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(Redirected from Orts) Internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal

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Animal heads, brains, trotters, and tripe on sale in an Istanbul meat market

Offal (/ˈɒfəl, ˈɔːfəl/), also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, and these lists of organs vary with culture and region, but usually exclude skeletal muscle. Offal may also refer to the by-products of milled grains, such as corn or wheat.

Some cultures strongly consider offal consumption to be taboo, while others use it as part of their everyday food or, in many instances, as delicacies. Certain offal dishes—including foie gras and pâté—are often regarded as gourmet food in the culinary arts. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine and are consumed especially during holidays; some examples are sweetbread, Jewish chopped liver, Scottish haggis, U.S. chitterlings, and Mexican menudo. On the other hand, intestines are traditionally used as casing for sausages.

Depending on the context, offal may refer only to those parts of an animal carcass discarded after butchering or skinning; offal not used directly for human or animal consumption is often processed in a rendering plant, producing material that is used for fertilizer or fuel; or in some cases, it may be added to commercially produced pet food. In earlier times, mobs sometimes threw offal and other rubbish at condemned criminals as a show of public disapproval.

Etymology and terminology

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The word shares its etymology with several Germanic words: West Frisian ôffal, German Abfall (Offall in some Western German dialects and Luxembourgish), afval in Dutch and Afrikaans, avfall in Norwegian and Swedish, and affald in Danish. These Germanic words all mean "garbage/rubbish" or "waste" or—literally—"off-fall", referring to that which has fallen off during butchering. However, these words are not often used to refer to food except for Afrikaans in the agglutination afvalvleis (lit. "off-fall-flesh"), which does indeed mean offal. For instance, the German word for offal is Innereien meaning innards and the Swedish word is inälvsmat literally meaning "inside-food". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word entered Middle English from Middle Dutch in the form afval, derived from af (off) and vallen (to fall).

It is not related to the English word awful, which originally meant "inspiring awe," then shifted meaning to "terrifying" and then to "very bad."

Organ meat is typically referred to with established terms used for other edible parts of the animal, such that the heart of a cow would be known as beef heart, while that of a pig would be known as pork heart.

Types

Europe

In some parts of Europe, scrotum, brain, chitterlings (pig's small intestine), trotters (feet), heart, head (of pigs, calves, sheep and lamb), kidney, liver, spleen, "lights" (lung), sweetbreads (thymus or pancreas), fries (testicles), tongue, snout (nose), tripe (reticulum) and maws (stomach) from various mammals are common menu items.

Great Britain

Ireland

Nordic countries

See also: Nordic countries and Scandinavian cuisine

Norway

Denmark

Iceland

Sweden

Finland

Western Europe

In France, the city of Lyon is well known for its offal: andouillette, tablier de sapeur (breaded tripe), foie de veau, rognons à la crème, and tripes, among others. In Marseille, lamb's trotters and a package of lamb tripe are a traditional food under the name "pieds et paquets".

Especially in southern Germany, some offal varieties are served in regional cuisine. The Bavarian expression Kronfleischküche includes skirt steak and offal as well, e.g., Milzwurst [de], a sausage containing small pieces of spleen, and even dishes based on udder. Swabia is famous for Saure Kutteln—sour tripes served steaming hot with fried potatoes. Herzgulasch is a (formerly cheaper) type of goulash using heart. Liver is part of various recipes, such as some sorts of Knödel and Spätzle, and in Liverwurst. As a main dish, together with cooked sliced apple and onion rings, liver (Leber Berliner Art, liver Berlin style) is a famous recipe from the German capital. Helmut Kohl's preference for Saumagen was a challenge to various political visitors during his terms as German Chancellor. Markklößchen [de] are small dumplings made with bone marrow; they are served as part of Hochzeitssuppe (wedding soup), a soup served at marriages in some German regions. In Bavaria, lung stew is served with Knödel, dumplings. Blood tongue, or Zungenwurst, is a variety of German head cheese with blood. It is a large head cheese made with pig's blood, suet, bread crumbs, and oatmeal with chunks of pickled beef tongue added. It has a slight resemblance to blood sausage. It is commonly sliced and browned in butter or bacon fat prior to consumption. It is sold in markets pre-cooked, and its appearance is maroon to black in color.

