BEEF, flesh from mature cattle used as a food. It contains the highest form of protein for human consumption, in the most palatable, stimulating and digestible form. It is an energy pro ducer and a muscle builder; it supplies mineral salts and some vitamins. There are eight standard wholesale cuts from a beef side, which is half of the dressed animal; viz., the round, flank, rib, chuck, plate, shank, rump and loin. Suet is obtained from the free fat of the animal. There is a pronounced difference in the value of sides of different grade and in the value of the cuts pro duced from different parts of the same side. The quality of the meat is dependent upon the relative thickness of the lean meat, tenderness, interspersion of fat among the muscle fibres, and the colour and firmness of lean meat and fat.
The total amount of meat of all kinds produced in the United States in 1938 was estimated by the U.S. Department of Agricul ture at 16,304,000,000 pounds. This includes beef, veal, lamb, and pork dressed on farms and by local retailers in addition to the commercial production. In the U.S. approximately 48% of the meat produced in 1938 was beef and veal, the average per capita consumption of beef being 541b. and veal being 721b., out of a total per capita consumption of 12s21b. of all meats in 1938. The United States produces virtually all the beef it consumes with the exception of a relatively small quantity, mostly canned beef, which comes from South America. Little beef is now shipped by the United States in foreign trade. (X.) Although the total quantity of meat of all kinds in each year produced is unknown, it is certain that the consumption of beef is greater than that of any form of animal food. The United Kingdom produces about 625,00o tons of beef and 40,000 tons of veal annually. Including imports, the per capita consumption is about 601b. per year. British imports of beef (in tons) in selected years were: Of the total in 55% was chilled beef from Argentina, which also sent 62,641 tons of frozen and tinned beef. The other sources of supply are Australia, Uruguay, Brazil, and New Zealand.
The international meat trade began with the exportation of tinned or canned beef from Australia. The earliest specimens of this method of preserving meat were shown at the Great Exhibi tion in London in 1851. Used at first chiefly on ships it gradually became established in the market, and by the end of the 'sixties was largely imported. Soon afterwards the experiment of sending beef from the United States in a frozen state was tried, not very successfully; but in 1875 the first shipment of "chilled" beef to England was made by T. C. Eastman from New York. The trade rapidly increased, and by 188o all the steamships on the trans atlantic route had a refrigerating equipment. That in common use consisted of an ice box and fans to keep the cold air circulating, and in other cases a freezing mixture—salt and ice—was pumped along pipes close to the beef.
With the development of refrigeration, oversea British supplies of beef were divided into two classes viz., (a) chilled, (b) frozen. Chilled beef is shipped in cold chambers, where it is kept at a tem perature a little above freezing point. It must, however, go into consumption in not more than six to eight weeks. Frozen beef is, in fact, reduced to a temperature below freezing point, and if so kept can be stored for a long time without deterioration. All beef shipped from Australia and New Zealand is frozen. From South America the greater part is exported in a chilled state.
From the meat trader's point of view imported beef is classed in the following order: (I) South American chilled, (2) South American frozen, (3) best Australian frozen, (4) best New Zea land frozen.
The total value of the international trade in beef is nearly L40,000,000. Prior to the War Great Britain was practically the only market, but in recent years the continent of Europe has taken a certain quantity, small in relation to the total trade and restricted generally to the lower qualities.
Among the sources of supply South America stands first. Argen tina holds a dominating position, but Uruguay is also important, and there are possibilities of development in other parts of South America; e.g., Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Paraguay and Colombia.
Australia ranks next to Argentina as a supplier of beef to the British market. Queensland is the beef exporting state of the Com monwealth, other states; e.g., New South Wales and Victoria, be ing more concerned in the mutton and lamb trade. In competi tion with South America, Australia is handicapped by distance and by climate. Meat vessels take about three weeks for the voyage from the River Plate to London and five to six weeks from Australia. The liability to drought and consequent short age of grass not only makes cattle-raising a precarious business but affects the regularity of supplies to the meat works. Unlike South America, Queensland has a beef "season"; i.e., killing does not take place throughout the year. The duration of the season depends on the weather; if there has been sufficient rainfall cattle may be sufficient in numbers and finish to supply the works until the latter part of the year, but, on the other hand, the works may not be able to operate for more than three or four months. Queensland beef is graded in three qualities, viz., first quality known as "g.a.q." (good average quality), second quality "f.a.q." (fair average quality), and third quality known as "second f.a.q." The last is not usually sent to the British market, but is exported to the continent of Europe or used for canning.
South Africa exports beef and veal. In 1923 a Beef Export Bounties Act was passed authorizing the payment of 3d. per lb. on beef exported. The exports rose at once from 275 tons in 1924 to 3,836 tons in 1925. The total value of meat exported in 1936 was £307,276.
Beef of the first quality is produced in Great Britain, and at its best commands the highest price in the market. But first quality chilled beef competes closely with English beef of second qual ity. The trade in imported beef is highly organized, and the power ful companies owning freezing works in the Argentine and else where have very efficient distributive agencies throughout Great Britain.
The imported beef which now rivals the British home product owes its excellence to the fact that the cattle which supply it have been developed by the use of British stock, which was bought lav ishly and at very heavy cost by breeders, first in the United States and subsequently in South America and the British Dominions. (See CATTLE.) Beef Tea is a light broth made from lean beef, popular in the sick room because it contains proteins in soluble form and stimulates the appetite. A favoured formula for beef tea calls for a pound of finely cut lean beef placed in a tightly covered jar containing two pints of cold water and a pinch of salt. The jar is immersed to the height of its contents in a kettle of warm water, allowed to simmer for two hours with the temperature at all times below the boiling point. In a second recipe, the same amount of lean beef is allowed to stand for two hours in one pint of cold water and then simmered for three hours at a maxi mum temperature of 16o° F. Any water lost by evaporation is replaced by cold water, so that upon completion of the process a pint of the broth results. In either case, if desired, a flavour can be imparted by adding carrots, celery, mixed herbs, onion or bay leaf previously scraped to a pulp. Beef tea with oat meal and beef tea egg nogg require, in the former case, the addi tion of oatmeal and in the latter, brandy and an egg. The latter broths are, of course, more highly nutritious than the first two types.