Every industry has terminology that is used to effectively communicate and govern the industry. Due to the vertically integrated nature of the meat and poultry industries, terms are sometimes used interchangeably between the different segments. The use of acronyms, culinary and preparation terms are common in the meat and poultry industries. For new employees to the meat and poultry industries, learning all of the different terms can be a real challenge.
Section Overview
There are many resources for meat and poultry terms and definitions. Most of the resources are related to certain aspects of the industry, thus the terms may be limited and only pertain to a specific audience.
The purpose of the MeatTrack.Com Meat and Poultry Dictionary is to make available all terms used in the meat and poultry industries and to provide definitions, abbreviations and acronyms for the terms. The dictionary is broad and encompasses terms used in marketing, labeling, processing, identifying, preparing, and tracking meat and poultry products.
The dictionary provides an A-through-Z alphabetical search and a keyword search feature that can be used to look up a specific term. The advanced search feature provides lists and sublists of the following:
Acronyms – Used by organizations, initiatives and agencies.
Class – Species of meat, poultry and seafood products.
Cooking – Recipes, techniques and types.
Common Names – Used in the Uniform Retail Meat Industry Standards (URMIS) system to identify beef and pork retail meat cuts.
Consumer Whole Cuts – URMIS Common Names used to identify beef and pork subprimals typically sold to consumers.
Food Safety – Terms used in the prevention of foodborne illness.
Further Prepared – Product additives and treatments that provide consumer convenience.
Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications (IMPS) – Names, item numbers and definitions used to identify beef and pork products.
Meat – Bones, cutting, fat, byproducts (variety meats/offal), and standards.
Nomenclature – Terms used to describe basic cuts, groups, individual muscles, and wholesale cuts.
Poultry – Organs, parts, provisions, and whole products.
Processed – Descriptions used to identify bacon, cold cuts, cured, reformed, ground, ham, and sausage products.
Processing – Claims, general terms, preservation treatments, processes, and types.
Regulatory – Claims, grades, labeling, programs, rules, and statutes.