ABSTRACT
Red meat refers to the meat from mammalian skeletal muscle tissue with distinctive red color including beef, pork, and lamb. Although muscle and meat are used interchangeably on many occasions, there are differences between the two terms. Muscle refers to a tissue responsible for contraction and movement in live animals, while meat is a broad term referring to edible tissues from animals consisting of muscle, adipose, and other connective tissues (1). The major components of meat include water, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, minerals, soluble non-protein substances, vitamins, and some incidental compounds such as feed additives or contaminants (Table 29.1). The composition of meat is dependent on the species, breed, sex, age, activity, the anatomical location of the cut, the relative proportions of tissues in the retail cut, and other factors. However, the composition of lean meat is fairly consistent even across different species (Table 29.2). Hence, in later discussions, the chemical composition of red meat is not separated into species.
