet, it’s the excess sodium that should be of concern.

10. Many jerky products are sold in 3 oz packages, so people who finish off an entire bag end up consuming 3 servings at once (usually gulping down a sugary soft drink to combat the major salt deposits from the jerky).

11. Beef Jerky is astronaut food! NASA has been providing Space shuttle crews this lightweight high protein treat since the mid nineties.

12. Many people are very passionate about Jerky. Here is one – with a blog dedicated to reviewing all jerky products out there.

13. A tragic explosion in a ConAgra manufacturing facility last month has created a shortage of the wildly popular Slim Jim brand jerky nationwide.

What to do at the supermarket:

Look for the higher quality brands made from low fat beef strips, not processed beef. Also, watch the sodium.

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One of the hottest trends right now in food marketing is informing consumers that the animal product they are purchasing was derived from an animal that was humanely raised and treated.This includes, dairy, eggs, poultry, beef, pork, and other meats.

Since there is no FDA definition for “humane”, each processor is free to associate this and similar terms with its products. As a result, factory farms have magically become animal friendly. And “no antibiotics” conjures an idealic Garden of Eden for bovines. The truth, of course, is far from that.

What’s an ethical shopper, or one attempting to lessen the plight of lower beings, to do?

What you need to know:

Luckily the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has information to help you make decisions. Their website categorizes the various humane labels based on their REAL humaneness, not marketing. While “cage free” eggs are a good option, this label does not mean the chickens were free range. Also, it is not verified by a third party.  A better option is “Certified Organic”.  The best labels are the following:

“Certified Humane” (dairy, eggs, chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, pork)
“American Humane Certified” (dairy, eggs, chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, pork)
“Animal Welfare Approved” (dairy, eggs, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, beef, lamb, pork, rabbit)

In addition, WSPA publishes an annual report, where they rank the top grocers based on animal friendly products. Whole Foods is the leader, but Publix,  Kroger, and Hy-Vee have a good showing as well.

WSPA even put together a helpful FAQs Page.

What to do at the supermarket:

Unfortunately for consumers and animals, humane foods tend to cost more, especially the organic variety. For many people there is a clash between the will to eat more humanely and their pocketbooks. Each family should decide what works best for them, but at least you should be informed about what you are or aren’t getting.

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The long weekend marks the beginning of this year’s barbecue season, and if you’re like most Americans, there will surely be some form of frankfurter sizzling away on your grill.

Hot Dogs are a big business (billions of dollars a year), and as the weather heats up, so do the marketing battles between the market players.

As food companies like to sue each other every once in while in turf wars, how timely it is to read about a weiner war, with Kraft’s Oscar Meyer Brand getting sued by Sara Lee (Ball Park brand) over “We are tastier” claims.

From a nutritional standpoint, the products are very similar, and sadly, very poor in nutritional value.  Read more…

A study led by the National Cancer Institute clearly shows an association between red meat/processed meat and an increased risk of mortality.

From the Washington Post:

The study of more than 500,000 middle-aged and elderly Americans found that those who consumed about four ounces of red meat a day (the equivalent of about a small hamburger) were more than 30 percent more likely to die during the 10 years they were followed, mostly from heart disease and cancer. Sausage, cold cuts and other processed meats also increased the risk.

Previous research had found a link between red meat and an increased risk of heart disease and cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, but the new study is the first large examination of the relationship between eating meat and overall risk of death, and is by far the most detailed.

Read the article…

What you need to know:

Red meat includes beef and pork, and all their processed variants such as bacon, sausages, steaks, burgers, etc…

Research has shown for years that high rates of red meat consumption lead to heart disease and may lead to certain types of cancer. High levels of saturated fat lead to increase in bad cholesterol in the bloodstream.

The importance of this study,  published yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine [here, subscription required],  is its sheer magnitude and its length of time – 10 years.

What to do at the supermarket:

Cut back on red meats by opting for fish or poultry instead. Steaks and burgers are a great treat, but not daily. When you do choose meat, go for lean cuts. Try to stay away from processed meats which on top of the fats, add lots of salt and nitrites.

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Image via Wikipedia

Whether beef or poultry, you’ve probably seen various claims on the plastic wrapping your meat. Women’s Health Magazine published 10 Meaty Secrets Revealed and

decoded the claims on packaged meats to reveal what really matters when you’re scanning the butcher case.

