Biochemistry of Foods

Meat is basically defined as the flesh of animals used as food. A more precise definition is provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Meyer, 1964) in which meat is that derived from the muscles of animals closely related to man biochemically and therefore of high nutritional value. In fish, however, it is the white muscle which provides the main nutritional source. While meat is a major source of high-grade protein, fish flesh also provides man with high quality protein; the amount consumed of the latter is increasing annually. Unfortunately, both are expensive foods. The greatest per capita consumption of meat and fish is found in the advanced areas of the world, generally speaking, Europe, North America, and Australia. In the developing continents, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where there is already a deficiency of high-grade proteins, consumption of meat and fish is very low or nonexistent, resulting in a high incidence of malnutrition. Such a deficiency of essential amino acids, particularly lysine, methionine, and tryptophan, can now be considered the world's most urgent problem, rather than a shortage of a total quantity of food.