INTERNATIONAL MEAT CUTTING Howard Swatland University of Guelph CANADA

Smithfield 1961

1971 My first RMC paper - Morphology of the motor innervation of muscle Kentucky, 1971, ----- and I m still using vintage parts from the inside!

Back to meat cutting with a knife and a saw.

Patterns differ between and within countries, and are important when we trade meat internationally. Patterns are compounded by differences in languages and ways of writing, but are all based on the relatively uniform anatomy of our meat animals. Cutting patterns are a key part of meat consumption culture - a subject which is fundamental to meat marketing, technology and science. This lecture explores how US meat cutting may have evolved historically and linguistically, and gives an overview of how patterns of meat cutting in the US relate to those used at export destinations.

ON THE SCARCITY OF DOCUMENTATION Evidence of a well developed meat industry in Ancient Egypt, involving both abattoir technology and meat processing appropriate to the requirements of meat preservation in a hot climate. Evidence is common in archaeological sites along the River Nile, but there is minimal variation over very long periods of time, which suggests that these scenes were symbolic and represented divine offerings rather than everyday life.

Fig. 1 A scene of beef slaughter and cutting in the mastaba (rectangular, flat-roofed tomb) of Princess Idut who died around 2330 BC (Saqqara, Egypt, 2012).

Ancient Greece and Rome All the props of the butcher s trade had become established for the sale of meat to the general public. We try to understand the history of meat cutting from just a few chance scenes that have been preserved. We still have the same problem today. Meat cutting in the US is highly standardized and fully documented, but the documentation is not much older than AMSA itself: what was it like in 1776? In Europe, traditional patterns of meat cutting and the names of meat cuts are disappearing right now as the EEC countries standardize their trading linkages like interstate commerce in the US.

The Acropolis once used for the ritual slaughter of hundreds of cattle for religious ceremonies and feasts

The remains of a supermarket butcher s shop for the sale of meat to the public the Roman Agora in Athens

US A B C D E F G H I J Cut match Sirloin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Loin 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 Rib 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 Chuck 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 Round 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 4 Flank 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Plate 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Brisket 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 Shank 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Source match 5 3 2 4 4 5 3 4 5 4 A Boolean fit of US to British beef cuts

A British sirloin contains lumbar and posterior thoracic vertebrae, so on or above means anterior in Britain. In the US, the sirloin is posterior to the loin, so on or above means posterior in the US. SIRLOIN RUMP

LINGUISTIC ORIGINS US Archaic Possible origin Sirloin Surloine Surlonge (Old French) Loin Loyne Lumbus (Latin) Rib Ribb Rif (Norse) Chuck Chock Çoche (Old French) Round Rounde Rotundus (Latin) Flank Flanc Hlanke (Frankish) Plate Plater Platus (Greek) Brisket Brusket Brjósk (Norse) Shank Sceanca Schenken (German)

LINGUISTIC SURVIVAL THE SPAUD Maintained through Middle English and Old French, through spauld, espalde, and espaule, it links the modern French, épaule, to the original Latin, spatulae, for the shoulder blades Italy beef cuts through the shoulder with names such as taglio di sottospalla (cut from the undershoulder) and sezione e muscolo di spalla (section of shoulder muscle).

LINGUISTIC SURVIVAL THE SPAUD Spain beef shoulder is espalda. From scapula (shoulder blade) to spatula, via spatha (a double-edged broad sword). Espaldilla is Spanish for the scapula, and a cut of this name may be found on a Mexican pork carcass, involving the distal part of the forelimb. The pork espaldilla y codillo includes the ventral neck and jowl Mexico - the espaldilla is a large primal cut or a small shoulder roast, in veal as well as lamb.

LINGUISTIC SURVIVAL THE SPAUD The scapula was used as a digging tool in Neolithic times. You probably have a spatula in your own kitchen? What a remarkable linguistic survival!

HANDSAW VERSUS BANDSAW Who invented the bandsaw and laid the foundation for the dominant pattern of meat cutting in the US? In 1813, Tabitha Babbit (1784 1853) invented the circular saw in Massachusetts. Bandsaws were not successful until 1846 when Anne Pauline Crépin in France invented a method to weld the ends of the band securely. Rolled spring-steel became available, and band saws appeared in the meat industry. Thus, the mechanical brilliance of two women has shaped the whole of US meat cutting using bandsaws!

ARGENTINA

BONE-IN versus BONELESS US Anatomy Caribbean Santa Fe Gracilis Cañada San Antonio Adductor Cañada Round Petite Tender Pectineus Cañada Tucson Semimembranosus Cañada Braison Superficial digital flexor Cohete Merlot Gastrocnemius Sapo Western griller Biceps femoris Pierna Western tip Distal biceps femoris Ranch steak Triceps brachii Yema de paleta Delmonico Longissimus dorsi, mutifidus dorsi, spinalis dorsi & complexus Filetillo Denver Serratus ventralis Falda de morrillo o tapa de cogote

US Mexico Japan Korea Sirloin Cadera Ranichi Suldo, anterior Loin Lomo, posterior Roin Chaekeut Rib Lomo, anterior Riburoosu Dungsim Chuck Espaldilla y costillar Kataroosu + nekku Abdari + Moksim Round, Hip Pierna Sotomomo, lateral + Uchimomo, medial Suldo, posterior + udun Flank Pecho, posterior Shintama Yangjee Plate Pecho, anterior Tomobara Kalbi, dorsal Brisket Tapa de pecho Katabara Kalbi, ventral Shank Chambarete Sune Satae

All these tables heavy going? it s time for the Smithfield trot

What next? Start an international web site? Reviewers to reject papers with anonymous meat? Do you really think you could publish in a geology journal if you forgot where you found your rocks?

Thank you Solae! and God Bless butchers everywhere!