1. EXPOSURE DATA 1.1 Identification of the agents by-products such as blood. It is also important to distinguish between industrial processing The focus of thisMonograph is the consump- and household preparations. As there is a huge tion of red meat and processed meat. These terms variety of processed meat products, it is difficult are defined below. to sort them into categories (Santarelli et al., 2008). However, based on recommendations by 1.1.1 Red meat the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (Heinz & Hautzinger, Red meat refers to fresh unprocessed 2007), different groups of industrial processed mammalian muscle meat (e.g. beef, veal, pork, meats can be proposed. lamb, mutton, horse, or goat meat), which may be minced or frozen, and is usually (a) Cured meat pieces consumed cooked. Examples of cured meat include raw beef, raw 1.1.2 Offal ham, cooked beef, cooked ham, corned beef, and bacon. Mammalian offal refers to the internal Curing is a process by which the meat is organs and entrails of a butchered animal (e.g. treated with a small amount of salt (sodium scrotum, small intestine, heart, brain, kidney, chloride, NaCl, with or without potassium chlo- liver, thymus, pancreas, testicle, tongue, tripe, or ride, KCl), with or without nitrate or nitrite salts. stomach) consumed as such. Mammalian offal Curing enhances shelf-life by preserving and is considered to be a specific food category in preventing the spoilage of meat. Cured meat cuts food consumption surveys (FAO, 2015); however, are made of entire pieces of muscle meat and can mammalian offal is reported together with red be subdivided into two groups: cured raw meats meat in some epidemiological studies. and cured cooked meats (Pearson & Gillett, 1996; Heinz & Hautzinger, 2007; Honikel, 2010). 1.1.3 Processed meat Cured raw meats are consumed uncooked. They do not undergo any heat treatment during prod- Processed meat refers to any meat that has uction, which involves curing, fermentation, been transformed through one or several of the and ripening in controlled conditions to make following processes: salting, curing, fermenta- the meats palatable. For cured cooked meats, the tion, smoking, or other processes to enhance raw muscle meat is always cured and then under- flavour or improve preservation. Most processed goes treatment to achieve the desired palatability meats are made from pork or beef, but may also (Heinz & Hautzinger, 2007). include other red meats, poultry, offal, or meat 33 IARC MONOGRAPHS – 114 (b) Fresh industrial processed meat products (d) Fermented sausages Examples of fresh industrial processed meat Examples of fermented sausages include products include sausage and kebab. salami, chorizo, pepperoni, and traditional Asian These products are mixtures composed of products such as nem. comminuted muscle meat and animal fat in Fermented sausages are uncooked meat prod- varying proportions. Products are salted only, ucts, and consist of coarse mixtures of lean meats not cured. Non-meat ingredients are added in and fatty tissues combined with salt, nitrite smaller quantities for improvement of flavour and (curing agent), sugar, spices, and other non-meat binding, or in larger quantities for volume exten- ingredients packed into casings. Their charac- sion (reducing costs). All meat and non-meat teristic properties (flavour, firm texture, and red ingredients are mixed when raw. If the fresh curing colour) originate from the fermentation meat mixture is packed into casings, the product process. Short or long ripening phases, combined is defined as sausage. Heat treatment is applied with moisture reduction, are necessary to develop immediately before consumption to make the the typical flavour and texture of the final product. products palatable (Heinz & Hautzinger, 2007). The fermented sausages are not subjected to any [The Working Group noted that a hamburger heat treatment during processing and, in most is considered as belonging to this category of cases, are distributed and consumed raw (Heinz processed meat when fat, salt, or other addi- & Hautzinger, 2007). tives are added to the hamburger meat, but is considered as red meat when it contains minced (e) Dried meat beef only.] Examples of dried meat include dried meat strips or flat pieces. (c) Precooked ready-to-eat products Drying, or drying in combination with Examples of precooked ready-to-eat products smoking, is practised all over the world and include frankfurter, mortadella, liver sausage, is probably the most ancient method of meat blood sausage, canned corned beef, and liver preservation. pâté. Dried meat products result from dehydration These products are prepared from muscle or drying of lean meat in natural or artificial meat, fat, and other edible meat by-products conditions (Zukál & Incze, 2010). Pieces of lean (blood and liver) or non-meat ingredients. These meat without adherent fat are cut to a specific products are processed raw through commi- uniform shape that permits