Eating foods is one thing and learning about them is another thing. However, while eating something, to some people the first question comes in mind is that, “how did you do it?”. From farm to table, actually. When you are eating your favorite meat, you better know that it goes through 6 crucial steps before landing onto your plate. Here we will elaborate the whole meat processing steps that some people are curious to know about.
1- Raising The Animal
Depending on the type of farm and the animal, the existence of the animals can be different. For examples, most of the times you can find cows and pigs are hanging around loose on the grass pastures while others are caged and living in the cramped feedlots. Getting to know the labels of the food you are eating, can make you understand if the meat you are buying is from humanely-raised animals or not.
2- Stunning And Slaughter
Before killing the animals, people use to stun them either with a captive bolt pistol, carbon dioxide, or electric current. This action helps them to kill the animals without hurting them. Hence, it helps the workers in handling the calmer animals. Study shows that stressed animals become tougher meat but bruised meat is not for selling on the market.
3-Butchering
Before starting the butchering process, they first remove the animal’s pelt. In case it is poultry, the feathers are to be removed. The workers cut the pelt from the big animals and they de-feather the poultry (birds) by a plucking machine. Once the workers are done with removing the feathers and all, it is time for moving with the carcass, removing the innards. In this process, workers have to pay extra attention to it, making sure not to rupture the inwards. Moreover, getting any contaminants on the carcass can reduce the safety of the food.
4-Grading
Depending on the animal’s size, muscle mass, and fat deposits, some grades have been given. There are several beef cuts “prime,” “select” and “choice,” decided based on the marbling and tenderness. On the other hand, on the letter scale from A to C, workers grade poultry based on bruising and other defects.
5-Cutting
You can see in grocery stores how the workers cut off large racks of meats into small pieces. First, the workers debone the chicken and cut them into pieces. When it comes to large animals like cows and pigs, workers usually cut them into three large pieces first before they cut it into specific pieces like ribs, bacon, or brisket.
6-Packaging And Distributing
After cutting the meat, they put it into plastic bags and vacuum seal it. Then after boxing the meat, they send it out to stores and restaurants from where you get it and eat it.
Here goes the whole meat processing. There are so many ways people cook delicious meat recipes. And if you need any information, you can check out our other posts or simply write a comment in the area below.
