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CHAPTER 6
MEAT, POULTRY, AND
Meat, poultry, and seafood offer excellent
nutritional benefits. Importantly, a large share of basic
daily food allowance (BDFA), or the monetary value
required to provide a nutritionally adequate diet for one
person for 1 day, is spent on meat, poultry, and seafood.
This chapter explains the following topics:
Types of meat procured by the military
Grades of beef, pork, veal, lamb, poultry, and
seafood used by the military
Styles of poultry used by the military
Meat thawing methods
Meat cooking methods
Poultry cooking methods
Seafood cooking methods
MEAT
Meat is the flesh of any animal used for food. The
word meat as used in the Navy foodservice means beef,
veal, pork, lamb, or rabbit. Meat appears on the Navy
menu in some form each day. It is the focal point of
every meal, dictating what other dishes will be served.
Correctly cooked and served meat is the sign of a
well-informed and skillful MS.
FORMS OF MEAT
The forms of meat procured by the military are
frozen, fabricated, and canned.
Fabricated meats have been either partially or
completely boned, trimmed, and portion-cut into slices,
steaks, chops, or roasts. Most types of meat procured
by Navy messes are fabricated to some extent.
A completely fabricated meat has all bones removed
and is cut into portion-sized steaks or roasts. For
example, boneless beef is cut from selected wholesale
beef cuts or carcass meat according to specifications of
the armed forces. The meat is wrapped, packed in
shipping containers, and then frozen. Bones, excess fat,
gristle, and tendons are removed by the processor.
SEAFOOD
BEEF
Beef comes from cattle and is the most frequently
used of all meats. There are five categories of beef.
. Steer: male that is castrated when young
. Cow: female that has calved
l Bull: fully developed male
. Heifer: young female that has not born a calf
. Stag: male castrated after maturity
Steers and heifers are most suitable for use in Navy
messes; whereas cows, bulls, and stags are older and
stringier and may be found in canned products.
A beef chart (fig. 6-1) shows the location and uses
of various cuts of beef procured by the military for use
in the general mess (GM).
Beef Inspection
All beef and beef products prepared in
establishments operating under Federal Meat Inspection
Regulations are branded or labeled as follows: “U.S.
inspected and passed by Department of Agriculture”;
“U.S. inspected and passed”; U.S. INSP’D & P’SD”;
together with the number that identifies the
establishment. These stamps (fig. 6-2) indicate that the
beef and beef products bearing these stamps comply
with the inspection regulations of the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA), and that they are
wholesome and have been processed under sanitary
conditions.
Beef delivered under contract to the military within
the continental United States is not accepted unless each
item (or the shipping case) bears the inspection stamp
or USDA label. Each item must also bear a Department
of Defense stamp that indicates that the item meets all
terms of the contract (fig. 6-3).
After it is determined that the animals are free of
disease and meet sanitary requirements,
stamps are placed on the meat carcass.
the USDA
6-1
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