The live broadcast of "Beckham Hungry" once again revealed the complexity of steak products. What is the original cut steak? How to distinguish marinated steak, seasoned steak, full-cut steak, filet mignon, eye steak, sirloin steak and even minced steak? How to define and choose grain feed steak and M5 grade steak? I'm afraid these concepts are difficult for non-professionals to understand.
According to insiders, steak is mainly divided into original cut steak and prefabricated steak. The ingredients of the original cut steak are only beef. Generally, seasonings, food additives and other accessories are added to the prepared steak for conditioning and processing. Preparing steaks is "learned", and it is possible to buy "spliced steaks" or even fake steaks from other meat sources.
In view of the current situation of the steak market, the Beijing News reporter recently visited the market and found that some e-commerce merchants put the words "original cut steak" in the search keywords of the prepared steak products, and the offline channel products put the slogan "original cut steak" on the prepared steak packaging, which made consumers confused. In addition, there are merchants selling "spliced steaks", and the price of one piece is only 6.39 yuan.
"Original-cut static marinated steak" is called "original-cut steak"
The source of meat is the original cut meat, and the process is to stand and marinate. In the live broadcast, "original cut braised steak" was called "original cut steak" many times. What's wrong with the food blogger "Beckham is hungry"?
Liu, a member of the Food Safety Committee of Shanghai Food Society, recently explained in a popular science article published by Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee that there are two main types of steaks in China market: original cut steaks and prefabricated steaks. The original cut steak refers to the steak that is only physically divided and packaged without adding any auxiliary materials, that is, "pure beef"; Conditioning steak is usually made by adding extra water, condiments and food additives to beef for pickling and rolling.
According to the definition of light industry standard QB/T5442-2020 "Steak", "original cut steak" refers to a block meat product made of fresh and frozen beef, which is trimmed, frozen, sliced, mixed with convenient seasonings and packaged. "Cooked steak" refers to a block of cooked meat products made of fresh and frozen beef, supplemented by auxiliary materials, trimmed, marinated, shaped, frozen, sliced, mixed with convenient seasonings and packaged.
As can be seen from the above definition, the original cut steak has not been processed with auxiliary materials. The "original cut steak" broadcast live by "Beckham is hungry" belongs to the category of prefabricated steak, because it has been cured. Although it is only two words less than "original cut steak", its category is different.
In addition to the differences in technology and ingredients, there are also differences in nutrients and prices between the original cut steak and the prepared steak. Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee recently conducted a comparative test on 23 steaks, and found that the protein content of the original cut steak was between16.7g100g-22.9g/100g, with an average content of about 20g/100g. The protein content of the prepared steak is between 9.42g/100g-13.9g/100g, and the average content is about12g/100g, which is about the original cut steak.
The comparative test also found that the protein measured values of the two kinds of prepared steaks were 64% and 77% of the marked values, respectively, which did not meet the requirement that the measured values were ≥ 80% of the marked values in GB28050 "General Principles for Nutrition Labeling of National Food Safety Standards in prepackaged foods". The measured fat values of four kinds of prepared steaks are only 65438 02%, 29%, 43% and 56% of the marked values respectively. Among them, the measured value of 1 "Western Chicken" sample in protein is 9.42g/100g, accounting for 64% of the marked value, and the measured value in fat is1.2g/100g, accounting for 43% of the marked value, which is lower than the average of the prepared steak.
In order to compare the price of steak, the Beijing News reporter also counted 13 steaks sold by eight brands through offline channels, and converted them into the unit price of100g. The prices of four kinds of original cut steaks are between 20 yuan and 75 yuan, and the prices of five kinds of prepared steaks with the slogan of "full cut" and "original cut" are between 1 1.4 yuan -35.3 yuan. Generally speaking, the more non-beef ingredients added in the ingredient list, the lower the price.
"Total Cut" and "Original Cut" are charming eyes.
According to the statistical data of the above 13 steaks, the Beijing News reporter also found that four of the nine kinds of prepared steaks were marked with the slogan of "full cutting" on the product packaging. Among them, "Box Horse" wet-boiled dry-cured corn for eye-feeding beef steak emphasizes "the original part of the whole cut eye meat" on the package, "Tahiti" herb black pepper whole cut beef brisket shows "the whole cut taste" on the package, and "Tahiti" cooked beef brisket emphasizes "100% without splicing and whole piece" on the package.
