Washington D.C.–The American Meat Institute (AMI), in conjunction with the American Meat Science Association (AMSA), today launched the latest installment of their Meat MythCrusher video series, which seeks to set the record straight about some of the most common meat myths.
The new video details the facts about ground beef processing and speaks to the view held by some consumers that it’s safer to buy ground beef that is ground from a whole roast in store or at home than that which is ground from beef trimmings and packaged in a plant. Robert Maddock, Ph.D., associate professor at North Dakota State says it does not matter whether the ground beef comes from trimmings or whole muscle.
“When we break a beef carcass down, somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of the weight of that carcass is going to be trimmings,” explains Dr. Maddock. “If that wasn’t used in the production of ground beef, it would be lost and that’s a lot of meat.”
Additionally, Dr. Maddock provides viewers with a list of things to look for when buying ground beef, such as lean versus fat content and packaging dates.
The Meat Mythcrusher series includes 20 videos and has accumulated more than 28,000 views on YouTube since its launch in 2011. In February, the Meat Mythcrusher team examined the truth behind the process of making hot dogs and sausages. Other video topics include myths surrounding hormone use in livestock, ammonia in ground beef, meat’s environmental impact and more.
All of the videos and more are available at http://www.meatmythcrushers.com/.
AMI represents the interests of packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal and turkey products and their suppliers throughout North America. Together, AMI’s members produce 95 percent of the beef, pork, lamb and veal products and 70 percent of the turkey products in the United States. The Institute provides legislative, regulatory, public relations, technical, scientific and educational services to the meat and poultry packing and processing industry.
AMSA fosters community and professional development among individuals who create and apply science to efficiently provide safe and high quality meat (defined as red meat (beef, pork and lamb), poultry, fish/seafood and meat from other managed species).
Source: American Meat Institute