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Beef fraud, how to avoid them?

Whether or not you are an expert in meat, it is almost impossible to tell the ox or cow. For that reason, many times there are beef fraud and they charge us much more for one that is not the one they sell us. Today we are going to provide you with the necessary information so that you can differentiate this select among the red meat. Do you want to taste this gourmet meat product but get your purchase right? Attentive to what we explain to you.

Why are they cheating us?

Beef is differentiated by its impressive sweetness and its great tenderness and juiciness. Being a red meat, it is rich in proteins of high biological value, which contain essential amino acids for the body, and are also better absorbed than protein of plant origin. It is also more rich in fat and cholesterol than white meat, so specialists recommend consuming it very lean, and contains iron, iodine, manganese, zinc, and selenium.

Your meat must leave mature about 10-15 days and it has to come from a neutered male older than 48 months. That differentiates it from porker, which is an animal of the same type but is slaughtered before 4 years of age.

beef fraud
Burger with beef meat | Source: Llagardecoto.es

The problem with all fraud of this type is that, if the animal is castrated, it cannot procreate and it does not give benefits either. In fact, it only gives losses to the farmer until the time of its sale, since it must be maintained for a long period of time, it must be well fed and weigh more than half a ton. In addition, you can not exercise because it worsens the texture and flavor of the meat.

On the other hand, the cows do give profitability at all times. Because in addition to reproducing and being easier to care for, they provide milk. This makes the sale and production of their meat much cheaper and then they try to sell it to us as something that it is not. And the same happens with other types of animals.

Also, the beef fraud It is that, despite the fact that they give us meat of extraordinary quality, it goes against the interests of the meat industry. That is, it is a scam designed to earn more money with a product cheaper.

beef fraud
Beef jerky | Source: Campograndemadrid.com

How to recognize beef meat?

From an organoleptic point of view, it is almost impossible to differentiate beef from beef. Therefore, the most important point to take into account to know which is the good one is the price, since if they are selling you a steak of beef for 30€ is that it is not real beef. The average price per kilo is around 80 €, although there may be cuts of up to € 60 at least.

The second way to find out if we are suffering or not beef fraud is looking at the trade label, in the case that we buy it in store. There it has to appear the age of the animal (date of birth and date of slaughter) and has to put, along with the traceability data, that it is 100% meat of ox. Finally, the most effective way to eat a good steak of this delicious red meat without being deceived is the most obvious: go to trusted butchers and restaurants.

Beef steak strips | Source: Campograndemadrid.com

Restaurants with beef

Although it seems complicated, there are many restaurants where you can find this type of meat throughout Spain. Two examples of some of the best known are in El Capricho, in León, or el Colloto Wine Press, in Asturias, which exclusively sells meat from a 100% Asturian beef cattle farm called Goatherd Livestock.

Beef is a manjar that not everyone can afford to eat often. Of course, it is a food of what more tender and tasty which, at least, you have to try once in your life. And now that you know how to differentiate it, you can get it in specialized meat stores or go to some of the places that we have recommended. Have you heard of this beef fraud? Do you think you could now recognize the real one?

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