A Question about the nutional facts of raw meat.?

Question

Are the values calculated as it is (raw) or are they referring to the cooked product? For example with ground meat If it says it has 280 calories per 1/4 lb is that cooked or a raw weight? How would you calculate it for cooked? When you drain ground meat a lot of fat goes away as do calories I am assuming. I count calories and this one makes me wonder. any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

The nutrition label shows you the values for whatever is in the package in the state it is packaged. If the item is uncooked, like ground beef, those values would be for 4 ounces of uncooked meat. Most meat loses some weight when it cooks. For a 4 ounce portion, you can count on losing between half to one ounce. I usually cook 5 ounces if I am looking for a four ounce cooked portion.

As far as the fat being drained off, this varies with how you are cooking the meat and how well you drain it. If you are really concerned about calories, I would count exactly what is on the label rather than trying to guess how much you were able to remove. Also try getting lower calorie ground beef or ground turkey. The amount of calories you listed is for regular (20% fat) ground beef. Lowering the meat to a 5% fat count will cut those calories almost in half.

Answer 2

The nutritional values are for raw meat. Some people like their meat pretty dang rare, so the values have to cover that possibility.

I've heard (and I'm fairly sure it's true) that if you rinse ground beef (ground chuck, ground round...all those ground items) after draining the fat, it cuts the fat by 1/2. Check it and see! A lot of fat comes off in the rinse water. The taste isn't affected all that much if you're putting it in, say, chili or sauces. I do it and it cuts down on my heartburn (usually triggered by high-fat foods.) Plus, if you have a dog, you can drain the fat and rinsing water over the dog's food (assuming your dog isn't counting calories) and the pooch gets a nice treat. My dog won't eat plain food--we have to gussy it up with beef fat or eggs or milk (poor underweight puppy-dog!)

Try draining, then rinsing--doesn't taste much different, but less fat! Wheeee!

Answer 3

What it really means ..the values are calculated as it is
in the wrapper or as packaged ..what you do with it will depend on how you preppier it and that can give you different values

Answer 4

by convention caloric values are stated for the raw (uncooked) food, all food, unless the table specifically gives values for a)raw, and b)cooked