In Austrian, particularly Viennese cuisine, the Beuschel is a traditional offal dish. It is a sort of ragout containing veal lungs and heart. It is usually served in a sour cream sauce and with bread dumplings (Semmelknödel). A type of black pudding by the name of Blunzn or Blutwurst is also common. In traditional Viennese cuisine, many types of offal including calf's liver (Kalbsleber), sweetbread (Kalbsbries), or calf's brain with egg (Hirn mit Ei) have played an important role, but their popularity has strongly dwindled in recent times.

In Belgium several classic dishes include organ meat. Beef or veal tongue in tomato-Madeira sauce with mushrooms and kidneys in mustard cream sauce are probably the most famous ones. The famous "stoofvlees" or carbonade flamande, a beef stew with onions and brown beer, used to contain pieces of liver or kidney, to reduce the costs. Pork tongues are also eaten cold with bread and a vinaigrette with raw onions or mustard.

Southern Europe

In Italy consumption of entrails and internal organs is widespread. Among the most popular are fried or stewed brains; boiled stomach (trippa), often served in a tomato sauce; lampredotto (the fourth stomach of the cow), boiled in broth and seasoned with parsley sauce and chilli; liver (stir-fried with onions, roasted); kidneys; heart and coronaries (coratella [fr; it] or animelle); head, eyes, and testicles of a pig; and several preparations based on chicken entrails. Pajata, a traditional dish from Rome, refers to the intestines of an unweaned calf, i.e., fed only on its mother's milk. Soon after nursing, the calf is slaughtered, and its intestines are cleaned, but the milk is left inside. When cooked, the combination of heat and the enzyme rennet in the intestines coagulates the milk to create a thick, creamy, cheese-like sauce. Pajata and tomatoes are often used to prepare a sauce for rigatoni. In Sicily, many enjoy a sandwich called "pani câ mèusa", bread with spleen and caciocavallo cheese. In the Italian neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York, where it is also commonly eaten, it goes by the name "vastedda,", which in Sicilian refers to the bread only. In Norcia and other parts of Umbria, pig's bowels are also cured with herbs, chili peppers, and spices, then dried and smoked to make a tough, spicy sausage in which the bowel, instead of serving only as the usual casing, is the main ingredient.

Italy's Florentine cuisine includes cow brain.

In Spain, the visceral organs are used in many traditional dishes, but the use of some of them is falling out of favor with the younger generations. Some traditional dishes are callos (cow tripe, very traditional in Madrid and Asturias), liver (often prepared with onion or with garlic and parsley, and also as breaded steaks), kidneys (often prepared with sherry or grilled), sheep's brains, criadillas (bull testicles), braised cow's tongue, pig's head and feet (in Catalonia; pig's feet are also traditionally eaten with snails), pork brains (part of the traditional "tortilla sacromonte" in Granada), and pig's ears (mostly in Galicia). There are also many varieties of blood sausage (morcilla), with various textures and flavours ranging from mild to very spicy. Some of the strongest are as hard in texture as chorizo or salami, while others are soft, and some types incorporate rice, giving the stuffing a haggis-like appearance. Morcillas are added to soups or boiled on their own, in which case the cooking liquid is discarded. They are sometimes grilled but rarely fried. Also coagulated, boiled blood is a typical dish in Valencia (cut into cubes and often prepared with onion or tomato sauce).

In Portugal traditionally, viscera and other animal parts are used in many dishes. Trotters (also known as chispe), tripe, and pig's ears are cooked in bean broths. Tripe is famously cooked in Porto, where one of the most traditional dishes is tripe in the fashion of Porto, tripas à moda do Porto. Pig's ears are usually diced into squares of cartilage and fat and pickled, after which they are eaten as an appetizer or a snack. Also common the use of stew of chicken stomach (moelas), mostly used as an appetizer. The cow's brain (mioleira) is also a delicacy, although consumption has decreased since the Creutzfeldt–Jakob outbreak. The blood of the pig is used to produce a form of black pudding known as farinhato, which includes flour and seasonings. A wide variety of offal and pig blood is made into a traditional soup of the north of Portugal called papas de sarrabulho. Chicken feet are also used in soups.

