COMPOSITION OF BEEF JUICE AND MEAT EXTRACT.
| Beef Juice. | Meat Extract. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water, | 90.65 | 21.66 |
| Ash, | 1.36 | 20.46 |
| NaCl (salt), | .15 | 5.47 |
| P2O5 (phosphoric acid), | .36 | 4.55 |
| Fat, | .19 | .50 |
| Acid (as lactic), | .15 | 8.42 |
| Nitrogen (total), | 1.15 | 7.66 |
| „insoluble and coagulable, | .68 | .48 |
| „as proteoses, | .04 | 2.02 |
| „as peptones, | .14 | 1.90 |
| „meat bases, | .30 | 3.05 |
| „creatin, | .75 | |
| „xanthin bases, | .04 | |
| „ammonia, | .21 |
The above analyses show the general character of meat juice extracted first by externally heating the meat and then pressing. They show that there is less nitrogenous bodies present in meat juice than there is in meat extracts. It is evident that meat extracts cannot be heated for sterilization without coagulation of the globulins. When it is advisable to use a beef juice in a case of illness it is far better to prepare it at the time when it is used than to prepare it on a commercial scale and preserve it by any of the chemical means in vogue. Meat juice can be very well prepared for domestic use by chopping the meat very fine, placing it in a vessel, heating to 140° F., and pressing it by any simple means, as, for instance, with the hand or by using an ordinary lemon squeezer. The juice obtained in this way can be flavored with salt and spices to suit the taste of the patient, and used immediately. In some cases, in order to get a greater yield, pure cold water may be mixed with the chopped meat and a somewhat dilute juice obtained but giving a greater yield of nutritive material for the same weight of meat.
Various names, fanciful and otherwise, are given to the so-called beef juices. These names are either fanciful or, as in the case of beef extracts, that of the manufacturer. Some of the fanciful names are, like those already mentioned, suggestive of origin. Some of these have large quantities of coagulable protein, like albumin, while others have such small quantities as to indicate that they are not wholly beef juice. In the case of some of these preparations there is some indication that they are prepared chiefly from blood and thus are not true meat juices. Naturally there must be particles of blood in a meat juice and the mere occurrence of blood cells would not be an indication that blood itself had been used in its preparation. By reason of these facts the use of so-called meat juices is restricted. They contain relatively very little nutritive material, they are sometimes preserved with harmful chemicals and they may be made from blood, and in general there is such a degree of secrecy attending their preparation as to warrant the physician and patient to confine themselves to the domestic article prepared at the time of using. Another objection which is not of a hygienic character is found in the great expense of securing a very little nourishment by this means. The quantity of juice which meat will yield is very small and, therefore, the relative expense for any given quantity of nourishment is far greater than it is even in the case of beef extract. While in the case of rich patients an objection like this is of little value, in the great majority of cases it should be given due consideration.
Soluble Meats.
—Various attempts have been made to put soluble meats upon the market for use, especially for invalids and in cases of disordered digestion. The principle which underlies the preparation of these meats is to subject them to a certain degree of artificial digestion, by means of which the protein matter becomes converted into soluble forms, either albumose, proteose or peptone. The process which is employed is a simple one, namely, the comminution of the meat into as fine particles as possible and its admixture with hydrochloric acid and pepsin. It is then subjected to artificial digestion until a considerable portion of the meat is soluble. Another method of preparation is to omit the pepsin and after the addition of hydrochloric acid to place the meat in a digestor where it is subjected to a temperature of steam under pressure for a considerable length of time. A goodly proportion of the meat becomes soluble under this process. After the preparation is completed the residual hydrochloric acid is neutralized by carbonate of soda, forming common salt, which gives the proper flavor to the compound.
The composition of soluble meat prepared in this way is given in the following table (Foods and Principles of Dietetics, by Robert Hutchinson):
| Water, | 67.21 | percent |
| Fat, | 5.93 | „ |
| Albumin, | 11.00 | „ |
| Peptone, | 6.51 | „ |
| Meat extract, | 7.55 | „ |
| Ash and salt, | 1.74 | „ |
A meat solution of this kind is not really a solution, since not only is that part which passes into solution contained in it, but also the residual meat fibers which are not dissolved but so softened by the process that they lose their distinct form and can be rubbed up to a thick pasty mass. The product, therefore, consists not only of the part of the meat rendered thoroughly soluble in water by the process, but also of a residual part, softened and reduced to a paste. The mass has practically the same nutritive value as an equivalent amount of meat with the claimed advantage that a large portion of it is already soluble. This partial predigestion may be of value in cases of disease or disordered digestion of any kind, but there is no reason for believing that the healthy stomach requires any sort of artificial predigestion for the proper conduct of its functions. On the other hand, there is every reason for supposing that any kind of predigestion which is at all effective will in the end prove injurious to healthy digestive organs by depriving them of a part of their normal functions and thus tending to bring them to a condition of feebleness which may result in the omission, in part, of the normal functions of the vital organs.