What is the difference between Mince Beef + Premium minced beef?

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#1287839 20-Apr-2015 16:26

Depends if it is an additive or not. I know that they can do the gas thing without declaring it since it's a packaging thing not a food additive.

Richard rich.ms

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#1287844 20-Apr-2015 16:29

FYI all its not just about price. What you are cooking depends on what fat content you need for best results

eg

for burger patties (or grilled things) you are actually best to go for something with a little more fat (ie prime) as it stops patties drying out on grill.

for lasagna you want a premium beef (low fat) as the cheese layers provide the fat content

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#1287846 20-Apr-2015 16:31

garvani: This is going back 15 years now but i used to work in a supermarket after school, i got relegated to the butchery after sometime in produce and making mince was one of the things i did.. I don't know if things have changed or if every supermarket done this but heres what went down in goold old Motueka.

Mince: Off cuts, old steak, heart, liver, pigs head, anything meat related went into the mincer. Then we put some type of bleaching powder over it which made it the bright red colour.

Premium Mince: Strictly old steak nothing else.. Same bleaching powder.

Needless to say i don't touch normal mince anymore, the whole experience turned me off meat for 6 months as well :D

Many years ago my father went to a sausage factory on a school trip.
He hasn't eaten a sausage since.

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#1287857 20-Apr-2015 16:42

My time as a butcher boy was over 45 years ago. I seem to recall that preservative in mince was allowed then but was tightly controlled. The inspectors were always on the prowl taking samples to check levels. I think any butcher adding "bleaching powder" in the last 20 years was probably doing it illegally.

SepticSceptic

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#1287860 20-Apr-2015 16:47

When I was a wee lad, went to the Kaipara margarine processing plant ... have barely touched any fractionated, hydrolysed, homogenised, deodorised, coloured, aerated, etc butter-like product since ... the gloop and stench was awesome !!!

The old adage, you don't what to know what you don't know :-)

mattwnz

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#1287871 20-Apr-2015 17:04

richms: Depends if it is an additive or not. I know that they can do the gas thing without declaring it since it's a packaging thing not a food additive.

Yes, I think that should be declared too on the packet, but not as an ingredient. They also don't need to put oxygen and nitrogen as an ingredient, as they occur naturally. But something that is added that makes something more red, like a powder of some type is an additive, in the same way preservatives are, even if it is a number. I mean you don't know if someone maybe allergic to it.

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#1287874 20-Apr-2015 17:05

When I worked in a Foodtown butchery in the late 90s one of my jobs was doing mince. The only thing we put into it was beef or fat. I never had any issues with what they put into food.

mattwnz

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#1287875 20-Apr-2015 17:06

Bung: My time as a butcher boy was over 45 years ago. I seem to recall that preservative in mince was allowed then but was tightly controlled. The inspectors were always on the prowl taking samples to check levels. I think any butcher adding "bleaching powder" in the last 20 years was probably doing it illegally.

That's good to know. I would doubt supermarkets would be doing it these days, as they process huge quantities of meat now, and some are from special meat processing factories which they own.IF they were, I am sure we would have heard about it from the workers.

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#1287891 20-Apr-2015 17:30

One of my sons is a butcher at a well known butcher chain, and he assures me that only real meat is proccessed into mince. Left over rump, shin, etc, meat that is close to a useby that hasn't been sold. No ears, tongues etc - only muscle meat, and fat content as per the specs.

sir1963

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#1287979 20-Apr-2015 19:04

Finch: Hey guys.

So at my local supermarket they have "Mince Beef" and "Premium Minced beef"

What is the difference? They look pretty much the same as far as I can tell, but haven't really studied them.

I buy the "Premium" simply because it says Premium, but now would like to know exactly what im paying for.

Also, would anybody else like a "food" section here on GZ?

Well if the Mince we used for some Lasagne is anything to go by
Mince Beef is pumped full of water, it BOILED in the pan for ages, not fried.

I stopped buying bacon because it became water logged CRAP.

I am now quite looking for a local farmer and getting some quality home kill meat (Palmerston North) rather than the
rubbish we seem to have foisted on us.

Geektastic

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#1288066 20-Apr-2015 20:16

Wouldn't it just be simpler if labelling regulations required a statement of the average fat and the actual contents?

That hardly seems like a big ask.

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MileHighKiwi

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#1288134 20-Apr-2015 22:12

My mate owns a good butchers shop in the Hutt Valley and I've done a bit of part time work there overt the years. His mince is made from lean off cuts; everything gross (gristle, bone, tendons etc) goes in the waste bin.

I do recall some sort of powder or liquid being poured over it after a few runs through the mincer but don't know if it's bleach. It did smell strong. Anyway, his mince is pretty good.

At Pak n Save etc the premium mince is visibly leaner with fewer white bits. I prefer premium but we always rinse off excess fat anyway during cooking.

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#1288196 21-Apr-2015 07:13

Can someone give the chemical name for "bleach"?

reven

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#1288197 21-Apr-2015 07:21

garvani: This is going back 15 years now but i used to work in a supermarket after school, i got relegated to the butchery after sometime in produce and making mince was one of the things i did.. I don't know if things have changed or if every supermarket done this but heres what went down in goold old Motueka.

Mince: Off cuts, old steak, heart, liver, pigs head, anything meat related went into the mincer. Then we put some type of bleaching powder over it which made it the bright red colour.

Premium Mince: Strictly old steak nothing else.. Same bleaching powder.

Needless to say i don't touch normal mince anymore, the whole experience turned me off meat for 6 months as well :D

right, premium mince it is then.

Fred99

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#1288236 21-Apr-2015 08:08

Diet / food quality issues are a minefield these days.

Some pre-packaged mince (and other meats) are bright red because of "gassing" with carbon monoxide. This form of MAP has "GRAS" (generally regarded as safe) status in the US, afaik isn't legislated in NZ (no requirement for labeling) but is banned in some countries. It is very widely used in NZ - you only need to use your eyes to see.
Colour is a visual clue to "freshness' - so while MAP is "safe" from a food ingredient POV, it could be used to trick you that old meat is "fresh".
AFAIK, food additives (preservatives) are not allowed to be added to mince in NZ.

The fat content of meats may not be the big deal once thought. Recent studies suggest that there's no strong correlation between dietary fat intake and CVD.

Dietary cholesterol intake doesn't correlate directly to fat content of meat - the cholesterol isn't confined to the fat layer. Cheap mince (with 15%) fat only contains 20% more cholesterol than lean mince (5% fat). OTOH, there's a good chance that medical and public heath guidelines for consumption of dietary cholesterol which have been another "sacred cow" for half a century have been completely wrong.

I am now extremely skeptical of many aspects of "public guidelines for diet" - particularly when governments are involved, and even more so when there's been an agenda to address "socio-economic issues", and even more so again when science seemed to be based on "common sense". (ie the goop in a clogged artery looks like the nasty goop in a plate of a budget cut of meat - so it "makes sense" that there's a dietary correlation).

Even if more evidence comes which contradicts such past "wisdom" - don't expect rapid change. "Experts" who've held a strong position don't like to be told that they've spent their entire careers being wrong. Science is full of examples of this.

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