Friends Don’t Let Friends Eat Chopped and Formed Jerky!
Posted on Feb 24 2011 by Steve
Short History of Beef Jerky: Jerky was first introduced by the South American (Peru) native tribe called the Quechua (originally part of the ancient Inca Empire), as early as 1550. The product was known back then as “Ch'arki.” The process method was to cut boned and defatted meat (deer, elk, or buffalo) into quarter-inch slices, which were then rubbed aggressively with salt. This salted meat was then rolled up in the animal's hide for ten or twelve hours for it to absorb the salt and release some of its natural juices. This product was then hung in the sun to dry or even smoked over fires, and finally tied up into convenient bundles for transportation. This Ch’arki product was created as the first known methods to preserve excess game after large successful hunts.
When the Spanish Conquistadors invaded the America's naturally they carried their dried meat with them. While the natives of North America of course had been drying meat as well, when the invaders arrived and were seen to use a similar process, the natives adopted the Spanish term, only adding their accent, so it became “jerky”.The USDA regulates beef jerky products: Due to the dangers of undercooked meat, contamination and shelf stability, the government (USDA) has gotten extremely involved to regulate the production of jerky products. Today, jerky is defined any type of meat, which has been cured with a salt solution and has had the moisture reduced to less than 50% of its total. In order to kill all pathogens, the USDA requires jerky products to reach 160 degrees internal meat temperature. Another regulation has to do with whether beef jerky is shelf stable or not (requires refrigeration). As defined by the USDA, this depends on the water activity of the product, which is defined as the ratio of the vapor pressure of water in a material (beef jerky) to the vapor pressure of pure water at the same temperature. When the water activity measurement of jerky is .80 or below, beef jerky is considered shelf stable. According to the USDA, all beef jerky now falls into several specific defined categories:
Beef Jerky – produced from a single piece of meatBeef Jerky chunked and formed – produced from cuts of meat that are molded and formed, then cut into strips
Beef Jerky ground and formed - produced from ground meat that are molded and formed, then cut into strips
Beef jerky chopped and formed - produced from chipped meat that are molded and formed, then cut into strips
"Chopped and Formed" Jerky = SPAM of the jerky world: If you ever tried making jerky on your own, you know it is as much art as science, and certainly not easy to get every batch just right and consistent. And for those not aware, "chopped and formed" jerky (flat nicely cut squares of jerky) is a completely different from jerky made from whole muscle. Chopped and formed jerky is made from various trims of the cow (all the leftover undesirable parts) and/or ground meat processed several times over and formed into little squares. And just like SPAM (acronym for shoulder of pork and ham), chopped and formed jerky is far from the real thing after it is processed several times over, earning such humorous backronyms as "Something Posing As Meat", "Specially Processed Artificial Meat” and "Spare Parts Animal Meat." In other words, buyer beware.
Above: Notice the lines across the meat from the pressing machine and the flat square pieces of the highly processed chopped and formed beef jerky.
Below: Notice the flat and pressed, nicely cut pieces of meat. Great example of highly processed "chopped and formed" beef jerky.
Chopped and Formed = less protein: The over processing of chopped and formed jerky completely breaks down the protein and then adds the protein binder back in to keep it in tact. This is similar to putting fresh fruits through a juicer/blender as all the nutrients and cell walls break down and lose its so-called nutritional punch. The more you play with meat (i.e putting it through the tumbler or blending all the various parts of the cows into a ground meat) the more the moisture level increases and it loses its protein and full profile of aminos and omega's. Start off with a piece of raw meat that has 30 grams of complete protein in 3 ounces of meat...then after you chop and break it down several times you might be left with 50% of the original protein content at best. Not to mention all the breakdown of the amino profile and omego-3 count. It's more or less a completely different product at that point.
Look for jerky from "whole muscle": Most jerky companies, although not many, still do make chopped and formed jerky. But most of them also use other protein fillers (i.e soy, protein starches) etc to make up for the lost protein or lie on the label since this is one part of the label where a company can get away with fudging the numbers. Sadly, this is not an uncommon practice in the food business. Knowing this I guess you can say the highly processed "chopped and formed" jerky is as far from the Primal or Paleo standards as it gets. To make our point more clear, the difference is comparable to bologna/sausage versus a sirloin steak. While there is a day and night difference between the two in terms of quality, many people don't know the difference between the two and chose the lower price item that is a far worse value.
UPDATE: We sent in a sample of Steve's Original whole muscle jerky and a sample of "chopped and formed" jerky off to a lab...and results show whole muscle jerky yields 22% more protein per 100 grams than the SPAM like chopped and formed jerky. Proof you are not getting what you pay for when you eat highly processed chopped and formed jerky. Buyers beware!
Above: Steve’s Original jerky that only uses cuts of whole muscle.
Grassfed rounds prior to trimming
Grassfed rounds after trimming
Rounds ready for slicing
Sliced strips ready for spices
Filed Under: Diet stuff, Jerky/Paleo Knowledge
