Foods and Their Adulteration: Origin, Manufacture, and Composition of Food Products; Description of Common Adulterations, Food Standards, and National Food Laws and RegulationsWiley, Harvey Washington
Science
Foods and Their Adulteration: Origin, Manufacture, and Composition of Food Products; Description of Common Adulterations, Food Standards, and National Food Laws and Regulations
Wiley, Harvey Washington
Food; Food adulteration and inspection
Moreover, it is necessary to distinguish between a meat extract
containing large amounts of stimulating amido-acids and relatively
small percentages of albuminoses, peptones and insoluble proteid matter
on the one hand, and, on the other hand, an extract, or, more properly,
a meat product, which consists largely of albuminoses, peptones and
insoluble matter and relatively small amounts of amido-acids. The food
value of this last group of products is undoubtedly greater than that
of the former group, but being sold as meat extracts, their value
should be based on the amount of extractives they contain and not on
their food value.
The value of the amido-bodies, such as the meat bases, as food, is of
uncertain character, but we must admit, as in the case of alcohol, they
can at least be burned and furnish energy to the body. Like alcohol,
the value of meat extractives lies principally in their stimulating
qualities. The active principles of tea and coffee are on a similar
basis. As these simpler amido-bodies are the final links in the long
chain of hydrolytic products of the proteid molecule prior to the
complete resolution of that molecule into carbon dioxid, water, etc.,
it is readily seen that an ounce of meat extractives (the various
amido-bodies) represents a far larger amount of beef than an ounce
of albuminoses does. The various protein bodies and amido-acids are
closely interwoven and it is impossible to produce amido-acids without
producing albuminoses and peptones. Consequently, every commercial
meat extract must consist partly of albuminoses, peptones, etc. The
best of our extracts on the market to-day contain about 50 percent of
their total nitrogen in the form of meat base nitrogen. When an extract
contains less than 5 percent of its nitrogen in the form of meat base
nitrogen the term “extract” seems to be no longer applicable. It is
evident that the product represents much less meat than an extract with
50 percent of its nitrogen in the form of meat base nitrogen, provided
the total nitrogen in both cases is approximately equal.
The proteid matter coagulated by heating to boiling, as well as the
proteid matter insoluble in cold water, are both undesirable factors
in an extract of meat. As a rule, the lower the proportion of these
constituents, the higher the character of the meat extract. The same
thing holds true in regard to the presence of albuminoses and peptones.
The quantity of total nitrogen in the form of meat base nitrogen in
the best extracts reaches 50 percent. In one of the poorest it is 3.82
percent. The food value of the latter product might be greater than
that of the former, but its cost of manufacture and its stimulating
value are much less.
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