What Is a List of White Meat?
White meat includes chicken and fish, while red meat refers to beef, pork, venison and some other varieties of game. The United States Department of Agriculture categorizes meats as either white or red. The department’s system is controversial because some types of fish and poultry are red when they are raw and turn white after being cooked.
Due to widespread belief that white meat is healthier, pork producers have attempted to have the public think of pork as white meat; however, the USDA continues to officially recognize it as red meat. Chicken and other poultry include both white and dark meat based on the location of the meat in the animal’s body. Dark meat is in the legs, which use a different type of muscles than elsewhere in the body. White meat is typically found in poultry breasts. Geese and ducks have only dark meat.
Dark chicken meat has more than twice the saturated fat of white meat. Some health authorities advise that the higher fat content in dark meats can have health benefits. For example, the fat in dark poultry meat raises the amount of a hormone that makes people feel full, according to nutritionist Alan Aragon. One ounce of dark turkey meat has 8 more calories than the same amount of white meat.
