Meat Preparation or Meat Product: What’s the Difference?

Meat preparations and meat products are products that have been processed from meat. Meat basically describes all edible parts of slaughtered or killed warm-blooded animals. Because fish are not warm-blooded animals, they do not fall under the definition of meat under food law. The definition, which is nevertheless quite broad, theoretically also includes blood and innards.

• Most of the time, however, the term meat refers only to skeletal muscle tissue. The only meat that is not further processed or treated after slaughter may be referred to as “fresh meat”. However, it may be refrigerated to preserve it or specially packaged, for example in vacuum packs.
• A meat preparation is fresh meat that undergoes very limited further processing: for example, it may be minced or seasoned, but it must still have the same muscle fiber structure as untreated fresh meat. This includes, for example, minced meat or marinated meat.
• Meat products, on the other hand, are processed further, for example into sausages. These can be preserved by cooking, drying, curing, or smoking, among other things, and they often contain other ingredients such as spices or vegetables in addition to the meat.