In Greece (and similarly in Turkey, Albania and North Macedonia), splinantero consists of liver, spleen, and small intestine, roasted over an open fire. A festive variety is kokoretsi (from Turkish kokoreç, Macedonian kukurek), traditional for Easter; pieces of lamb offal (liver, heart, lungs, spleen, kidney and fat) are pierced on a spit and covered by washed small intestine wound around in a tube-like fashion, then roasted over a coal fire. Another traditional Easter food is magiritsa, a soup made with lamb offal and lettuce in a white sauce, eaten at midnight on Easter Sunday as an end to the lenten fast. Tzigerosarmas (from Turkish ciğer sarması, meaning "liver wrap") and gardoumba are two varieties of splinantero and kokoretsi made in different sizes and with extra spices. In Turkey, mumbar, beef or sheep tripe stuffed with rice, is a typical dish in Adana in southern Turkey. Paça soup is made from lamb or sheep feet, except in summer. If lamb or sheep head is added, it becomes Kelle Paça. Liver is fried, grilled, skewed and additive of pilaf. Liver shish can be eaten at breakfast in Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep and Adana. Brain can be fried or baked. It can also be consumed as salad.

Eastern Europe

In Romania, there is a dish similar to haggis called drob, which is served at Easter. Romanian families make a kind of traditional sausage from pork offal, called caltaboş [fr; ro], the main difference being that drob is enclosed in abdominal membranes (prapore) of the animal, while chitterlings is used for caltaboş. A popular dish of tripe soup called ciorbă de burtă is similar to shkembe chorba. Also in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Turkey, shkembe chorba is a widespread soup variety.

There is also a twofold variation on the concept of head cheese: piftie which does contain gelatin, is served cold and is usually only made from pork or beef (traditionally only pork), but does not contain as much head material (usually only the lower legs and ears are used since they contain large amounts of gelatin) and pacele which is exclusively made of meat and tissue found on the head (save for the eyes and usually only made from lamb; addition of brain and tongue varies by local habit). Pacele is made by first boiling the head whole (to soften the meat and make it easier to peel off) and then peeling/scraping off all meat and tissue from it. A generous amount of garlic or garlic juice, the mujdei, is then added and the dish is served warm.

Finally, there are many dishes in Romania that are based on whole offal, such as grilled pig and cow kidney (served with boiled or steam cooked vegetables—usually peas and carrot slices); butcher's brain called creier pane (usually lamb's brains, rolled in batter and deep-fried); tongue and olives stew (mostly done with cow tongue) and many others.

The Armenian traditional dish known as khash is a traditional meal with inexpensive ingredients, originating in the Shirak region. The main ingredient in khash is pig's or cow's feet, although other animal parts, such as the ears and tripe, may also be used. Formerly a nutritious winter food for the poor, it is now considered a delicacy, and is enjoyed as a festive winter meal.

In Hungary, a variety of traditional dishes are based on offal. Pacal or pacalpörkölt (tripe stew), a popular spicy stew, considered a national dish, is made from beef tripe. Ground or chopped pork offal is usually made into a hearty sausage known as "disznósajt" (lit. "pig cheese") somewhat resembling haggis. Puddings and sausages made with blood (véres hurka) and liver (májas hurka) are also quite common, especially as part of the "disznótoros", a dish of different sausages produced from pork. Heart, liver and gizzards of chicken are a traditional part of chicken soup. Gizzards can also be made into a stew ("zúzapörkölt"). While decreasing in popularity, stews made from poultry testicles (kakashere pörkölt) are still considered a delicacy and a dish of high prestige in the countryside. Another dish which became less common is "vese-velő" (pig kidneys with brain). Szalontüdő is made out of the heart and lungs of pork.

Offal is not an uncommon ingredient in Polish cuisine. Kaszanka, a traditional sausage similar to black pudding, is made with a mixture of pig's blood, pig offal and buckwheat or barley usually served fried with onions or grilled. Beef tripe is used to cook a popular soup simply called flaki (pl. guts). Chicken gizzards or hearts can be a base for various stews or soups, such as krupnik, a pearl barley soup (not to be confused with a vodka brand of the same name). Other offal-based soups, less popular today, are Polish blood soup (czernina) and tail soup (zupa ogonowa), based on a cooked beef tail. Pork or beef liver is often consumed sautéed or grilled with onions; liver is also used as one of the ingredients for stuffing baked whole duck or other poultry, or a piglet. Pâtés containing liver are popular. Pork, beef or veal kidneys, known in Polish as cynadry, are typically braised and eaten as a main dish. Pork tongues can be served hot, in a sauce, or cold, set into aspic. Cold pork trotters in aspic are very popular, especially as a companion to vodka. In the past, braised pork or veal brain was a popular snack, but today it is rare.