Some steak products are marked with the slogan of "full cut" on the packaging. Photo by Guo Tie, chief reporter of Beijing News
Although the word "original cut" is not directly used in the product names of these nine kinds of steaks, the "Ye Hao" deep-cooked filet mignon for children claims "original cut steak" and "Angus beef is dried for 600 days to 14 days" on the package. The ingredient list shows that its ingredients are beef and edible salt, and its product category is dish products, but it is actually a prepared steak.
"Ye Hao" children's fried filet mignon is known as "original cut steak". Photo by Guo Tie, chief reporter of Beijing News
In response to this steak claim, on June 5438+065438+ 10/5, Mr. Zheng, the relevant person in charge of Shanghai Food Sales Co., Ltd., responded to the Beijing News reporter that his "original cut" claimed that the meat had not been rolled. "It was like this, it was cut with a knife." Original cut steak is not defined in the dictionary, and "original cut" itself is also a foreign word. There is no mandatory standard in China, and there is no such project. In the industry, as long as the original shape of the steak is cut, it is cut. The ingredient list is added according to national standards, and we have marked all the dishes. "
Similarly, many merchants on the e-commerce platform typed the words "original cut steak" in the product keywords, but in fact they are prepared steaks. For example, the "Downton Manor" steak sold by the merchant "100% flavor restaurant" is a dish product, and the ingredients list contains many ingredients such as soy protein isolate and food additives, but the merchant typed the words "fresh original steak" in the keyword. The "peerless beef brisket steak" sold by the merchant "Western Kitchen Food" is also a kind of prefabricated steak, and the words "original cut beef fresh" and "home-made full-cut marinated steak" are also printed in the key words, which makes people puzzled.
A piece of "spliced steak" is only 6.39 yuan.
Sometimes it is not enough to distinguish steak only by product name and ingredient list. A frozen product dealer told the Beijing News reporter that five or six years ago, it was very common to process "spliced steak" with ground beef, which was welcomed by western restaurants and other places because of its low price. Many factories specially produced this "special edition" steak for restaurants, and many small factories used a large amount of duck meat as the main material, supplemented by ground beef or essence to reduce costs and pursue high profits.
Mr. Liao, who is engaged in beef processing business, told the Beijing News reporter that the original cut steak has not undergone any processing, even if the product only adds a small amount of salt and water, it is also a prepared steak, which is "very knowledgeable". From the supplier's point of view, the best steak is static marinated steak. The meat is cut in pieces, with only a small amount of salt, water or other ingredients, and the ingredients are very simple. Followed by full-cut steak, the meat is cut piece by piece, but the ingredients are more than static braised steak. Its advantages are tender taste and relatively low cost. Further down are "spliced steaks", some of which are "spliced" with ground beef with food additives, and worst of all, they are spliced with other meats such as chicken and pork. However, the current situation of steak fraud has been significantly reduced.
The Beijing News reporter inquired that the wholesale price of 1kg Angus Valley feed material steak scraps imported from Australia is 37 yuan -46 yuan. However, the price of a chilled Australian beef M5 filet mignon sold by Shangchao is 149.9 yuan per 200g. A seller said that most of the scraps were cut from the raw materials of eye feed meat in Angus Valley, Australia. "The large package without water injection and splicing is cost-effective, suitable for fried steak, barbecue, western restaurant and home cooking. You can contact the restaurant business separately. "
The price of a 200g frozen Australian beef M5 filet mignon is 149.9 yuan. Photo by Guo Tie, chief reporter of Beijing News
Another merchant sells a black pepper steak online, and the price of 10 slices is only 63.9 yuan. According to the "Agricultural Products Wholesale Price 200 Index" released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on June165438+1October 4, the wholesale price of beef reached 77.83 yuan/kg. Mr. Zhang, the person in charge of the business, said frankly that this steak is a "spliced steak", so the price is cheap, and the price of the original cut steak is higher than that of the steak in 8 yuan. This store also sells marinated full-cut steak, the price is between "spliced steak" and original cut steak.