Here are ten popular claims and their meanings:

What you need to know:

No matter how much regulation is enacted upon manufacturers, they will always find clever ways to market their products within the limitations set by the USDA and FDA. As consumers, we must be vigilant and understand whether a message is mere marketing or truly represents a special benefit.

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If you’re like most Americans, you consume over 60 pounds of beef a year. That’s a lot of T-bones and burgers. Do you know where your meat came from? Was the cow treated with antibiotics and growth hormones? Was it treated humanely? Do you care?

A growing number of consumers are interested in answers to the questions above. Whether the reasons are health related, ethical, or just plain flavor oriented, we all have a right to know what we’re putting in our mouth.

You’ve probably seen some the following labels at the butcher counter:

grass fed, grass finished, grain finished, organic, natural, humanely raised

What do they mean? Don’t really know? Turns out many of the professionals packing up the cuts for you behind the counter don’t really know either. Nor does the waiter at your favorite restaurant.

A helpful article in The Oregonian helps shed some light on the different kinds of  labels out there: Read more…

Radura Logo - Irradiated Product

There have been voices in the past week suggesting that extending the irradiation of foods beyond spinach and lettuce may have prevented the current peanut butter salmonella outbreak. The New York Times reports:

After spinach tainted with a strain of E. coli killed three people and sickened more than 200 others in 2006, the Food and Drug Administration gave permission for irradiation of spinach and iceberg lettuce. It has yet to begin. Meat irradiation is permitted but rarely used. Among common items on the grocery shelf, only spices and some imported products, like mangoes from India, are routinely treated with radiation.

Read Article…

What is irradition? Why is it good (or not)? below the fold… Read more…

The USDA on Friday approved the use of a new marketing claim for livestock – “Naturally Raised”. Here’s the beef from the USDA press release:

The naturally raised marketing claim standard states that livestock used for the production of meat and meat products have been raised entirely without growth promotants, antibiotics (except for ionophores used as coccidiostats for parasite control), and have never been fed animal by-products. The voluntary standard will establish the minimum requirements for those producers who choose to operate a USDA-verified program involving a naturally raised claim. USDA analyzed over 44,000 comments from producers, processors, consumers, and other interested parties in the development of this standard.

Consumer advocacy groups Consumers Union (CU) and Food & Water Watch (FWW) are all over this:

“This regulation will allow an animal that has come from a cloned or genetically engineered stock, was physically altered, raised in confinement without ever seeing the light of day or green of pasture, in poor hygiene conditions with a diet laced in pesticides to be labeled as ‘naturally raised.’ This falls significantly short of consumer expectations and only adds to the roster of misleading label claims approved by USDA for so-called natural meat,” said Dr. Urvashi Rangan, Senior Scientist and Policy Analyst at Consumers Union.

Their recommendation:

CU and FWW said, aiming to ban antibiotics, animal byproducts, and growth promotants are all important practices that should be labeled specifically and discreetly and not couched under a vague and misleading term that does not address how the animals were raised, their main diet, treatment of animals, space requirements and other concerns.

What you need to know:

Is this a last minute directives published by political appointees just prior to becoming unemployed? We hope not.

The USDA has been working on this issue for some time. However, that does not turn this directive into something in the best interest of consumers.

People want to know they are eating food that is good for them. The terms “natural” and “naturally raised” are supposed to reassure us that a product is better, safer, and perhaps healthier. Marketers know that, and have been pushing to get approval for such claims for quite a while.
The problem is that it is impossible to define today what naturally raised means. Contrary to the image above, most animals grown for slaughter, live in cells, and eat corn instead of what their ruminant stomach was designed for (grass). However, they are now considered naturally grown by the USDA.
There’s a whole bunch of other unnatural things done to animals so we can enjoy our steak, ham, or lamb chop. Most of us are totally unaware of what goes on behind the scenes.

Without getting in between PETA and the cattlemen’s association here, one thing is certain – marketing hype sells.

What to do at the supermarket:

Do yourself a favor and don’t be bothered reading marketing labels. In processed meat products, stick to the ingredient list and the nutrition panel. There may probably be worse things lurking in there than traces of this or that antibiotic (high levels of saturated fat and sodium, for example). And when buying a cut of meat labeled “naturally grown”, keep in mind that this is not the “nature” type of “natural” we like to imagine, but more of a marketing shtick.

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