MARKETING OF LIVESTOCK

MEAT

Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Meat consists largely of muscles, but fat and other animal tissue are also considered meat. The most commonly eaten meats in the United States and Canada come from animals that are raised for food. These animals and the meats that come from them are cattle (beef and veal), hogs (pork) sheep (lamb and mutton), and poultry (chicken, duck, and turkey). Game, which is meat from wild animals, is also frequently eaten. In addition, fish is included among meat-producing animals. This article discusses meat from cattle, hogs, sheep, all called red meat. About 30 billion pounds (14 billion kilograms) of' red meat is ea­ten in the united States each year. That averages 120 pounds (54 ki­lograms) of red meat per year for each person.. About 74 pounds (34 ki­lograms) is beef; 43 pounds (20 kilograms) is pork; 2 pounds (0,9 ki­logram) of red meat per person each year-. Only the people of Argenti­na, New Zealand, and Uruguay eat more red meat than North Americans.

Food value of neat.Most nutritions consider meat an important part of a well-balanced diet. Meat provides protein, vitamins, mine­rals, arid fat necessary for good health and growth. Meat protein con­tains essential amine acids (protein elements) needed to build and ma­intain body tissue. See Amino acid.

Red meat is an excellent source of the vitamin B complex, group. Thiamine (B l) is especially abundant in pork. Theamine helps maintain the circulatory and nervous systems and aids the body in storing and releasing energy. Riboflavin (BE) is needed for normal growth and he­althy skin. Pyridoxine (B6) helps prevent nervous disorders and skin diseases and vitamin Big helps maintain red blood cells. Niacin is im­portant in preventing a disease called pellagra (see Pellagra). Liver, an especially nutritions meat, also provides vitamins A and 0. The bo­dy needs these vitamins for normal vision and healthy gums and tissue.

Meat is rich in iron, which is needed to build .and maintain red blood cells and muscle growth. Meat is also a source of copper, phosp­horus, and zinc. The fat in meat, is an excellent source of energy and certain fatty acids the body cannot produce itself. About half of the fatty acids in meat fat are saturated. Saturated fats help form a fat­ty substance called cholesterol, Some doctors belive large amounts of cholesterol in the body may sead to the Ksease, and advise sating only moderate amounts of foods contains saturated fats.

Kinds of meat.There are several different types of meat.

Variety meat is the general name for various organs and glands of meat animals. Common variety meats include the brains, hearts, kidne­ys, livers, and tongues of animals. Some other variety meats are chit­terlings (hog large intestines), sweetbreads (pancreas arid thymusglands), and tripe (linings of first and second cattle stomachs). Most variety meats are good sources of vitamins and minerals. Meat is available in flesh, frozen, canned, and cured forma. Flesh meat is raw meat. Flesh meat spoils quickly and must be refrige­rated until it is cooked. People can keep fresh meat from spoiling by freezing it. Frozen meat is also sold in stores. It has the same food value as fresh meat and is often used by restaurants. Frozen meat sho­uld be cooked as soon as it thaws and should not be refrozen. Canned meat has been sealed in a metal can and then heated. The heat cooks the meat and destroys bacteria. Meat is often canned with other ingredients, such as vegetables or gravy. Cured meat, such as ham, bacon, and sausage, has been treated with salt and sodium nitrite to control bacterial growth.

How to select neat.Meat sold in stores is often graded according to its quality. Meat may be graded or a system used by the USD* or in­dividual (the U.S.Department of agriculture), stores may do their own grading. Higher grades of meat are more tender, juicy, and flavorful than lower grades. The grade of a meat is stamped directly on the meat in purple vegetable dye or on the package label.

The USDA grades for beef are prime, choice, select, standard, commercial, utility, cutter, and earner. Prime, the highest and most expensive grade of beef, is mainly sold to restaurants but can someti­mes be bought in stores. Choice and select meats are commonly sold in stores. The lowel grades of beef are usually used to make processed meat products, such as bologna. Veai and lamb are graded on similar systems ranging from prime (the highest grade) to cull (the lowest grade). Pork is often net graded because it is uniform in quality.

Grading is based on such quality factors as age, marbling, fat, firmness and texture, and color of the meat. Because marbling makes meat more tasty and juicy, good meats will contain more marbling than poor meats. White to creamy-white firm fat is preferable to yellow fat, and a fine meat texture is better than a coarse one.

How weat is cooked.There are two main ways to cook meat: (1) with dry heat and (2) with moist heat. The method is determined by a meat's cut and degree of tenderness.

Dry heat methods include broiling, panbroiling, roasting, panfry- ing, and deep-fat frying. These methods are best for tender cat;: ■;■! meat. Broiled (grilled) meat is cooked directly above or below a son-ce of heat. Meat may be broiled on a grill over hot coals or under *»»• heating element of an open oven. In panbroiling, meat is cooked >v. a pan or griddle over low heat. In roasting (baking), meat is cooked in a shallow pan in an oven. It is best to raise the meat on a rack in the pan so the heat can circulate around the meat. In panfrying, or sauteing, meat is cocked in a small amount of fat over low heat, in deep-fat frying, meat is covered by hot fat.