the gradual and equal nuting and mixing. Sometimes the raw meat drying of whole batches of meat. Salt, nitrite, material can be precooked before it is ground and sugar may be added to the meat before the or chopped, and other ingredients are added. drying process. Many of the nutritional prop- The resulting mixture is portioned and then erties of meat, particularly the protein content, submitted to heat treatment to induce protein remain unchanged through drying. Common coagulation. This leads to the typical firm, elastic dried meat products are beef jerky from the USA, texture of precooked ready-to-eat products, as biltong from South Africa, and tasajo from South well as a desired palatability and a certain degree America (Heinz & Hautzinger, 2007). of bacterial stability (Heinz & Hautzinger, 2007). Meat may be smoked raw or after salting, marinating, cooking, or other treatments. There are many types of smoking, leading to prod- ucts with very different sensory properties and 34 Red meat and processed meat shelf-lives. Warm or cold smoking can be used. value of meat is also significantly affected by Warm smoking is carried out at temperatures of the livestock production system (Lorenzo et al., 23–45 °C. Cold smoking is carried out at temper- 2010, 2014). atures of 12–25 °C and is used in the manufac- (i) Protein turing of raw fermented sausages made from cured meats. Red meat contains 20–25 g of protein Drying and smoking are used to improve the per 100 g. The proteins are highly digestible shelf-life and organoleptic properties of meat (94%) and provide all essential amino acids products. In developing countries such as Africa, (lysine, threonine, methionine, phenylalanine, where extending shelf-life is the priority, drying tryptophan, leucine, isoleucine, and valine) is the most used process. In parallel with simple (Williams, 2007). drying, west Africa has refined the hot smoking (ii) Fat process to further improve shelf-life through the Red meat is also a source of fatty acids. Fat preservative and antibacterial effects of smoke in red meat is subcutaneous, intramuscular, substances. To lower the cost of meat products, or intermuscular, and the composition will African countries have also developed tradi- vary according to the animal’s age, sex, breed, tional products consisting of mixtures of meat and diet, as well as the cut of meat (Wood & and vegetables. Central and southern American Enser, 1997). For example, the amount of fat in countries have adapted European meat raw cattle longissimus muscle can range from processing techniques for local meat products, 0.59% to 16%, depending on the breed (Barnes especially for barbecuing (e.g. chorizo criollo or et al., 2012). Fat in meat includes SFAs, mono- morcilla) (Heinz & Hautzinger, 2007). unsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), and PUFAs. The typical fatty acid composition of fat in beef 1.2 Meat composition is reported to be 46.5, 48.9, and 4.59 g per 100 g of total fatty acids for SFAs, MUFAs, and 1.2.1 Red meat PUFAs, respectively. While these proportions (a) Main components are similar in all red meats, exact amounts depend on the type of meat (Givens, 2005). The The animal carcass consists of muscle, main SFAs present in red meat are palmitic connective tissue, fat and bone, and about 75% acid and stearic acid, and the main MUFA is water, depending on the species, breed, size, oleic acid. Red meat also contains n-3 PUFAs, and age. For a given species, the muscle is rela- such as α-linolenic acid, and n-6 PUFAs, such tively constant in composition (Table 1.1). Red as linoleic acid. The animal’s diet strongly meat contains high biological value proteins influences PUFA levels in meat. For example, and essential micronutrients, including vita- meat from foals raised by extensive production mins and minerals (Table 1.2; Williams, 2007). systems on wood pastures has higher levels of The composition of the meat varies based on the n-3 PUFAs than meat from foals fed concen- animal species, sex, age, and diet, as well as the trate (Lorenzo et al., 2010, 2014). The last cate- climate and activity during its growth (Lorenzo gory of fat found in the red meat of ruminants et al., 2010). Total nitrogen, fat, and iron levels is conjugated linoleic acids, the levels of which increase as the animal approaches maturity. In also depend on feeding practices (Wood et al., addition, the ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids 1999; Givens, 2005). (PUFAs) to saturated fatty acids (SFAs) decreases with the maturity of the animal. The nutritional 35 IARC MONOGRAPHS – 114 Table 1.1 Chemical composition of typical mammalian muscle (red meat) for consumption Main component Constituents Wet weight (%) Water 75.00 Protein 19.00 Myofibrillar: 11.50 Myosin 5.50 Actin 2.50 Connectin 0.90 Nebulin (N2 line protein) 0.30 Tropomyosins 0.60 Troponins, C, I and T 0.60 α,β,γ Actinins 0.50 Myomesin (M-line protein) and C proteins 0.20 Desmin, filamin, F- and I-proteins, etc.