18 MEAT EXTRACTS. 



MEAT JUICES. 



Tentative Standard. 



Meat juice is defined by the standards committee of the Associa- 

 tion of Official Agricultural Chemists as the fluid portion of muscle 

 fiber obtained by pressure or otherwise, and may be concentrated by 

 evaporation at a temperature below the coagulating point of the 

 soluble proteids. The solids contain not more than fifteen (15) per 

 cent of ash, not more than two and five-tenths (2.5) per cent of 

 sodium chlorid (calculated from the total chlorin present), not more 

 than four (4) nor less than two (2) per cent of phosphoric acid (P 2 5 ), 

 and not less than twelve (12) per cent of nitrogen. The nitrogenous 

 bodies contain not less than thirty-five (35) per cent of coagulable 

 proteids and not more than forty (40) per cent of meat bases. 



Discussion op Results. 



Several of the preparations included in miscellaneous prepara- 

 tions (Table IX) were advertised as meat juices. During the 

 autumn of 1906 several samples of meat juice were prepared in the 

 laboratory. Large samples of round and chuck beef were made 

 practically fat free, cut into small pieces with a knife, and one sample 

 of each pressed in the cold through cotton bags in a glycerin cylinder 

 press. Another sample of each was heated at 60° C. in large jars 

 for several hours, then pressed as above described. The analyses 

 of these four samples and of several other samples of meat juices 

 prepared in various ways in the laboratory are given in Table VI. 



A meat juice naturally varies according to its mode of prepara- 

 tion, and more juice is obtained by heating the meat to 60° C. than 

 by extracting in the cold. In the, case of the samples made in the 

 laboratory practically one-half the nitrogen is in the form of coagu- 

 lable proteid nitrogen. In several cases a considerably larger por- 

 tion is in that form. 



A meat juice is characterized by a high content of coagulable pro- 

 teids and a low content of meat bases. Of the so-called commercial 

 meat juices in Table IX none shows any appreciable amount of coagu- 

 lable proteid. They are, therefore, not correctly designated by the 

 name meat juice and their nutritive value is misrepresented by 

 such designation. It appears impracticable to prepare a true meat 

 juice for market, as the temperature necessary for the preservation 

 of food products in hermetically sealed packages coagulates the 

 proteids and changes the nature of the product. The fact that 

 when these higher forms of nitrogenous bodies are removed the 

 valuable nutritive principles of the juice are lost must be recognized, 

 and a product so altered should not be designated as a meat juice. 



