Fresh or frozen, more or less loaded with fat: minced steak remains a classic of three-color fridges. The offer is so plentiful on the shelves of our supermarkets that it is sometimes difficult to choose from the many brands and appellations. In its issue of Thursday, February 27, 2020, 60 million consumers took a closer look at 29 references.
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These were divided into two categories according to their fat content: 5% or 15%. All of them are obviously 100% pure beef, without which the name " minced steak " cannot be used. To classify them, the consumer magazine has scientifically measured their characteristics: salt, protein and even collagen levels. To precisely determine the quality of the products, a microbiological analysis was also carried out in order to detect the possible presence of pathogenic strains in the meat. Finally, the very quality of the meat - namely the presence of cartilage, bone or fat within it - was studied.
Frozen steaks safer than fresh
The results are rather surprising, most of the lowest rated steaks being stamped " organic ". More specifically, the lowest rated are “ Beef chopped beef ” from Ensemble (Biocoop brand), “ Meat-style butchered steaks ” from Naturalia and “Jean-Rozé style chopped beefsteaks” (Intermarché brand). They obtain respectively the scores of 12, 11.5 and 9.5 out of 20, far from the winner of the year, the “ ground beef ” from the Casino brand.
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The classification points to specific defects: Naturalia's steaks are too loaded with collagen, those of Ensemble have large gaps at the microbiological level and Jean Rozé's steaks accumulate the defects: too low protein content, bone fragments, etc. . This explains why the latter does not even get the average. Finally, be aware that in general, frozen ground steaks are of better microbiological quality than fresh steaks (which in fact often lack freshness).
