To make it work tasty dish, need quality products... As for meat, this is even more important, because it is not always possible to immediately determine its freshness. How to check the freshness of meat before the purchase? This is what our article is about.

How to check the freshness of meat on the market

To buy quality and fresh meat, it is better to choose farm products in the market or shop in specialized stores. In a supermarket with all sorts of products, it is difficult to pay as much attention to meat as it requires. Because of this, the technology of its storage may be violated.
Another point in favor of that - personal contact. "Own" butcher will always advise which piece is best for a particular dish. At the Metropolitan Market, in the T-Bone company steakhouse store, you will receive professional advice and comprehensive answers to your questions. Here you can buy dry and wet fermented farm meat for steaks and not only at the best prices.
The next way to check the freshness of meat is to ask for documents for the goods. If a salesperson can tell you about the suppliers and shelf life of their product, they can be trusted.
An attentive buyer should perk up all his 5 senses in order to buy a fresh one. To begin with, we carry out an "inspection". The first thing we pay attention to when choosing meat is its color. Darkening indicates that the meat is weathered, which means that it has been lying for too long. Darkening and dry crust are only acceptable for dry aged beef. This is due to the special technology of dry aging, we wrote about it in more detail.
The beef should be deep red in color. The lamb is even darker. There should be no stains or stickiness on the surface of the meat. It should be practically dry. Also remember how to determine the freshness of meat by fat.
The condition of the fat is an important criterion, even if it will not be used for a dish. It should be white. In the case of lamb, it is creamy. But the yellow fat layer indicates that the meat belongs to an adult animal and can be tough.
But again, an exception: if the goby has been grain-fed all its life, its fat may have a yellowish tint. In marbled meat, strips of fat are evenly distributed over the muscles. Of course, their number depends on the part of the carcass from which the cut is taken. But the more, the better. You can buy fresh marbled beef from Ukrainian bulls in the online meat store T-Bone. Find out more about how to choose steak meat by reading this.
How to smell freshness of meat? It is difficult to describe how fresh meat should smell. Its smell should be "edible", even appetizing. It is a scent that is not unpleasant. Our sense of smell will tell you how "right" the meat smells. If there is a "wrong" smell, this is a bad signal. An unpleasant smell appears already in the first stages of staleness.
We touch the meat with our finger, the groove should not remain. It will smooth out. Although, if you intend, the meat should not "spring". For steaks, aged beef is taken, and it usually has a looser texture.
How to distinguish fresh meat if it is sold in refrigerated counters? First you need to figure out where the color comes from. Some highlights can add brightness even to tarnished cuts. This should be checked by asking to get the meat out of the refrigerator for "inspection". If there is a lot of juice or water in the container where the cut is, this is also not very good, since all the juice should be in the meat. This is important for a delicious meal.
Chilled meat is recommended. But, if you need to buy frozen, choosing fresh cuts is also important.

How to determine the freshness of frozen meat

How to choose frozen meat? We listen. If the meat was frozen fresh, and it was done according to all the rules, it will make a clear sound when tapped. Its cut will be even, and the color will be bright. To get it right, contact a verified dealer or Butcher shop with a good reputation.
It is advisable to defrost meat in the refrigerator, slowly. Then the fibers will experience a minimum of stress, and the defrosted meat will cook properly. It is important to check whether the storage technology of the product has been followed. It may have been frozen fresh, but not stored properly. This can ruin even a quality cut. There should be no excess moisture in the package containing the meat. It indicates that the meat was frozen and then thawed.

