Nutrients, Calories, Benefits of Minced Turkey, 85% Meat, 15% Fat

When choosing products of animal origin, it is important to know how and what the cows are fed, whether they receive growth hormones or antibiotics, whether the meat is organic.

Scientists from the University of Illinois tried to find out which production attributes are most important for buyers when choosing four products: beef, chicken, milk and eggs.

The researchers identified seven criteria that influence the choice of buyers:

• Animals were not injected with growth hormones.
• No genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were used in the production of the product.
• Animals were raised humanely.
• Animals were not given antibiotics.
• Animals were raised in a cage-free environment.
• Animals were fed grass (or raised on a vegetarian diet).
• The product is certified as organic.

The three most important criteria were "absence of hormones", "absence of GMOs" and "humane cultivation". The "organic" attribute turned out to be the least important for consumers.

The criterion for using growth hormones in the production of growth hormones was the biggest surprise for scientists, because it has been banned for a long time. So, trying to find a product that meets this requirement, consumers waste time.

Such labeling is simply confusing. If one manufacturer labels its products as "free of growth hormones" and another manufacturer does not, the latter is simply at a disadvantage.

The lack of importance of "organic" requirements also surprised the researchers.

We are used to using the term "organic" when thinking about fruits or vegetables. However, it also applies to animal products. Organic certification for meat and other products of animal origin already includes many other attributes of production.

By appropriating a large number of different characteristics of the product, the manufacturer is simply trying to satisfy all the requirements of the buyer, who does not know that such characteristics as "organic" or "humanely grown" already include almost all the others. Thus, manufacturers simply increase their sales by forcing people to buy products marked with labels that are important to them.

By choosing milk without hormones and antibiotics, consumers care more about their health than about the health of animals. However, the fact that the criterion of humanity is one of the main ones in this proves the importance of humane keeping of animals.

Sausage or sausage product, cheese or cheese product, butter or spread, juice or nectar? The second is usually cheaper than the first. But is it more useful? We deal with the experts.

Detect vegetable fat in a dairy product? Light. Milk fat is expensive, and replacing it with vegetable fat will not be noticed by the consumer. And the manufacturer will save a lot, since palm oil is much cheaper than milk fat. So we honestly write "milk-rich" on the label, and you can guess for yourself what is behind it.

Remember! Only a product containing at least 50% milk fat can be called dairy. How to recognize a fake? We do not buy at a low price and carefully read everything that is written in small letters on the back of the package!

Do not look for vegetable fats in its composition - there are none. Liquid products with palm oil are not adulterated! What is wrong with him? Yes, live kefir mushrooms were simply replaced with dry starters. Cheap and angry, because bacteria and fungi are the same. What has changed? Taste! If you want kefir like when you were a child, don't buy it for "kefir-likeness".

It is not so easy to distinguish between butter and spread. And the name will be familiar from childhood, and the packaging will be the same. Therefore, we immediately look at the warehouse and look for our old friend in it - vegetable fat. Did you find it? And now make sure that the word "oil" is not on the package, in this case its use is prohibited by law!

Whether to buy such a product or not is up to you. It can be used during a low-cholesterol diet. And the nutritional value may turn out to be generally higher than that of oil. But it is better to make a conscious choice.

Do you want to get a meat product? Get ready to study and compare compositions for a long time. What only it is not replaced. There is also poultry meat and soy protein and starch with vegetable fiber. And the manufacturer is in his right, he balanced the composition and honestly told you about it.

Collagen protein, mechanically deboned poultry meat, and moisture-retaining agents of all kinds should be on the alert. And what did you want, in front of you is not meat, but a meat product, which you were honestly warned about on the label. Look for category A on it as well — 80% is still meat, and then in decreasing order. No category in the labeling? This means that meat may not appear in the product.

And let's repeat again, read the packaging! And not its front side with a bright advertising picture, but the reverse side, where instead of the usual "chocolate" a "confectionery tile" may suddenly appear. There is most likely cocoa powder in such a product, but do not look for cocoa butter.

The most unpleasant thing is that such "pseudo chocolate" is often made into candies. And it is much more difficult to find information about their composition. Perhaps the absence of the word "chocolate" can be alarming - its use is also prohibited by law.

Even if it says 100%, the name "Nectar" implies that it contains between 5 and 20% juice. True, some fruits cannot be made into juice. But the consumer deserves to know the truth. Like juices, nectars on supermarket shelves have been reconstituted, but much more water has been added to them. There are fewer useful substances, and the calorie content, due to the addition of sugar, is higher. So the price of savings is the unobtained benefit.

In the end, I would like to add that all the presented products can be used to form a complete consumer basket. And it will be much cheaper than the one in which natural products will fall. But what to choose is up to you!