Beef Calories Pre and Post Cooking

Q&A: Are meat nutrition labels based on raw or cooked weight?

How exercise you weigh raw meat's nutrition information ? (Bigstock)

Q: When you read a nutrition facts label for raw meat, is the fat content listed for raw or cooked weight? If information technology's the cooked weight, is the manufacturer assuming the meat is rare or well done?

A: Good questions! Let's unravel this starting with a few bites of background on meat and poultry diet labels. First, definitions. Meats, sometimes called cherry-red meats, includes beefiness, lamb, pork and veal and the less commonly eaten bison, emu, venison, etc. Poultry includes chicken, turkey and the less commonly eaten duck, hen, goose, etc.

In 1994, when the federal Nutrition Labeling and Didactics Deed of 1990 went into effect, our packaged foods got a facelift with the now familiar nutrition facts characterization. But it wasn't until 2012 that providing a nutrition facts labels was mandatory for manufacturers of single-ingredient raw meat and poultry products.

The Food and Drug Administration does the heavy lifting on nutrient and nutrition labeling, simply jurisdiction for meat and poultry products is nether the Department of Agriculture's charge. The FDA takes the reins dorsum for foods that contain less than 2 percent cooked meat. Think pork and beans, spaghetti sauce with meat or gravy mixes.

So it was the USDA's Nutrient Safety and Inspection Service that in 2012 took nutrition labeling of meat and poultry products from voluntary to mandatory. The intent of this new rule, according to the FSIS, was to requite shoppers a clearer sense of the options available and to assistance them brand more-informed decisions.

The 2012 rule mandated that packages of ground or chopped meat and poultry, such as hamburger or ground turkey, and the 40 nearly popular whole, raw cuts of meat and poultry, such equally craven breast or steak, feature the diet facts panel on the food's label or nearby on display in the market, says Joy Dubost, a registered dietitian in Washington and spokeswoman for the University of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The label must provide calories, grams of total fat and saturated fatty based on the serving size. Ground or chopped meat or poultry that contains a lean percentage statement must at present likewise list the percentage of fat in the product to allow for easier production comparisons. Manufacturers can voluntarily offering more information.

On packaged raw meat and poultry products, the nutrition facts are listed based on the product's raw weight. The serving size for nearly all raw meat and poultry products is iv ounces. However, if the raw product was formed into patties, then the serving size would be the raw weight of each patty — for case, three ounces.

Here's a dominion of thumb to translate from raw to cooked portions of meats and poultry. Dubost suggests that for meats, it's reasonable to estimate yous'll lose about a quarter of the weight in cooking. So four ounces of raw meat with no basic will serve up roughly iii ounces cooked. Dubost's estimate is corroborated by an evaluation of cooking yields for meats and poultry by the USDA'due south Nutrient Data Laboratory in late 2012.

To guess the weight of cooked meat or poultry with bone in information technology, say a T-bone steak or craven legs, effigy you'll lose another ounce. And then, four ounces raw with basic volition upshot in two ounces cooked.

Do effigy on variation based on several factors: cut of meat, amount of fat, whether it contains bones or skin, preparation method and how well you melt it. For example, a iv-ounce raw portion of lean meat grilled to rare will lose less weight than if that steak had more fat on it and was cooked well done.

So what about that cutting of red meat or burger yous order in a restaurant? Menus typically refer to a raw weight, not the weight of the food served to yous. This is based on an industry standard, not a regulation.

A hamburger described every bit a quarter of a pound (four ounces) will be about 3 ounces by the time you bite into it, and that viii-ounce filet will be about six ounces cooked. Menu labeling (at least at eatery chains with more than than twenty locations serving the same menu) volition eventually be affected by regulations being developed nether the Affordable Intendance Act. "I suspect one time the eating place card labeling regulations go into effect, the diet information for meats and poultry items volition exist reported for cooked weights," Dubost said.

Warshaw, a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified diabetes educator, is the writer of numerous books published by the American Diabetes Association and of the blog EatHealthyLiveWell, establish on her Spider web site, www.hopewarshaw.com.

Accept a nutrition question? Transport an email to localliving@washpost.com. Put "Nutrition Q&A" in the subject area line and tell us where yous live.

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Promise Warshaw Warshaw, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, is the author of numerous books published by the American Diabetes Association, including "Eat Out Eat Well: The Guide to Eating Salubrious in Whatever Restaurant" and "Diabetes Meal Planning Fabricated Like shooting fish in a barrel," institute on her website, hopewarshaw.com. Follow

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