How to choose fresh meat

Each type of meat has its own storage characteristics. You need to know not only how to check the freshness of meat, but also how to store it properly. For example, minced meat spoils faster than whole cuts. Therefore, it is prepared as quickly as possible. In addition, this way he will not lose juices. If you need to buy semi-finished steaks, for example, for a burger, contact only trusted sellers. In the T-Bone online meat store you will find quality ones.
How to store fresh meat at home? Store the meat product on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, where it is cooler. It is necessary that the temperature is not higher than 5 ° C. Beef is stored the longest: up to 4 weeks, provided that it is vacuum packed. At the same time, it is preliminarily aged, the fermentation process takes place. The butcher can be asked about how long the cut has been aged and how long it can be stored. Most often 2-3 days. Pork and lamb can be stored for up to 4 days. But it is better not to wait for such deadlines, but to cook the meat with a supply of freshness.
Our advice: Storing meat correctly in the refrigerator improves its taste. Find out more about how to age meat at home by reading this.
And one more nuance, how to choose fresh meat. You need to look around and evaluate the general atmosphere of the room where the meat is sold. If it is clean, comfortable, ideally even a butchery or a place where large cuts are stored, most likely the meat will be fresh. Different types meat should be kept separate from each other. If each cut has its own packaging, it should be airtight, dry and cool. Well, if any violations of sanitary standards were noticed or there is an unpleasant smell not just from meat, but at the entrance to the store, it is better to look for another. There may be good meat, but the sediment, as they say, will remain.
It is not difficult to buy quality meat. The main thing is to choose a place where you like both the product and the butcher. This is the first point. In addition, you need to take into account the color, texture, odor of the cut. And find out more about how the seller cuts and stores his products. In short, trust the professionals.

Meat is a must in every kitchen. Rich soups, delicious gravy, shashlik or the most delicate goulash, pies, and many other dishes cannot be cooked without meat.

To begin with, it is better to buy meat in a butcher's shop or in the market, and not in a supermarket, and there are reasons for this. In the supermarket, most often the meat is frozen and it is impossible to understand what its real look, smell, and sometimes even the shelf life is, and the weight of the defrosted meat goes into the water. At the market or butcher's shop, the meat undergoes laboratory and hygienic checks, you can smell it, take a closer look and choose exactly the piece that you need by weight. It is enough to choose one seller in the market and buy products from him.

First, you need to choose the exact piece of carcass that suits your chosen dish, or several pieces of different parts for subsequent cooking. But buying a lot at once is not worth it, in the freezer the meat is no longer the one to taste. Seeds and clumps are great for broths.

Secondly, the color of meat can only consist of shades of red, without foreign impurities of green, black or brown... Pork is predominantly pink, beef is red, lamb is also red, but an order of magnitude darker. Veal is deep pink in color, and besides that there is no fat on it, the bones are quite large in size. By the way, there is always fresh meat in the Hits barbecue, where you can order barbecue with delivery from St. Petersburg.

The fat of beef should be white, yellow indicates the old age of the meat, while pork has white lard with pink veins. Fresh meat is practically dry to the touch, without mucus and wateriness. The density is not loose, but elastic, and by pressing on it, you can conduct a test, if the meat takes its original shape, then it is fresh, if not, then you should refuse to buy. If the surface of the meat is slightly windy, perhaps it has been on the counter for several hours, there is nothing to worry about.

Meat freshness test

Ideal meat does not have unpleasant impurities in the aroma and a small test will help you choose fresh meat. Cutting off a small piece of meat, set it on fire with a lighter, the meat does not smell of urine and smells like fried - then you can safely buy this particular piece. If there is a tasteless smell, then it is far from the first freshness, you cannot buy it in order to avoid poisoning.

A piece of meat must have a veterinary stamp, its number must be identical with the number of the veterinary certificate. Well, to top off the purchase, for a more confident choice, you can ask the seller for a quality certificate, which confirms that the product meets all sanitary and epidemiological requirements.

Pork is a very popular meat in our country, and this is not surprising. This is a primordially Russian product, it is universal, everyone loves it, it is easy to cook. We even make kebabs from pork.

Now there is a lot of good quality domestic pork. Work in this direction has been carried out for a long time, there were problems when choosing the right breeds, it was determined what kind of pork we needed - less or more fat, with an emphasis on lard. And although there is a lot of imported pork on the market, I think that ours is still better.

Caution boar

It is, in principle, easy to choose pork, the main danger: you can accidentally buy boar or uncastrated boar meat from unscrupulous producers and sellers. When heat treated, it stinks. In the meantime, raw, it is exactly the same as regular pork. Until you start frying, you will not understand. Therefore, experienced buyers, especially this was common even in Soviet times went to the market with a knitting needle. They heated it with a lighter and pierced the meat - so it was possible to determine whether it was a boar or not.

