ABSTRACT
Me a t can be defined as the edible portion of postmortem muscle tissue from domestic mammalian species, including pigs, cattle, sheep, and rabbits; poultry species, including chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and os triches; marine species, including fish and crustaceans; and a variety of game animals, such as deer and elk. Traditionally, however, the word meat implies muscle tissue from the so-called red meat animals: beef, pork, lamb/mutton. The edible muscle tissue from other species is usually excluded from the tradi tional definition of meat. To clarify the confusion, the term muscle foods is now accepted by food scientists, meat processors, and consumers to refer to all edible muscle tissues, regardless of species (Hedrick et al., 1994). In this chapter, only meats from three major mammalian animals (pork, beef, and lamb) will be discussed. Poultry and fish products are dealt with in other chap ters of the book.