The price of a 10 piece of black pepper steak is 63.9 yuan. Photo by Guo Tie, chief reporter of Beijing News
Regarding how to distinguish "spliced steaks", Mr. Liao admits that it cannot be accurately judged from the product ingredient list. "An important role of soy protein and carrageenan in conditioning steak is to keep the moisture in the meat and make the steak more tender. You can't judge it is a spliced steak just because these ingredients are in the ingredient list. From the price point of view, if the original cut steak sells the price of the prepared steak, be careful. From the appearance, the texture of the original cut steak or full cut steak is relatively regular, and the texture of the spliced steak is chaotic, and it is impossible to splice a complete texture. "
202 1 Shenzhen Consumer Council conducted a comparative test on 15 kinds of prepared steaks. The results showed that no other animal-derived ingredients except lean meat and beef were detected in all samples, that is, no adulteration was found. The Consumer Council of Shenzhen also reminded that ingredients such as soy protein isolate, carrageenan and transglutaminase can be used in food. As long as it is used according to the standard, it will not cause harm to human health. Having these ingredients does not mean that they must be "spliced/synthetic steaks". The purpose of adding them is to optimize the tenderness and taste of steak and make it easier to chew and digest.
Liu Dengyong, vice president of bohai university College of Food Science and Engineering, said in an interview with the Beijing News that the raw materials used in the qualified "spliced steak" are not necessarily minced meat, but may also be due to the need of processing technology to cut large pieces of meat into small pieces for reorganization. "However, it is illegal to use the spliced steak as the original cut steak, or it contains raw materials such as chicken and pork but is not labeled as required, which is a commercial fraud."
The standard of "steak" needs to be improved
In fact, at present, there is no mandatory standard for the classification of steaks and products in China, and the classification of "original cutting", "whole cutting" and "conditioning" is established in the industry, and the words "reorganization" and "splicing" are not required for "spliced steaks".
Judging from the implementation standards, most of the original cut steaks currently implement the recommended standards of GB2707-20 16 National Food Safety Standard for Fresh Livestock and Poultry Products or GB/T 17238 Fresh and Frozen Cut Beef. However, the standard of SB/T 10379-20 12 "Quick-frozen prepared food" is mostly applicable to prepared steak, and some products are applicable to the local standard of Shanghai DB 31/2016-2021Prepared Meat Products. These two standards only limit the sensory requirements and microorganisms for preparing meat products.
In 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the quality grades of steaks QB/T5442-2020 and QB/T5443-2020, defined the original cut steaks and prepared steaks, and stipulated the physical and chemical indexes such as moisture, protein, starch and volatile base nitrogen. In the original cut steak, the moisture content should not exceed 77g/ 100g, and there is no restriction on protein and starch. The moisture content in prepared steaks should not exceed 82g/ 100g, and the moisture content in protein should not be lower than 12g/ 100g. However, judging from market visits, there are not many steaks that implement these two standards at present.
Regarding the rating of steaks, according to the explanation of Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee, Australian steaks and beef steaks often adopt the "M+ number" rating method, where "M" refers to the fat in the muscle. Generally, the higher the M value, the higher the fat content and the higher the price. "Grain feeding" refers to the feeding mode of wheat, corn and other grains, and "days" refers to the fattening time of grain-fed cattle. The more days, the richer the marbling of steak, the better the taste and the higher the price. As for the "filet mignon", "eye meat" and "cold cut meat" commonly used by consumers, they are taken from different parts of the cow's body, and their meat quality and taste are different.
Australian steaks and steaks are graded by "M+ numbers". Photo by Guo Tie, chief reporter of Beijing News
In May, 20021,China Meat Association held a seminar on the first drafts of "Original Cut Steak and Its Quality Grade" and "Prepared Steak and Its Quality Grade". It was mentioned at the meeting that compared with the original cut steak, the fresh cut steak is more suitable for the eating habits of China consumers. However, additives such as tender meat powder, transglutaminase, quality improver and seasoning will be used in the processing of prepared steak, so consumers have some misunderstandings about prepared steak products in the market. The main factor determining the quality grade of raw-cut steak is the fat content of steak and its uniform distribution in muscle, and the decisive factor is the fattening process of cattle. According to the existing relevant standards in China, there is still room for improvement in the quality control of the above two steaks.
In view of the above problems, China Meat Association organized relevant industry experts and business leaders to discuss the processing technical requirements, standard terminology, sensory indicators, physical and chemical indicators, microbial limits and other indicators and inspection methods in the current standards, in an effort to adjust and revise some contents in the current standards, so as to make the processing technology and beef fattening technology high-end and controllable.
Chief reporter of Beijing News Guo Tie Editor Li Yan