Marbled meat

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Marbled meat is meat, especially red meat, which contains various amounts of intramuscular fat, giving it an appearance similar to a marble pattern. Meat with a high marbling content has a taste and texture American consumers have come to like. However, meat with high intramuscular fat contains more saturated fat and less omega-3 fatty acids than the meat of animals fed with grass.^[1] The USDA's grading system, which has been designed to reward marbling, has eight different grades; Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner. Prime has the highest marbling content when compared to other grades and is capable of fetching a premium at restaurants and supermarkets. Choice is the grade most commonly sold in retail outlets and Select is sold as a cheaper but still nutritious option in many stores. Prime, Choice, Select and Standard are commonly used in the younger cattle (under 42 months of age) and Commercial, Utility, Canner and Cutter are used in older cattle carcasses which are not marketed as wholesale beef "block" meat but as material used in ground products and cheaper steaks for family restaurants. ^[2]

Marbling can be influenced by selective breeding. Cattle breeds such as Angus, Shorthorns, and Wagyu type cattle and dairy breeds such as the Jersey, Holstein-Friesian, and Braunvieh have higher marbling scores on average versus other cattle such as Simmentals, Charolais, or Chianina.^{[citation needed]}

Marbling can also be influenced by time on feed and type of feed. The longer that a pen of beef cattle are on feed on the feedlot the higher the chance that they will grade higher on quality scores but have much lower yield grades (percentage of carcass lean to fat ratio) Feeding a high amount of cereal grains such as corn or barley will change the color of the carcass fat from a yellowish to a white, plus increase the chance of obtaining a higher quality grade according to the USDA. It can be risky to feed a cow too much grain to increase marbling, because it can make the cows sick. Cows are ruminants and have stomachs which are best at digesting grass, not grain. In order to increase marbling and rapidly increase a cow's weight for sale, "the contemporary beef cow is being selected for the ability to eat large quantities of corn and efficiently convert it to protein without getting too sick." ^{[3][citation needed]}

Veal has little to no marbling since young cattle develop subcutaneous fat first, KPH (kidney, pelvic and heart fat) second, intermuscular (between the muscle, or "seam fat") third and then intramuscular fat - "marbling" - last. Sheep and goats do the same.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Kobe beef

[edit] References

1. ^ Pollan, Michael: "The Omnivore's Dilemma", Pg. 75. The Penguin Press, 2006
2. ^ U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, ARS, USDA (September 9, 1994). Effect of Marbling Degree on Beef Palatability in Bos taurus and Bos indicus Cattle. USDA. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
3. ^ Pollan, Michael: "The Omnivore's Dilemma", Pg. 77. The Penguin Press, 2006