No marinades and other tricks can beat the smell of a boar. It is especially offensive if you take a large batch, and 1 kg of boar comes across in it - everything is spoiled. But this is more of a restaurant story.

Especially you need to be careful when buying a shank, there is the greatest chance of running into a boar.

Be sure to sniff

If there is a pronounced smell of a pig, it is better not to take meat, you will not get rid of this smell when cooking, if it smells of mustiness and rot - such meat can be poisoned. The meat should smell neutral, there should be nothing unpleasant and repulsive. The piglet generally smells like milk.

It's all about softness

When choosing and preparing pork, everyone tries to buy soft meat. But here you need to think carefully. If the pork is soft, then it is very fatty. If there is little fat, then the meat will be harder and denser.

Manufacturers are embracing this quest for softness. For example, they marinate meat: starch, salt, water - and the meat does not change its taste, but changes its structure. And when frying such meat, it is no longer a chop that turns out, but something strange, such as ham. You won't get any crust.

For frying or for soup

The softest and fattest part - neck, they take it for a barbecue.

The spatula is also suitable for barbecue or baking.

Carbonate you need to fry, but not with thick chops, but with small medallions.

Tenderloin- specific meat, not everyone likes it, it is too dense. But it is also used only for frying.

Loin on the bone, they make chops from it. In fact, this is the same carbonate, but with uncut bone.

The back is suitable for baking, stewing.

Dangers of pink

If you choose a ham or a ham and see pork cut pink and beautiful, you should know that the meat was chemically processed here. There is, for example, potassium salt. In it, you can marinate meat for two hours, and then boil or bake, in which case the meat will be pink. Potassium salt in large quantities harmful. And here everything depends on the honesty of the manufacturer, if he took not too good meat, then he will marinate it in a huge amount of salt in order to give at least some marketable appearance. The baked ham should be gray. It doesn't look too pretty, but the taste is natural.

Yes, the taste of pork, and indeed meat in general, has changed since the days of the Soviet Union. In the USSR, we did not have many breeds of animals, there was only one breed, which was grown for fat and meat. They did not use medicine, medicines, did not use compound feed. Each house had a tank where cleaning and waste was to be drained. This is what the pigs were fed.

Now even farmers find it unprofitable to feed animals with waste, cook something for them, cook the same potatoes. It's easier to buy compound feed. What should he do? Grow wheat for chickens? Then eggs will be prohibitively expensive. And the farmer buys the same compound feed as in the factories. Of course, the meat tastes differently.

Another thing is the breed. Now they breed new meat breeds, they have less fat, completely different meat, different fibers.

Shop or farmer

Big shops work with big manufacturers, where everything is impersonal. But a large complex also does not give a stable quality of meat.

And even big producers buy imported pork. It says that it is domestic, but in fact it is Hungarian. Huge holdings have a task - to feed everyone, there should not be any holes in the supply, that's why it turns out that way.

But even contacting a small manufacturer does not guarantee you 100% quality. Because every manufacturer is different. I think that you need to look for your own. Search for the pork you like and buy in one place.

This all concerns central Russia. There are more small-town shops beyond the Urals. Everything there is smaller, homely, good quality. Shops usually work with one manufacturer. So pork in the Urals and pork in the European part of Russia are completely different.

Familiar uncertainty at the fresh meat display: Is it really "fresh cue ball" or is the meat already approaching its "second freshness"? Let's figure out by what signs you can determine really high-quality meat and how it should be stored correctly.

There are only three signs of quality by which you can determine the freshness of meat: color, smell and consistency. True, all these three factors depend on the type of meat in each case. The color of the meat should always match the type of animal, but it should never be pale or faded. Beef is rather dark red, pork is pink to shiny, and lamb is light red to red, with a slight "marbling". Roe deer should look medium to dark red, while poultry should look pink and firm. As for fat, it should always be white.