Moist heat methods, such as braising and cooking in liquid, an best for less tender meats. Moist heat tenderizes meat by softening its connective tissues. In braising, meat is placed in a tightly cow-red pan at a low temperature. The meat cooks in its own juices or u other liquids that may be added. Simmering and stewing are two way:, L, cook meat in liquid. Meat simmered just below the boiling point. ;:. stewing, the meat is slowly boiled in a covered pot or pan.

Meat extractis a paste with a highly concentrated meaty flavo-Cooks often flavor soups and sauces with meat extract. Food manufacti. rers use beef extract or- chicken extract in making bouillon ouber>. When dissolved in hot liquid, these cubes produce a fragrant broth.

Food manufacturers make extract by boiling fresh., lean meat in vacuum kettle. They boil the meat until it loses nearly all its color and the water turns brown. Then they remove the meat and boii juice again until most of the liquid has evaporated. As the remaining extract cools, it forms a paste. Meat extract has a yellowish-brown color, and a pleasant, meaty odor aid flavor.

Meat extract has little food value, though it does contain som>-protein aid minerals. The meat left after boiling, even though flavor less, usually contains more food value than the extract. To add to the extract's food value, sometimes the boiled meat is ground or powder fvand put back in the broth.

Heat packingis the business of slaughtering cattle, hogs, an-3sheep, and preparing the meat for transportation and sale. The ten*; meat packing comes from the once-common practice of packing highly malted meat in wooden barrels. The American colonists used this methr-t.o preserve meat for storage or for shipment overseas. Today, meat prickers use refrigeration to preserve meat.

Meat packing is an important industry in many countries. Chin.-produces the most red meat (meat of cattle, hogs, and sheep). The Uni­ted States, the Soviet Union, West Germany, France, and Argentina rank next in order of production.

In the United States alone, the meat-packing industry produces more than 39 billion pounds (17,7 billion kilograms) of meat annually. About 140 million farm animals must be slaughtered yearly to produce this amount of meat. Raising and slaughtering these animals and pro­cessing the: meat provide jobs for thousands of farmers, ranchers, butchers, and meat packers. About 5,000 meatpacking and processing plants in the United States employ about 355,000 workers. The industry-pays out about $30 billion a year to the farmers and ranchers who raise liverstook . It produces about $ 46 billion worth of meat and meat by-products.

MARKETING OF LIVESTOCK

Kinds of markets.Each weekday, farmers and ranchers in the Uni­ted States sell about 500,000 meat animals. More than two-thirds of the cattle, hogs, and sheep are sold directly to meat packers. This sales practice is called direct marketing. Some livestock owners sell their animals through large livestock trading centers called terminal markets. There are about 50 terminal markets in the United States. Stockyards at these markets provide pens, weight scales, and other fa­cilities for handling and selling large numbers of livestock. Farmers and ranchers also sell animals through smaller markets called auction markets or sale barn3.Auction markets operate throughout the farming areas of the United States. Livestock owners ship their .animals to packers or to market by train or truck .

Many meat packers operate slaughterhouses in terminal-market ci­ties. But not all animals shipped to terminal markets are sold and processed in those areas. Some are shipped on to other markets and then sold. Others are bought and shipped on to meat-packing plants in other cities.

Selling Livestock.In the direct-marketing process, livestock ow­ners obtain bids from meat packers. The owners get bids by telephone or from a packing company buyer who visits their feedlot or farm. To make sure that the price is satisfactory, owners may listen to market, reports on the radio or get price quotations from other meat packers. After a price has been agreed upon, the animals are shipped to the packer's slaughterhouse.

At terminal markets, livestock owners usually sell their animals through a commission firm. This firm acts as an agent for the owner. It sells the livestock to meat packer or other at the highest possible prioe. The commission firm receives a commission from the livestock owner for this service. The stockyard also charges the owner for the feed and facilities used by the animals.

Livestock buyers pay so much money per 100 pounds (45 kilograms), on the basis of live weight. Factors such as age, S9K, weight, grade of the animal, and degree of fatness help buyers determine the price they pay. Expert livestock buyers can accurately estimate the meat yield of a live animal. Their astimate seldom varies more than 1 per cent from the actual meat yield after slaughtering and dressing (pre­paring meat for sale.)

PACKING PROCESSES

Meat goes through more than 25 operations before it hangs dressed in packing-house coolers. Skilled workers perform these operations with great speed. Many packing plants slaughter and dress as many as 150 head of cattle or 800 to 1,200 hogs in an hour.

