What is the difference between beef and veal?
The difference between beef and veal is that beef is from older cattle whereas veal is the meat of younger cattle. ‘English Rose’ veal or high welfare veal has a distinct light pink colour, beef being a darker red. But how does the meat taste different? Well, veal is slightly more tender than beef, due to the muscles not being worked for as long as the muscles of beef and it has a much more delicate flavour. Veal is actually easier for our bodies to digest than beef is because of how much more tender the meat is. The nutritional content of beef and veal is not actually too different from one another, and here are some examples…
In just under 100g of veal 179 calories were found and the same size cut of beef had 170 calories. Red meat is a good source of vitamin B which is essential for energy levels and for our metabolism to function properly. There were 0.99 micrograms of vitamin B-12 found in veal compared to 2.28 micrograms in beef. Both veal and beef have similar amounts of vitamin B-6, 0.306 milligrams were found in veal and 0.238 milligrams in beef. Beef and veal are both an excellent source of zinc. There are 3.37 milligrams of zinc in veal and 3.83 milligrams in beef, which is a quarter of zinc needed in our daily diet. Beef was found to be slightly higher in minerals and veal to be higher in vitamins. However, the protein, fat and calorie content of both meats were very similar and both meats are a healthy part of a balanced diet. Our advice? Go with the one you find tastiest!