Lean meat

Lean meat means a 3-oz serving of cooked beef must have less than 10 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat, and less than 95 mg of cholesterol.

The big benefit of lean meats such as chicken, turkey, beef and lamb, is that they are rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, niacin, zinc, and iron.

Lean meats are mostly low in fat and sodium. Lean meats are also sources of a range of endogenous antioxidants and other bioactive substances including taurine, carnitine, carnosine, ubiquinone, glutathione and creatine.

Substantial evidence from recent studies shows that lean red meat trimmed of visible fat does not raise total blood cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels.

The saturated fat content of lean red meat is less than 1.5g/100g lean red meat compared with more than 37g saturated fat/100g of visible fat from red meat. The main lipid in lean meat tissue is phospholipid which makes up the major portion of the cell membrane structure, and these are rich in polyunsaturated fat (PUFA), while the other main lipid in lean meat is triacylglycerol which in beef and lamb are enriched in saturated fat and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA).

Today, more than 65% of beef cuts sold at retail meet government standards for lean, and 17 of the top 25 most popular cuts sold at retail are lean. Among those cuts are perennially popular and widely consumed beef products like Sirloin Steak and Tenderloin.

Lean meat

Meaning of beef lean meat

The leanest ground beef commonly available – 95 percent ground beef - has only 4.9 grams 0f fat per ounce cooked serving and contains 5 percent fat by weight.

Beef labeled ’75 percent lean’ is 25 percent fats by weight – which is a lot of fat. If no ready-made 95 percent lean ground beef select a lean piece of top round and have the butcher trim off the visible fat and grind the remaining meat. Ground beef made this way is about 95-percent lean.

‘Lean’ has a specific meaning when used in food labeling in the United States. The term ‘lean’ means that meat, poultry or seafood contains less than 10 g of total fat, 4.5 g or less of saturated fat, and less than 95 mg of cholesterol per serving (usually 3 oz),and per 100 g (about 3.5 oz).

Producers of beef and other meats have responded to consumer’s concerns about fat and cholesterol by raising leaner animals, trimming more outer fat from retail cuts of meat, and producing lower-fat ground and processed meat products.

To be tender lean cuts should either be pan-fried or roasted briefly, just until medium-rare so they do not dry out, or else braised for a long time.
Meaning of beef lean meat