In Russia, a standard for cut meat products was introduced for the first time

Only the best meat delicacies will be called Russian

GOST, in accordance with which steaks, roast beef, rump steaks and other semi-finished beef products will be produced, was recently adopted by the International Council for Standardization, metrology and certification, which includes Rosstandart and its analogues in the EurAsEC countries. It describes the requirements for the most common semi-finished cut meat products.

The standard approves the classification of meat that is sent to the shelves. It is divided into large- and small-piece, meat-and-bone and boneless, chilled and frozen, according to the content of muscle tissue – into categories A and B. In the first, the mass fraction of muscle tissue should be more than 80%, in the second – at least 60%, if less, then beef cannot be put on the counter. The smell of meat of all varieties should be characteristic of fresh beef, without any foreign odors. The color of the meat is from light red to dark red, the fat is white, yellowish or yellow.

The most important division is between high-quality beef and just beef. From the first one you can make, for example, “Sirloin on the bone” and “Roast beef on the bone”, and from the second – “Russian Sirloin on the bone” and “Russian Roast beef on the bone”, “Steak for two”, “Special steak”, “Steak for barbecue” and “T-bone steak”. The authors of the document note that the names of semi-finished products listed in the standard are generally accepted and widely used in cooking and catering.