Slaughtering and dressing.Workers use mechanical stunners to ma­ke the cattle unconscious, after which the animals are killed end dressed. The carcasses are suspended from an overhead rail for the dressing operation, in which the hide and viscera (internal organs; are removed. Workers cut the dressed carcasses into halves, wash them, and move them along the rail to refrigerated rooms. There the carcas­ses chill to about 35'F.(2*C) for 12 to 24 hours. Then workers may out the halves into forequarters and hindquarters,

At wholesale or retail establishments, butchers divide the hind-quarter outs into flank, short loin, sirloin, and round. These cuts make up about half of a dressed beef carcass. The forequarte cuts, the other half, are divided into brisket, chuck, fore shank, rib, and short plate, A choice grade steer that weighs 1,000 pounds (450 kilog­rams) when alive will yield a carcass cf about 600 pounds (270 kilog­rams) .

Calves and lambs are made unconscious by an electric shock. Then workers slaughter and dress them in much the same way as oattle. Pac­kers ship most calves and lambs to wholesalers and retailers as whole carcasses.

Hogs are made unconscious by electricity or gas before they are killed. The carcasses are then scalded and dehaired. The viscera are removed and the carcasses are washed before being cooled overnight in a hog-chill cooler at a temperature of 35F .(2 C). The next day, butc­hers cut the carcasses into wholesale cuts- hams, shoulders, loins, bellies, spareribs, and other outs. These cuts are then sent to the shipping room to be graded by weigh, boxed, and market for shipment to markets or for further processing.

Lard makes up about 10 per cent of the weight of a dressed hog. Grinding and heating operations render (separate) the lard from the protein in the raw fat. The fat around the kindeys may be made into leaf lard, the best grade.

Curing and smokingprocesses were once used to preserve meat. To­day, meat is preserved by refrigeration. Curing and smoking produce the special flavor of bacon, ham, and other cuts.

Packers, cure most meat by pumping a curing solution into the ar­teries of the meat, or by infecting the solution directly into the me-' at. The curing solution is made uplargeiy of salt and water, but sugar may be included. Other ingredients are usually added to help develop the cherry-red color of cured meat and to preserve the flavor.

Smoking produces the distinctive smoked-meat flavor which consu­mers demand in certain meats./Modern smokehouses consist of air-condi­tioned, stainless-steel rooms. Controlled amount of smoke from special hardwoods sawdust are drawn into the rooms. The warm, fragrant smoke gives the meat a unique flavor and color.

Tenderizing.Consumers want tenderness, as well as flavor, in the meat they buy. .Less-tender cuts of meat may be ground to tenderize them. For example, ground beef makes up about 30 per cent of all fre3h beef consumed in the United States. In recent years, chemical tenderizers that are enzymes taken from fruits such as, pineapple, and figs, have been used by both packers and consumers. When meat is cooked, the heat activates these tenderizers. Consumers buy tenderizers in liquid or powder form.

HISTORY

Meat packing in the American Colonies began to develop as an in­dustry during the 1640's. Packing houses packed park in salt for ship­ment to plantations in the West Indies. The number of packing houses grew as communities developed that not produce their own meat animals. In most cases, a packing house then served only one small community. When that community's farms failed to produce enough livestock, ani­mals were herded in from other communities.

Before 1850,packing plants operated only during the winter. Many meat-packing plants were connected with icehouses. Workers cut ice from rivers and lakes in winter., and stored it in icehouses for use in warm weather. Meat packing became a year-round business after artifi­cial refrigeration was developed.

However, until the industry developed refrigerated railway oars, packing plants had trouble keeping meat fresh during the time needed to ship it to big Eastern cities. By the 1880's, meat packers had per­fected refrigerated railway cars. In the early 1900's, inventor Fre­derick Mckinley. Jones developed s refrigeration process that could be used in trucks.

Modern meat packing also began during this period when packers perfected assembly line production methods. In 1890, Congress passed a meat inspection law for meats to be exported. In 1906, a law waspas­sed providing for federal inspection of meats shipped in interstate commerce.

Recent developments.Sincle 1945, several hundred meat-packing plants have been built in towns and cities close to the farms and ranches where livestock are raised. Companies have lowered their transportation costs by building packing plants where livestock are raised. Many plants which make prepared foods have been built in and near big cities. These plants supply the processed meats that are sold in neighborhood supermarkets, butcher shops, and grocery stores.

Since the 1950's, the increased use of machinery has helped speed up meat-packing¹ operations. Mechanical developments include continu­ous-process, frankfurter-making: machines; semiautomatic slicing and weighing systems for packaged bacon; and mechanical knives and saws. Mechanically refrigerated trucks and railroad cars have eliminated the need for ice and salt to preserve meat that is shipped long distances. Most meat packet's now use computers in their production operations.

Trands in new product development include more prepackaging of retail meat items containing recipes and detailed cooking instructi­ons, and more precooked meat products. Many meat packers offer the consumer canned meats-hams, luncheon meats, sandwich speads, and com­bination dishes that consumers oan store easily and serve quickly. Ne­arly all meat is sold in prepackaged form. Much of the meat is boned, shaped, and ready for cooking. New methods of breeding and feeding ha­ve produced younger animals of the desired market weight and quality. As a result, meat is leaner and more tender.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 923