A product sold as chili con carne has to contain at least 40 percent meat, and a product sold as chili con carne with beans has to contain at least 25 percent, under standards written by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and published in Title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Both standards compute that percentage “on the weight of the fresh meat,” which is the meat before it is cooked, so the number describes the meat that goes into the batch. Under 9 CFR 319.300, head meat, cheek meat and heart meat, not counting the heart cap, can make up as much as 25 percent of the meat in chili con carne when the label declares it, and 9 CFR 319.301 allows the same 25 percent in the version with beans as long as it shows up in the ingredient statement.
Both chili standards sit in a subpart of the regulations titled “Canned, Frozen, or Dehydrated Meat Food Products,” which also sets minimums for stew, hash, tamales and spaghetti with meatballs, while other subparts of the same part cover meat pies, ground beef and hot dogs. For chili and for tamales, the minimum gets lower when the product’s name adds beans, or sauce or gravy.
Beef stew and beef pie share a 25 percent floor, and the pie counts its crust.
Under 9 CFR 319.304, a meat stew such as “Beef Stew” or “Lamb Stew” has to contain at least 25 percent of the meat named on the label, computed on the weight of the fresh meat. A meat pie such as “Beef Pie,” “Veal Pie” or “Pork Pie” has the same 25 percent minimum under 9 CFR 319.500, but that standard measures the meat against all of the pie’s ingredients with the crust included, computed on the fresh uncooked meat.
Hash is counted after the meat is cooked.
Unlike chili, stew and pies, hash is measured on cooked meat. 9 CFR 319.302 requires hash to contain at least 35 percent meat computed on the weight of the cooked and trimmed meat, and the cooked weight counted toward that percentage cannot be more than 70 percent of the weight of the uncooked fresh meat. Corned beef hash, under 9 CFR 319.303, has the same 35 percent beef minimum and the same 70 percent limit, and it also cannot contain more than 15 percent fat or more than 72 percent moisture. Beef cheek, head and heart meat can make up as much as 5 percent of the meat ingredient in corned beef hash, and when any of them is used, the label has to carry a statement saying so.
Spaghetti with meatballs and sauce needs 12 percent meat, and spaghetti sauce with meat needs 6.
A product called “Spaghetti with Meatballs and Sauce” or “Spaghetti with Meat and Sauce” has to contain at least 12 percent meat, computed on the weight of the fresh meat, according to 9 CFR 319.306. The sauce or gravy has to be declared prominently as part of the product’s name, and the meatballs can be made with farinaceous material, meaning flour, meal or other starchy ingredients, along with other binders and extenders allowed under a separate federal rule. A product called “Spaghetti Sauce with Meat” has a much lower minimum under 9 CFR 319.307, which sets it at 6 percent meat, computed on the weight of the fresh meat.
Tamales get a lower minimum when they are packed in sauce or gravy, the same way chili does when it has beans. Under 9 CFR 319.305, tamales have to be made with at least 25 percent meat, computed on the weight of the uncooked fresh meat in relation to all of the ingredients. Tamales packed in sauce or gravy have to say so prominently in the name, as in “Tamales With Sauce” or “Tamales With Gravy,” and those products need at least 20 percent meat, measured against the tamales and the sauce or gravy together.
Ground beef and hamburger are two different products.
Under 9 CFR 319.15, “Ground Beef” and “Hamburger” are separate products, even though both are chopped fresh or frozen beef, both can be seasoned, both are capped at 30 percent fat, and neither one can contain added water, phosphates, binders or extenders. The two differ on beef fat, because ground beef has to be made “without the addition of beef fat as such,” while hamburger can be made “with or without the addition of beef fat as such.” Both products can include trimmed beef cheek meat up to 25 percent, and the label has to declare it when the cheek meat goes beyond natural proportions.
“Beef Patties,” defined in the same section, can contain binders or extenders, and they can contain added water in amounts small enough that the product still has the characteristics of a meat patty. A separate section, 9 CFR 319.6, lists the products that cannot contain mechanically separated beef, pork or other livestock meat at all, and ground beef, hamburger and meat pies are all on that list.
Hot dogs have a fat limit and a combined limit on fat and added water.
Frankfurters, franks, hot dogs, wieners, bologna, knockwurst and similar cooked sausages are covered by 9 CFR 319.180. The finished sausage cannot contain more than 30 percent fat, and water or ice can be used to help with chopping, mixing and dissolving the curing ingredients, but fat and added water together cannot go above 40 percent of the sausage. Poultry can make up as much as 15 percent of a hot dog’s total ingredients, not counting water, and it has to be named in the ingredient statement. A hot dog made with meat byproducts has to carry the words “with byproducts” or “with variety meats” directly next to the name, and no cooked sausage covered by this standard can be labeled “All Meat” or with any other term suggesting it is made only from meat.
A product sold under one of these names has to meet its minimum.
None of these standards require the minimum meat percentage to be printed on the package, while a product sold under one of these standardized names still has to meet the minimum its standard sets, measured the way that standard spells out. Ground beef and hamburger share the same 30 percent fat cap, and the one labeled ground beef is the one that cannot have beef fat added.
A pot of chili made at home is not held to any of these standards, and the amount of meat is whatever the recipe calls for. My chili con carne is the kind without beans, and it starts with 18 ounces of ground beef browned in the pan with onion and drained. It simmers for 30 to 40 minutes with red bell pepper, garlic, spices, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, beef bone broth, coconut aminos and a quarter cup of red wine that the recipe marks as optional, and it makes four servings.
By Sara Nelson, Creator of Real Balanced.
