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Meat

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Food and agriculture

   Various Meats
   Various Meats
   Cold Meat Salad
   Cold Meat Salad

   Meat, in its broadest definition, is animal tissue used as food. Most
   often it references to skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may
   also refer to non- muscle organs, including lungs, livers, skin,
   brains, bone marrow and kidneys. The word meat is also used by the meat
   packing and butchering industry in a more restrictive sense - the flesh
   of mammalian species (pigs, cattle, etc.) raised and butchered for
   human consumption, to the exclusion of fish, poultry, and insects. Eggs
   are rarely referred to as meat even though they consist of animal
   tissue. Animals that consume only meat are carnivores.

   The meat packing industry slaughters, processes, and distributes meats
   for human consumption in many countries.

Etymology

   The word meat comes from the Old English word mete, which referred to
   food in general. Mad in Danish, and mat in Swedish and Norwegian, still
   mean food. The narrower sense, referring exclusively to animal flesh
   developed over the past few hundred years. Until recently, meaty
   continued to often be used to refer to any food of a "meaty"
   consistency—the meat of an artichoke, for example. This usage is mostly
   obscure today, but the word can still be used to imply reference to the
   most essential or substantial part of something (e.g., "the real meat
   of the government's policies...").

   Meaty also shares some of the sexual connotations that flesh carries,
   and can be used to refer to the human body, often in a way that is
   considered vulgar or demeaning, as in the phrase meat market, which, in
   addition to simply denoting a market where meat is sold, can also be a
   slang phrase referring to a place or situation where humans are treated
   or viewed as commodities, especially a place where one looks for a
   casual sexual encounter. This sexual connotation has also existed for
   at least 500 years.

Methods of preparation

   Various meats being cooked on a barbeque.
   Various meats being cooked on a barbeque.
   Processed meat in American grocery store
   Processed meat in American grocery store

   Meat is prepared in many ways, as steaks, in stews, fondue, or as dried
   meat. It may be ground then formed into patties (as burgers or
   croquettes), loaves, or sausages, or used in loose form (as in "sloppy
   joe" or Bolognese sauce). Some meats are cured, by smoking, pickling,
   preserving in salt or brine (see salted meat and curing). Others are
   marinated and barbecued, or simply boiled, roasted, or fried. Meat is
   generally eaten cooked, but there are many traditional recipes that
   call for raw beef, veal or fish. Meat is often spiced or seasoned, as
   in most sausages. Meat dishes are usually described by their source
   (animal and part of body) and method of preparation.

   Meat is a typical base for making sandwiches. Popular sandwich meats
   include turkey, chicken, ham, pork, bacon, salami and other sausages,
   and beef, such as steak, roast beef, corned beef, and pastrami. Meat
   can also be molded or pressed (common for products that include offal,
   such as haggis and scrapple) and canned.

Nutritional benefits and concerns

   All muscle tissue is very high in protein, containing all of the
   essential amino acids. Muscle tissue is very low in carbohydrates. The
   fat content of meat can vary widely depending on the species and breed
   of animal, the way in which the animal was raised including what it was
   fed, the anatomical part of its body, and the methods of butchering and
   cooking. Wild animals such as deer are typically leaner than farm
   animals, leading to the increasing popularity of game such as venison;
   however, centuries of breeding meat animals for size and fatness is
   being reversed by consumer demand for meat with less fat. Animal fat is
   relatively high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which have been
   linked to various health problems, including heart disease and
   arteriosclerosis.

                                 CAPTION: Typical Meat Nutritional Content
                                                     from 110 grams (4 oz)

                                   Source     calories protein carbs  fat
                               fish           110–140  20–25 g  0 g  1–5 g
                               chicken breast   160     28 g    0 g   7 g
                               lamb             250     30 g    0 g  14 g
                               steak (beef)     275     30 g    0 g  18 g
                               T-bone           450     25 g    0 g  35 g

   The table at right compares the nutritional content of several types of
   meat. While each kind of meat has about the same content of protein and
   carbohydrates, there is a very wide range of fat content. It is the
   additional fat that contributes most to the calorie content of meat,
   and to concerns about dietary health. A famous study, the Nurses'
   Health Study, followed about one-hundred-thousand female nurses and
   their eating habits. Nurses who ate the largest amount of animal fat
   were twice as likely to develop colon cancer as the nurses who ate the
   least amount of animal fat.
   Data source: Economic Research Service/USDA.
   Data source: Economic Research Service/USDA.

   In response to health concerns about saturated fat and cholesterol,
   consumers have altered their consumption of various meats. A USDA
   report points out that consumption of beef in the United States between
   1970–1974 and 1990–1994 dropped by 21%, while consumption of chicken
   increased by 90%.

   Meat can transmit certain diseases. Undercooked pork sometimes contains
   the parasites that cause trichinosis or cysticercosis. Chicken is
   sometimes contaminated with Salmonella enterica disease-causing
   bacteria. The recent outbreak of bird flu has stimulated global
   concerns over public health. Cattle tissue occasionally contains the
   prions that cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Practice of good
   food safety and animal husbandry practices reduces most of these risks.
   These are almost never a factor in the consumption of wild meats.

Abstention from meat

   People may abstain from consuming meat for a variety of reasons.

Cultural and religious taboos

   Cultural taboos inhibit the consumption of certain kinds of meat, even
   for non-religious people. For example, consumption of human meat, or
   cannibalism, is nearly always considered a cultural taboo.

   Some cultures do not eat the meat of animals species that they
   regularly keep as pets. In Western Culture, rabbits and fish are
   exceptions to this rule.

   Islam and Judaism both have dietary laws. Halal is the term that refers
   to Islamic dietary laws and Kashrut is the term that refers to Jewish
   dietary laws.

In vitro and imitation meat

   Various forms of imitation meat have been created to satisfy some
   vegetarians' taste for the flavor and texture of meat, and there is
   speculation about the possibility of growing in vitro meat from animal
   tissue.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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