These
days, many people rely on eating at restaurants or ordering takeout meals.
There's a lack of integrity among some restaurant owners who are only concerned
with lining their pockets and inflating their bank accounts with ill-gotten
gains from adulterating meat with meat forbidden by God and His Messenger. It
was narrated on the authority of Al-Arbad ibn Sariyah that he said, "The
Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, forbade on the day of
Khaybar every beast of prey with fangs, every bird of prey with talons, and the
meat of domestic donkeys…" (Source: Hidayat al-Ruwat).
This article provides a simple way to distinguish between donkey meat, which is most commonly used in adulterating meat and used to make kofta and hamburgers, and wholesome, permissible beef.
Fresh
donkey meat is dark red, sometimes with a purplish tinge. Beef, on the other
hand, is light red. After cooking, donkey meat turns dark brown due to its high
myoglobin content. Donkey meat has a tougher texture and requires more thorough
chewing. Therefore, it needs a longer cooking time to become tender because of
its lower percentage of trans fat, unlike other, fattier cuts of meat. Trans
fats: A type of unsaturated fat that hardens into atherosclerotic fat,
increasing the risk of arterial blockages; raising LDL (bad) cholesterol and
lowering HDL (good) cholesterol; increasing the chances of heart attacks and
death; and increasing inflammation in the body.
Donkey
meat is characterized by its strong, intense flavor, with a subtle sweetness or
distinctive aroma, compared to the milder flavor of beef. The strong, intense
flavor is very concentrated, deep, and rich, providing a powerful mouthfeel,
along with a consistent texture and rich feel.
The
flavor of donkey meat is similar to that of game. This strong, earthy, and
distinctive taste of wild animal meat varies depending on the type of game and
its diet and is more concentrated than that of domesticated meat. The game
flavor results from unique volatile compounds such as hexanal, which has a
grassy aroma, and unsaturated alcohols.
Distinguishing
between donkey meatballs and hamburgers and beef meatballs and burgers often
relies on appearance (darker red color, less fatty, yellow fat in donkeys),
texture (less fatty, finer fibers in donkeys), and taste (a more delicate,
slightly sweeter taste in donkeys compared to a typical beef hamburger).
The
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is the definitive method for identifying
animal DNA, which is crucial for detecting food adulteration.
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