Comparative Studies of Meat I. The chemical composition of fatty and muscular tissue in relation to growth and fattening

Chemical analyses have been carried out on the muscular and fatty tissues from thirty-one beef animals and twenty-nine lambs, and also on the psoas muscle from twenty-nine pigs. The animals were selected to represent a very wide cross-section of our meat industry. 2. The water content of muscular tissue (psoas muscle), calculated on a fat-free basis, was found to be the same for cattle, lambs, and pigs (immediately after death), the average being about 78%. 3. Similarly, the original water-content of the fatty tissue (perinephric), calculated on a fat-free basis, was found to be the same for cattle and lambs, being on the average about 81–82%. 4. The average water-content of boneless meat (i.e. the combined muscular and fatty tissues from a whole side or carcass) was the same for cattle and lambs, being about 79% (on a fat-free basis), shortly after death. 5. In all these cases there was no significant difference between the different species.