INFLUENCE OF COOKING UPON THE NUTRITIVE, 

 VALUE OF MEATS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the United States there is a oreater production of meat tlian in 

 any other country in the world, our animal products being- second 

 only in importance to our cereal pioducts. The reports of the census 

 for lltoo show that the meats and meat products slaughtered and pre- 

 pared that year by the wholesale packing houses of this country were 

 worth at wholesale prices $779,000,000. It nuist be rememl)ered that 

 this does not include the value of the meat and meat products which 

 pass directl}^ through the hands of the l)utchers and other retailers, nor 

 that of animals wliich the farmers and other consumers slaughter for 

 their own use, so the total value of the meat and meat products would 

 be considerably larger than the figure quoted. 



A detailed study of the results of 267 dietary studies which have 

 been made in America shows an average expenditure of 7.2 cents per 

 man per day for meats. The cost of meat forms 37.2 per cent of the 

 total cost of the food, and the meat furnishes 38.6 per cent of the pro- 

 tein, 58.9 per cent of the fat, and 18.5 per cent of the total nutrients 

 of the diet. Furthermore, available statistics show that we also con- 

 sume more of this food than any other nation, the inhabitants of the 

 United States annuall}- using on an average about 120 pounds of meat 

 per capita. 



Since it is evident that meats play such an important role in com- 

 mercial and domestic economy, it seems obvious that there is abundant 

 reason to justify any study, however extended, which will increase our 

 knowledge of the nutritive and economic value of meats and their 

 products. 



Investigations made from 1898 to 1903 at the University of Illinois 

 under the auspices of this Office in cooperation with the university, 

 upon the nature and the extent of the losses which meat undergoes 

 during the process of cooking, have already been published.'' In con- 

 nection with those investigations a large number of experiments were 

 made which had for their object the determination of the influence of 



«U. S. Dept. Agr., Office of Experiment Stations Buls. 102 and 141. 



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