Smell fresh meat should always be neutral to slightly sour and typical of meat. This means that the meat is fresh. In no case should the meat have a sour, sweet or, moreover, a rotten smell. The surface of the meat should always be smooth and the meat itself elastic. After pressing on the meat (for example with a finger), it should return to its original shape.

Caution at the refrigerator counter!

Nowadays, many shelves are illuminated by illuminated light, under which even pale cuts of meat seem fresh. Therefore, pay attention to the fact that poultry meat is stored separately from other types of meat and meat products, as well as that they are cut and cut using different knives. Otherwise, the transfer of Salmonella cannot be guaranteed. Tip: Feel free to ask the seller about the meat suppliers. If he can show documents about the manufacturer and the shelf life, then, as a rule, this speaks in favor of the fact that the meat is fresh.

If juice is released from the meat, then it should always be transparent, but never cloudy or milky. In the store, in the container in which the meat is laid out in the showcase, there should not be a lot of liquid, since it high level may indicate insufficient quality or that the meat has been on this pallet for a long time. And water and water in a package with a packed ball can be an indicator that the meat has been defrosted.

How to identify bad meat

First, the smell and color of the meat change. The meat takes on a sour or rotten smell and becomes pale. And then long-term storage the surface structure also changes. Stains appear on the surface of the meat and a sticky, sticky layer forms. When pressed with a finger, such meat is not elastic, but soft and spongy. All this is an unequivocal indicator that such meat cannot be eaten.

No color changes in brownish-green and greenish-yellow directions are allowed. The meat should not have dried out surfaces, and also should not overflow and play in different colors. The exceptions here are: sausages like boiled ham or pork ham.

Storing meat

Storage times depend on the type of animal. In general, meat should not be stored at temperatures above 7 o C, but preferably up to 5 o C. The bottom shelf of the refrigerator is best for this - above the vegetable drawer, because this is the coldest place in the refrigerator. In addition, meat should not be exposed to strong heat on the way home from the store. Therefore, in the summer in intense heat it is recommended to use a cooler bag.

Chopped meat and fried sausage must be consumed on the day of purchase, as they are most susceptible to the action of bacteria. Concerning chicken meat, then it is most susceptible to damage by salmonella, for which reason it cannot be stored for more than three days at all. But chilled turkey can be stored for up to five days. Pork and lamb remain fresh for a maximum of two to four days. As for game, for example, roe deer meat, it can be stored for up to two weeks. Chilled beef can be stored longer - up to four weeks. But the juice released from the meat should not be too cloudy.

By the way, for a healthy person, even spoiled meat does not necessarily pose a mandatory threat. Most microorganisms die at high temperatures. Therefore, when cooking meat, you should ensure that the temperature in its middle for ten minutes is at least 70 o C.

There are many manufacturers who guarantee the freshness and quality of meat products. However, we recommend that you do not rely solely on the label and the date stamped on it, but always use caution and discretion when buying meat. The best defense is healthy suspicion when buying meat products and products.

Meat plays an important role in the nutritional system. Modern man consumes up to 70 kg of meat products a year. Complete animal protein and fat determine nutritional value product. The taste of pig meat makes pork very popular.

In order to use the increased demand of the population, the production of meat, and pork in particular, acquired an industrial scale. But such conditions for keeping animals affect the quality of pork.

Factors that reduce quality:

• Antibiotics

Genetic selection has gone so far that ordinary country pigs have turned into completely new animals:

• increased muscle mass;
• lack of fat on the back;
• elastic meat.

And these are just some of the changes. But all these actions make animals more vulnerable to disease and the protective properties of their immune systems are negated.

Crowded conditions, where the air is filled with ammonia, leads to various diseases, primarily of the pulmonary and gastric tract. Out of 10 piglets, 1 does not live to adulthood. Despite these conditions, breeders deny the high use of antibiotics. But the fact is that without antibiotics it is simply impossible to grow a large number of pigs in small areas. In such conditions, there are no natural factors: the ability to move and eat other food. The problem is that pigs and people who eat pork develop adaptations to antibiotics and, if necessary, they simply stop working. Medicines are being improved and there are antibiotics, the content of which in the blood is simply impossible to detect.

