Can a Butcher Accurately Measure Fat Content in Ground Meat?

[Loren Booda]

How does a butcher determine the fat content of ground meat to within a percentage point?

 

[negitron]

They http://www.hobartcorp.com/assets/specsheets/F-7514.pdf , of course.

 

[Loren Booda]

You've whet my appetite with food for thought, but where's the beef?

 

[negitron]

On page 2, of course.

 

[DaveC426913]

'twould that all scientifically-minded questions were so easy to answer...

How do they measure the large-scale curvature of the universe?
How do they determine how many physical dimensions there are?

 

[turbo]

A farmer was asked at his road-side stand how he could sell rabbit-meat sandwiches for only $1 each, and the farmer admitted that he used a bit of horse-meat to "extend" the rabbit-meat. When pressed, he admitted that the horse-meat to rabbit-meat ratio was about 50:50. When he was asked how he measured that ratio, the answer was "one horse, one rabbit".

 

[Andy Resnick]

Wow... I thought the information would be easy to find. It's not.

The USDA website was not particularly helpful, but I did locate a reference to '9 CFR 319.15(a)' which covers allowable fat content in ground meat. I could not find the actual document, nor could I find any documentation on how fat content is to be determined, nor the allowable variability.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Oops- here it is:

http://cfr.vlex.com/source/1058

 

[Moonbear]

Seriously, the first response had it. It's measured. If you want more details, you can always count on the military to have specific protocols.
http://www.marines.mil/news/publications/Documents/MCO%2010110.15C.pdf

 

[Loren Booda]

I feel better knowing that a good majority of its fat is rendered when I cook 80% lean ground beef.