# Is lamb considered a "red" meat?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 25, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160 "2006-05-25T14:04:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/1 "2006-05-25T14:04:10Z")
The title pretty much says it all. One of my students is curious, and I have no idea.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/2 "2006-05-25T14:05:30Z")
Yes. Mammal flesh = red meat.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/3 "2006-05-25T14:05:49Z")
I can’t imagine why not; it’s as red as beef (well, the parts that are not _fat_ are)
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/4 "2006-05-25T14:09:47Z")
> [@Gary T](#):
>
> Yes. Mammal flesh = red meat.
Really? Then, “Pork, the other white meat,” is just a marketing scheme?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/5 "2006-05-25T14:12:37Z")
Is it as simple as mammal=red meat? I can see the logic, but this is news to me
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/6 "2006-05-25T14:19:12Z")
define:red meat in google comes up with:
Red meat refers to meat that appears red before cooking. Beef, veal, lamb, mutton, venison, pork, goat, rabbit, buffalo meat (that is, meat from bison) and beefalo are all red meats. In fact, all meats derived from mammals are red meats. The United States Department of Agriculture considers all meats derived from livestock to be red meats.
from Wikipedia.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/7 "2006-05-25T14:21:34Z")
I can see your point with a pork chop but bacon and ham sure look like red meat.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/8 "2006-05-25T14:27:32Z")
> [@don't ask / Wikipedia](#):
>
> The United States Department of Agriculture considers all meats derived from livestock to be red meats.
So what’s their definition of “livestock”?
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/9 "2006-05-25T15:30:57Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#):
>
> Really? Then, “Pork, the other white meat,” is just a marketing scheme?
Yep.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/10 "2006-05-25T15:40:30Z")
Color isn’t the absolute defining characteristic, it’s just a simple common-sense descriptor that conveniently distinguishes between mammal flesh on the one hand and poultry and fish (and reptiles and amphibians) on the other. Pork is actually pink, but it’s a red meat. Salmon can be pink, but it’s not a red meat. When we talk about “red meat” it’s almost always in a dietary sense, and in this respect those we call red meat have attributes in common that are different from attributes of the other groups.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/11 "2006-05-25T15:56:02Z")
People are often surprised that ostrich is pretty much grossly indistinguishable from beef.
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### Author:  [@Twotwofive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twotwofive)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/12 "2006-05-25T16:31:52Z")
I always thought that “red meat” was literally that - (farmed) meat that is actually blood red in colour. That is, lamb is, but pork and veal aren’t (notwithstanding anything Wikipedia might have to say on the subject). I don’t claim to be the world’s greatest authority, but I do count a handful of reasonably eminent chefs amongst my friends, and a livestock farmer amongst my family, and I think they would all agree with me.
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### Author:  [@RCGDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RCGDC)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/13 "2006-05-25T16:42:11Z")
Then Ostrich and Emu meat are poultry???
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### Author:  [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/14 "2006-05-25T16:45:08Z")
THere are two kinds of muscles cells, the ones most prominent in beef and lamb are red in color. Hogs have been bred in favor of white muscle cells, which is why it is pink, as the red ones are still there but they are outnumbered, thus is considered white meat.
I may have it confused, but i think (from freshman year) the red muscle cells are the ones used for quick movement, like sprinting, while white cells are best for extended use, like running a marathon.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/15 "2006-05-25T17:26:22Z")
> [@hawksgirl](#):
>
> I may have it confused, but i think (from freshman year) the red muscle cells are the ones used for quick movement, like sprinting, while white cells are best for extended use, like running a marathon.
I want to say it’s the other way around, that the slow twitch fibers are darker because they’ve got a higher mitochondrion density. But I could have that backwards.
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### Author:  [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lamb-considered-a-red-meat/358160/16 "2006-05-25T18:36:41Z")
> [@vetbridge](#):
>
> People are often surprised that ostrich is pretty much grossly indistinguishable from beef.
As I can attest to, since my sons and I had ostrich last Saturday.
Is there actually an “official” definition of red and white meats? I thought there were just conventional terms, rather than taxonomic.