Are rabbits considered red meat?

Last Updated on March 12, 2023 by Marjon Ramos

Rabbit meat is considered white meat if you define it under the culinary arts and red meat if you define it under nutritional science. The culinary arts define red meat as meat that comes from adult mammals, while nutritional science defines red meat as any meat that contains more myoglobin than fish or chickens.

So rabbit meat would fall into different categories depending on whether you want to believe in culinary arts or nutritional science.

Now that I’ve given you the gist of the article, read on as I explain the articles in more detail:

How do you define “red meat”?

To know what kind of meat rabbits are, we first have to understand the different interpretations of red meat:

Culinary definition of red meat.

Under the culinary definition, red meat is defined as meat that comes from adult mammals like beef, horses, bores, pork, mutton, and venison.

While white meat is defined as meat that comes from young mammals like rabbits, chickens, ducks, goose, lambs, and veal.

So, according to the culinary arts, any meat that’s not “gamey” or meat that comes from adult mammals is considered white meat.

Nutritional science definition of red meat:

While nutritional science defines red meat as meat that has more myoglobin than white meat. White meat is defined as meat that comes from fish or chickens.

So any other food that contains more myoglobin than chicken and fish is considered red meat. Thus, rabbits are considered red meat under nutritional science because they contain a 0.02% concentration of myoglobin compared to chicken, which has a 0.005% concentration of myoglobin.

What kind of meat are rabbits?

Rabbit meat is considered white meat if you define it under the culinary arts and red meat if you define it under nutritional science.

But what’s important is whether or not rabbit meat is healthy for you. Compared to other meats like chicken, pork, beef, lamb, veal, and turkey, rabbit meat has more protein per serving, the lowest fat, and the lowest calories per serving.

Rabbit meat is also environmentally friendly compared to other meats due to how fast it is raised while using less space.

But, you should still limit the amount of rabbit meat you eat. Eating rabbit meat exclusively could result in what’s called “protein poisoning.”

Protein poisoning or rabbit starvation happens because rabbit meat is very lean and low in fat.

Examples of red and white meat

White meat under culinary arts:

• Rabbit meat
• Veal
• Lamb
• Chicken
• Duck
• Goose

Red meats under culinary arts:

• Beef
• Horse meat
• Mutton
• Venison
• Boar
• Hare

White meats under nutritional science:

• Chicken
• Fish

Red meats under nutritional science:

• Beef
• Pork
• Veal
• Horse meat
• Mutton
• Venison
• Boar
• Hare

Conclusion

Rabbit meat is considered white meat under the definition of the culinary arts. While nutritional science considers it red meat because rabbit meat contains a 0.02% concentration of myoglobin compared to chicken, which has a 0.005% concentration of myoglobin.

Under nutritional science, any food that contains more myoglobin than chicken is considered “red meat.”