Sausage/Salume Meat/Fat Ratio Calculations Formula

How to calculate Meat to Fat Ratio?

Not as easy as one thinks without the right formula. The first thing one might think is..... Hey I have 10 lbs of lean meat and I want 30% of fat so I will multiply 10 X 30% = 3.... ahh 30% correct? Nope it's not.  Let's dive into this a bit further.....So if the total weight of both the Fat and Lean Meat are 13 lbs and the Fat weighs 3 lbs I should be able to 3/13 and I should get 30%? Nope you get 23%. What the hell happened? It's not the correct way to calculate Ratios for Salume's or Sausages. So here you go!!!

M= total weight of the lean Meat (or as lean as you can get it with trimming)
A= the Fat % you want (I want 40%)
B= Factor
F= Fat in Pounds or Grams 

First we need to calculate the factor which is important to determine Fat needed.

100% - A = B

B =60% or .60

M (Meat) divided by B (Factor) minus M = F

So I have 14 lbs of Lean Meat (M=14) and I want to add 40% of Fat (A=40%)... First I need to calculate my Factor (B) so I take 100% Minus the Fat A=40% which becomes my Factor B=60%.  

This is what it looks like... 100%-40% =60% our Factor (B). (14/.60)-14 = 9.33 lbs of fat which equates to 40% of FAT.  9.33/23.3= 40%

or another way to look at it....

14/.60= 23.3 - 14 = 9.33 of Fat 


M + F = 23.33 =Total Weight of Meat and Fat so to calculate Percentage to verify what we have 9.33/23.33 = 40%

Or use my interactive Spread Sheet to Calculate the whole thing CLICK HERE