ground beef nutrition label question

when a nutrition label on ground beef gives a weight like 4oz, does that mean after cooking? I was under the impression that it did, unless the label says "uncooked" on it.

can anyone confirm this?

thanks

should be cooked measurement. I know meat manufacturers like to be vague. scary.

I am pretty sure it's for raw. It makes no sense for them to put it for cooked since methods vary so much.

UD

The convention is to quote the nutrition information for the product 'as sold' unless it states otherwise.  So if you're buying raw minced beef, the nutrition information is for raw minced beef.  

i have just wasted over an hour of my day searching the internet and calling multiples butchers asking just this question.  i got an almost equal # of butchers saying raw as cooked.  only one was willing to say "i don't know - i'm just guessing".  i found NOTHING on the internet that ABSOLUTELY answered this.  So some butchers grounding and labeling ground beef said it was for raw and some said cooked.  go figure.  

i sure wish someone could truly answer this question.  it makes a big difference in points in WW.  so PLEASE, ONLY IF you can back up your answer with some legitimate source i would sure appreciate the answer.

thanks.

I'd say raw to be on the safe side. It will weigh more before cooking, so if you weighed out 4 oz. raw and the nutrition facts are for 4 oz. cooked, you're getting slightly less which is never a bad thing.

The nutrition label states the calories for raw meat... a 4 oz piece of raw meat yields about 3 ounces of cooked meat...

On 3 different brands of 93% lean ground beef that I have bought, the nutrition label states that 4 oz. = 160 calories.  No matter how I cook it--in a skillet, grilled, broiled, crumbled for chili, etc.--I always log the calories based on what the label says before I cook it.  This is the same thing I do for all "dry" or before-cooking items, such as dry pasta (before boiling), dry beans (before soaking and cooking), popcorn (before popping), etc.  For example,  my box of Barilla Plus Penne states that 2 ounces uncooked are 210 calories.  There are 7 servings per box.  So when I cook the entire box (1470 calories), I divide it into 3 serving dishes and log 490 for the calories in one serving.  I have yet to see why the calories listed on the box for dry or uncooked should somehow change once, say, that 4 oz. of ground beef becomes 3 oz cooked.  I think it would be pretty complicated to try to figure calories consumed if the calories per serving put on the package changes when whatever inside is cooked.

Original Post by gi-jane:

The convention is to quote the nutrition information for the product 'as sold' unless it states otherwise.  So if you're buying raw minced beef, the nutrition information is for raw minced beef.  

^This.

I am not surprised some butchers were unsure if it was for raw or packaged meat - after all you are probably not asking about one of their products (if only more people actually used butchers... but I'll save that for another thread).

If you wanted an answer, ask the food distributor or whatever brand is on the packet of meat that you are buying.