In Russia, beef liver and tongue are considered valuable delicacies, which may be cooked and served on their own. Kidneys and brains are sometimes used in cooking. The heart is often eaten on its own or used as an additive to the ground meat, as do lungs which give a lighter, airier texture to it. Pig's or sheep's stomach is sometimes used for nyanya, a dish similar to haggis. Head and collagen-rich extremities are used to make kholodets—a version of aspic, whereby these body parts are slowly boiled for several hours with meat and spices, removed and discarded, and the remaining broth is cooled until it congeals.

South America

In Brazil, churrasco (barbecue) often includes chicken hearts, roasted on a big skewer. The typical feijoada sometimes contains pork trimmings (ears, feet and tail). Gizzard stews, fried beef liver and beef stomach stews used to be more popular dishes in the past, but are nonetheless still consumed. Buchada, a popular dish from the northeast of the country, consists of the diced organs of a goat, which are seasoned and then sewn inside the goat's stomach ("bucho") and boiled. Dobradinha is a dish made with tripe, a variation of the northern Portuguese dish. In the Northeast of Brazil the sarapatel is a very common dish, usually prepared with pork organs (heart, liver, intestine, and kidneys) boiled along with coagulated pork blood in a spiced stew.

In Argentina and Uruguay, the traditional asado is often made along with several offal types (called "achuras"), like chinchulines and tripa gorda (chitterlings), mollejas (sweetbreads) and riñón (cow's kidney). Sesos (brains) are used to make ravioli stuffing. The tongue is usually boiled, sliced and marinated with a mixture of oil, vinegar, salt, chopped peppers and garlic.

In Colombia, menudencias is the name given to the chicken leftovers or offal such as the head, neck, gizzard, and feet. A popular cheap dish containing all this and more is called sopa de menudencias. Head cheese is also common. Just like in Argentina, and depending on the region, Colombian asado and picada involve many offal types, including chunchullo (chitterlings), chicken hearts, and bofe (beef lung). Pelanga is a dish from the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyaca that contains beef or pork snout (jeta), trachea, tongue, and ears. Pepitoria is a dish in the department of Santander that involves offal from billy goats (kidney, liver, heart).

In Peru and Bolivia, beef heart is used for anticuchos—a sort of brochette. In Chile, the tongue is boiled, sliced and served in a walnut-based sauce in New year and Christmas festivities ("lengua nogada") while the soup is used later to cook a wheat, milk and spice ball mix called "albóndigas de sémola". There is also a blood drink called "Ñachi", made from spiced, fresh blood from a recently slaughtered animal. Criadillas or huevos de toro ("bull's eggs", testicles) are eaten mostly in cattle-raising regions, while cow udder ("ubres") is served fried or boiled.

Sopa de mondongo is a soup made from diced tripe (the stomach of a cow or pig) slow-cooked with vegetables such as bell peppers, onions, carrots, cabbage, celery, tomatoes, cilantro (coriander), garlic or root vegetables. Variations can also be found in Nicaragua, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sausage is made from the small intestine of a goat, cow or sheep, stuffed with chilli and small chunks of meat, fatty meat, and blood (although some people prefer the bloodless kind). In Kenya, it is commonly referred to as 'mutura', which is the Kikuyu name for it. Sheep's or goat's stomach is also stuffed in a similar way.

In the Kikuyu traditions, grilled goat/sheep kidneys are a delicacy usually reserved for young ladies, although today, anybody can consume it. Similarly, the tongue was reserved for men and the ears were to be eaten by little girls. The testicles were for the young men. The livers are also consumed. The heads, lungs, and hooves of animals are boiled to make soup and sometimes mixed with herbs for medicinal purposes.

In South Africa offal, locally known as tripe, is enjoyed by South Africans of diverse backgrounds. Due to the popularity of this dish, it is one of the few customs that white (especially Afrikaners) and black South Africans share.

Offal dishes in South Africa do not usually consist of any organs and are mostly limited to stomach skin, sheep's head, shin, and very rarely brains. Sheep's head has gained many nicknames over the years such as 'skopo' (township colloquial term meaning head) and 'smiley' (referring to the expression of the head when cooked).

There are numerous recipes to cook the above-mentioned items available on many South African websites. One of the more popular way to cook offal in South Africa is to cook it with small potatoes in a curry sauce served on rice. Alternatively, it can be served with samp or maize rice.

