Total and haem iron content lean meat cuts and the contribution to the diet

• Species, cut and age have an influence on percentage haem iron.
• The meats in this study contain higher percentage of haem iron than in the Monsen-model.
• Haem iron value should not be a constant value, but different for each meat type.
• Inclusion of haem iron values into food composition tables is necessary.

This study provides data on the total and haem iron contents in raw lean beef, chicken, lamb and pork meat samples. Total iron, expressed as mg/100 g edible portion on fresh weight basis in raw lean beef (A-age), lamb, pork and chicken average 1.58, 1.64, 0.81 and 0.78, respectively. The haem iron content in beef (A-age), lamb, pork and chicken are 77%, 81%, 88% and 74% respectively of total iron. This has important dietary implications in calculating haem iron fractions of meat as this is higher than the common value used in the Monsen equation.