| Now to the great 'Aussie' favorites - meat pies, | | | | Meat pies were recently examined by the Australian |
| sausage rolls and pasties. The meat pie became a | | | | Consumers Association. Forty (40) percent of the pies |
| popular lunch time food for Australians in the early | | | | they examined contained less than the 25% minimum |
| years of last century. | | | | meat requirement, and nearly 80% of the pies had |
| Many people would consider the meat pie a traditional | | | | more pastry than filling. |
| nutritious food, filled with quality beef. They'd probably | | | | Meat Pies, Sausage Rolls & Pasties |
| be wrong. The National Health and Medical Research | | | | Fat Content (grams) Energy Content (kilojoules) Salt |
| Council's definition of a meat pie is "cooked meat with, | | | | Content(grams) |
| or without cereal, condiments, seasoning and water, | | | | Meat pie 172 grams 1646 1.52 |
| enclosed in a case of pastry. Meat pie shall contain no | | | | Sausage Roll 129 grams 1621 1.65 |
| less than 25% meat. The meat so determined shall | | | | Pasty 165 grams 1844 1.62 |
| contain not more than 33% fat". | | | | The figures in Table 8 are probably conservative. |
| Under the Council's definition, 'meat' in a pie can include | | | | Other sources suggest up to 30 grams of fat in each |
| "any edible part of any cattle (including buffalo), sheep, | | | | pie and as many as 2170 kilojoules per pie. But on |
| pig, rabbit, goat or bird other than game, which is | | | | anybody's menu these foods contain too many |
| ordinarily used as food by man, whether fresh, chilled | | | | kilojoules and far too much salt. A meat pie or pastie |
| or frozen". This is a very broad definition and | | | | can provide more than the daily requirement of salt in |
| consequently a meat pie could contain a few surprises. | | | | just one meal. |
| A particularly unappetizing description of 'meat flesh' by | | | | Sadly, the Aussie meat pie is a mixture of flour and |
| the Council describes what most people think of as | | | | salt with a low meat content that may surprise some |
| 'meat': " 'meat flesh' is the skeletal muscle of such | | | | pie fanciers. From a takeaway shop, a pie will cost |
| animals with or without the accompanying and | | | | about $3.00 and weigh about 172 grams. To be within |
| overlying fat, together with the sinew, nerve and blood | | | | the Council's definition and the law, a pie of that weight |
| vessels that normally accompany the muscle tissue | | | | should contain at least 43 grams of meat (but |
| and are not separated from it in the process of | | | | remember many won't). Assuming you are buying the |
| dressing, but does not include the muscle found in the | | | | pie for the meat content - not the pastry or gravy - |
| lips, snout, scalp or ear". Meat pies, however, are not | | | | you are paying $3.00 for 43 grams of meat. That's |
| required to contain "meat flesh"; they are only required | | | | $70.00 per kilogram! To quote CHOICE Magazine, "you |
| to contain "meat". | | | | could buy fillet steak for less". |