35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 |
1 | 103 | 205 | 308 | 410 |
for the dinner table or in animal feed. Sometimes the pig heart valves replace defective human
heart valves, and pig skin in treating human burn victims.
Sheep was the first animal domesticated by humans, first tamed 11,000 years ago in the
Middle East. Goat was a little later, about 9500 years ago. In many countries lamb, mutton and
goat are very popular meats, partly because they are easy to raise on inhospitable grazing land.
Another major reason for this popularity is that they are among the few meats in the world
having no religious or cultural restrictions. In North America we only consume young sheep as
lamb. It is not nearly as popular as in other parts of the world, ranking about the same as veal.
This is surprising as almost all lamb on the market is tender and flavorful, one of the best
available anywhere in the world. The rancher raises the animals on optimum feed until they
reach about 100 pounds (45 kg) at an age of between five and ten months.
Nutrition
The majority of meat we use as food is muscle of an animal. Meat is highly nutritious,
particularly high in protein. Pork and beef are 15 to 22 percent protein, the rest is 68 to 80
percent moisture (basically water) and 0.5 to 20 percent fat. (In dietitian language that translates
to 17 to 25 grams of protein and 0.6 to 23 grams of fat in a four-ounce serving.) The fat here is
not the obvious trimmable, outer layer fat but the internal, built-in fat that are an integral part of
the muscle tissues and cells. This is the barely visible and invisible fat that gives people on
reducing diets a major setback.
America's love of meat has brought warning from nutritionists, dietitians, physicians, and
the surgeon general of the U.S. We eat too much meat, too much fatty meat, and this can impact
our health. Though we should heed the warnings, we need not eliminate meat from our menu.
We just need to plan our menus wisely and include meat in moderation.
Other important part of meat are micronutrients such as minerals and vitamins.
Micronutrients are in tiny amounts and are also essential to the smooth operation of our bodies.
They occur in two different parts of meat—water-soluble minerals and vitamins are dissolved in
the moisture of the muscle and fat-soluble ones are in the fats. Should we completely eliminate
fat from our diets, we would deprive our bodies from fat-soluble micronutrients. Without
supplements, our bodies could not operate.
Shrinking the fat
It is hard to change old habits, especially old eating habits. The feel of the food in your
mouth and the flavor are almost as essential as its ability to fuel your body. Lean meat doesn't
have nearly as much flavor as fatty, or at least well-marbled meat, so when you trim the fat, the
accustomed texture and flavor also change. Yet, people have been taking warnings of eating too
much fat seriously. The demand for low-fat meat is strong enough that the entire team is paying
attention, from geneticists to agronomists, ranchers and feed lot operators, to packers, processors
and retail butchers.
They have all helped to trim down meats to lean. Economic incentives encourage
livestock growers to sell leaner animals. Heavy-bodied "lard-type" hogs, which used to fetch
premium prices at the slaughter houses, are no longer in demand. Today's livestock grower is
raising breeds that start as genetically leaner. Then he selects the leanest animals in the herd for
further breeding to get the leanest of the lean. Cross-breeding is another powerful tool in
play © erdosh 37
Page
Quick Jump
|