• Nutrition

The quality of the pork is also influenced by the feed. The days when pigs were fed potato peelings are over. Animal feed has become profitable business... Pig feed is made from waste Food Industry which are purchased in different countries... But even large feed manufacturers carry out only partial quality control, since analyzes for dioxins and heavy metal salts are extremely expensive. In addition, the feed is enriched with vitamins and nutritional supplements to accelerate the growth of piglets. Most of these synthetic drugs are sourced from China. But not isolated cases when food additives for feed imported from China caused poisoning in thousands of farms.

Why the composition of meat has changed and how it affects humans

For centuries, people have somehow contrived not to eat meat every day, which is not the case with modern consumers. Humanity is faced with a great difficulty: with an increase in the well-being of the population, the level of meat consumption increases. For half a century, it has doubled. This led to a kind of revolution in the food industry. Animals from pastures, where they could feed on grass, were transferred to stone cages. But by changing the diet of animals, industrialists changed the composition of meat.

All human cells need fatty acids to strengthen the membrane and communicate with other cells. There are two types of fats that the body cannot produce, but they are necessary for it to work - these are Omega 3 and Omega 6, so you can only get them with food. But the functions of the two amino acids are very different. Thus, Omega 6 promotes inflammation, blood clotting and cell growth. Omega 3 has opposite functions, and as long as they balance each other, everything is in order with human health. But with the transition to industrial nutrition, the amount of Omega 6 is constantly increasing, while Omega 3 is decreasing. So the truth about meat is that an animal product increases blood clotting and enhances cell growth. But in an adult, the only cells that can grow are liver and cancer cells. It turns out that meat, eggs, milk that we consume lead to the formation of a malignant tumor and obesity.

How meat is made fresh

Vendors in supermarkets and in the market will never reveal the truth about the meat on the counter:

• under the guise of a steam room, it goes chilled, although there cannot be a steam room on the counter;
• an expiring product is sold on such price terms as a quality one.

Whoever knows how to sell and knows the secrets of how to make the freshest product from illiquid stock will sell everything.

To give a presentation it is used:

• bite;
• fuchsin - poisonous and carcinogenic dye;
• brine with polyphosphate (stabilizer with water-retaining effect).

Vinegar fights off the smell of missing food.

Fuchsin, which is used in the chemical industry, for dyeing textiles, for the production of pencils, will give the piece its old red color.

Brine pumping almost doubles the weight of the product and the polyphosphate retains moisture.

How to identify good quality meat

In slaughterhouses, visual inspection of the quality of the meat is carried out, and only if the carcasses look unnatural or are stained will they be rejected. No other tests, for example, for the presence of antibiotics, metal salts, are performed.

You can only determine the quality of meat at home. In the store and in the market, the maximum that a customer can do is assess visually and smell.

Meat quality indicators:

• pinkish red (pork);
• dense consistency;
• odor without impurities.

A stale product has a darker color, and when you press the piece firmly with your finger, the shape is not restored and a dent remains. Fresh meat will regain its shape in a few seconds.

An indicator of the quality of meat is the presence of a thin pale pink crust, when touched, the hand remains dry. If the surface of the piece sticks to your fingers, then the product is not the first freshness.

If the meat is treated with fuchsin, then after you attach a white napkin to it and press lightly, it will turn bright pink. Such a piece "restored" by the dye, if placed in water, will turn it pink.

But if the bacteria die during heat treatment, then antibiotics and hormonal drugs remain resistant to high temperatures. Determining the presence of hormones in meat is not so difficult. To do this, just light a small piece with a lighter. In the presence of hormones, smoke will be emitted with a rubbery smell.

The product, pumped up with brine, emits a lot of liquid during frying and becomes hard. This is how polyphosphate behaves under the influence of temperature. After removing the liquid, the meat returns to its natural size. According to the law, such food supplement used in the production of semi-finished products. Therefore, if a piece is vacuum packed and the label says "semi-finished pork", then the manufacturer used chemistry to increase the mass.