• Question: what meat has the most protien in it

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      Asked by davidrossiter20 to Ruth, Emma, Andrew on 8 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by TFLYNN23.
      • Photo: Andrew Quigley

        Andrew Quigley answered on 8 Nov 2015:


        To be honest, I’m not sure. Something in the back of my head is telling me it’s chicken but that’s a bit of a guess.

        Any ideas Ruth and Emma?

      • Photo: Ruth Hamill

        Ruth Hamill answered on 9 Nov 2015:


        Lean meat would have a similar enough protein content across species, somewhere between 20 and 22%. I had a look at the Encyclopedia of Meat Sciences and the data quoted there ranged from veal at 20.98% protein to beef at 22.18% with chicken, pork, turkey and lamb in between. The two extremes, veal and beef are actually different life stages of the same animal so age plays a role. Different cuts of meat would have different fat contents, and the leanest cuts would probably have slightly higher protein compared with the fattest cuts.

      • Photo: Emma Feeney

        Emma Feeney answered on 17 Nov 2015:


        As Ruth mentions, lean meat (uncooked) has a protein content of between roughly 20-22%.

        If you think of meat as being a mixture of fat, protein, water and small amount of carbohydrate, you’ll see that if you take steps to remove the fat (by cutting it) and water (by cooking), then you will increase the protein per 100g. There are quite big differences in these values for raw and cooked foods.

        So really lean cuts of meat that have been grilled tend to have the highest amounts of protein per 100g compared to their raw state. For example, cooked, lean veal is listed as 26% protein. If you’re ever curious about the content of a food, you can look up this database: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search

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