Meat Glossary

Accelerated conditioining (AC): Electrical stimulation of a carcass after dressing to stimulate rigor mortis which reduces toughness when frozen.
Ageing: Same as conditioning.
Blast freezing: Rapid freezing of meat in a strong current of air.
Boner: Animal slaughtered for manufacturing meat.
Cannon bone: Long bone in foot of animal (metacarpals and metatarsals).
Carcass weight (CW): These vary according to definition:

• Cold CW: Weight after being chilled.
• Hot CW: Weight freshly dressed after slaughter.
• Fats-in CW: Weight including kidney and pelvic(channel) fat.
• Fats-out CW: Weight exclucing kidney and pelvic fat. Used for export.
• Shrunk CW: Weight after allowance for shrinkage between slaugher and sale.

Casings: Material stripped from intestines used for sausage skins.
Chiller: Cool room held at temperatures above freezing point.
Conditioning: Holding carcass at higher than normal temperature in a chiller to go into rigor mortis before freezing to preventing toughening.
Conformation: Shape of the carcass.
Cure: Preservation process using chemicals.
Cut-out: Proportion of saleable obtained from carcass excluding fat and other trim and bone.
Dressed carcass: Carcass after slaughter with viscera, skin and head (except pigs) removed.
Dressing percentage: Same as killing out percentage.
Eye muscle: Two muscles (Longissimus dorsi) running the length of the back each side of the spine and seen when carcass is cut into chops.
Eye muscle area: Area of the eye muscle used to predict carcass quality.
Fancy meats: Edible offal.
Fat cover: Fat over the carcass used for grading.
Fat stock: See prime stock. The term prime is now preferred to fat.
Finish: Term used to describe if animal is ready for slaughter.
Hide: Skin on cattle.
GR measurement: Tissue depth between the carcass surface and the rib, taken in the region of the 12th rib at a point 11cm from the midline.
Grading: Classification of carcasses used to reflect market requirements and for farmer payment.
Killing out percentage: Dressed carcass weight as a percentageof live weight before slaughter. Live weight may be off-pasture or fasted weight preslaughter at the works.
Lamb: Carcass from sheep under 12 months old before first two incisors have erupted.
Meat: Flesh from animals.
Muscle: Red meat from carcass of animals (or white mucle from poultry).
Muscling: Term used to describe meat content of animal.
Offal: Internal organs of animal removed during dressing.
Ox: Meat from aged steer.
Pelt: Skin of sheep.
Pluck: Meatworks term for lungs, heart, diaphragm, wind pipe(trachea) and other pieces removed from the chest cavity at slaughter.
Primal cuts: Main better quality cuts of meat from a carcass.
Tallow: Rendered fat from carcass. Hard fat.
Prime stock: Animals ready for slaughter.
Schedule: Payment system provided by meat companies for different grades of stock.
Shrinkage: Loss of carcass weight (mainly water) between slaughter and sale.
Small goods: Products from meat company made from trimmings and offal.
Trimming: Fat and meat removed in preparing wholesale and retail cuts.
Tripe: Edible offal from stomach of cattle (rumen and reticulum).
Undercut: Name for fillet steaks.
Vealer: Cattle slaughtered at a young age (up to 14 months old) for meat. It includes maiden heifers, steers and males that are not showing male characteristics.
Vel: Stomach (abomasum) of a bobby calf used to proved rennet for cheese making.
Weasand: Oesophogus or gullet.
Yield: Percentage of saleable red meat (with acceptable fat cover) from the total carcass