In Zimbabwe, as in most of sub-Saharan Africa, little of a slaughtered animal goes to waste. Offal is a common relish enjoyed by people of all cultures. Beef and goat offal dishes include the stomach, hooves (trotters), shin, intestines, liver, head, tongue, pancreas, lungs, kidneys, udders, and, very rarely in certain communities, testicles. Beef or goat blood, sometimes mixed with other offal pieces, is often cooked to make a dish known in Shona as "musiya". Chicken dishes include feet, liver, intestines, and gizzards. A popular preparation of goat or sheep offal involves wrapping pieces of the stomach with the intestines before cooking.

In Nigeria offal is consumed by all the people in Nigeria, in delicacies such as Abula, Edika ikong and white soup. It is called 'Inu eran' in Yoruba literally meaning the insides of an animal. They have names for some parts which include roundabout, shaki (tripes), Edo (liver).

East Asia

China

Japan

Korea

Southeast Asia

Indonesia

Malaysia and Singapore

See also: Malaysian cuisine and Singaporean cuisine

In Malaysia, cow or goat lung, called paru, coated in turmeric and fried is often served as a side dish to rice, especially in the ever popular nasi lemak. Tripe is used in a few dishes either stir fried or in a gravy. Tripe is also consumed as satay. The liver is deep-fried or stir-fried in some vegetable dishes.

In Malaysia and Singapore, pig's organ soup is a common feature of hawker centres. Due to Singapore's proximity and ethnic makeup, many of the items written for Indonesia and Malaysia above are also found in Singapore.

Philippines

Thailand

Vietnam

South Asia

India and Pakistan

See also: Indian cuisine and Pakistani cuisine

In India and Pakistan, the goat's brain (maghaz), feet (paey), head (siri), stomach (ojhari or but), tongue (zabaan), liver (kaleji), kidney (gurda), udder (kheeri) and testicles (kapooray) as well as chickens' heart and liver are staple. Kata-Kat, a popular dish, is a combination of spices, brains, liver, kidneys, and other organs. In northern hilly regions of India, goat's intestines are cleaned and fried with spices to make a delicacy called bhutwa. Barbecued chicken tail (dumchi) can be found on the menu of many street food sellers in Lahore, Pakistan.

South India

In Hyderabad, lamb and goat brain sautéed and stir-fried with spices (often called bheja fry) is a delicacy and often conflated with the city. In the city of Mangalore, a spicy dish called raghti, made of heavily spiced porcine offal and cartilaginous tissue, is considered a homely indulgence by the local Christian community.

In Tamilnadu, goat spleen is called "suvarotti". Suvarotti is also known as 'manneeral', even though some say that both are little different. Suvarotti means it sticks to the wall. It is believed because of this nature, the nutrients from the suvarotti sticks to our body.

Goat spleen/Suvarotti/Manneral is cleaned and in a whole piece. Goat spleen is highly rich in Iron, it drastically increases haemoglobin levels in blood and kicks out anemia. Goat spleen has both iron and vitamin C and so the iron in it is easily absorbed by the body.

West India

Sorpatel is a popular pork gravy consumed by Christians in Goa and Mumbai. The name comes from the word sarapatel meaning ‘confusion’ as the thick gravy is heady with spice, vinegar, and contains the heart, liver, ears, tongue and sometimes the blood of a pig. Less commonly, pig tails, noses and lungs are also added.

Among Goan Christians, roasted beef tongue is also a staple at any meal laid out for a party. Chicken dishes frequently include the gizzard, heart and liver of the bird, and Goan sausage choris or chouriço contains spicy, tangy pork pickled in vinegar and the local liquor feni before being cased in pig intestines. It is a popular Goan food regularly consumed during the monsoons when fish is scarce.

Northeast India

In the state of Meghalaya, a number of offal dishes, primarily porcine, are prepared by the Khasi community. Jadoh (blood rice) is red rice dish that uses pig blood and is consumed as breakfast by the Khasi tribe during festival days. Dohjem or Doh Neiiong (black sesame pork) has pork intestines and belly cooked in a spicy dark sauce. Doh Khleik is a traditional pork salad consisting of pig brains and meat. Doh Pheret is a pot of stew with various organs slow cooked for hours, Doh Snier are sausages in the form of spiced and molten fat in intestine casing, and Doh Snam are intestine-cased blood sausages.

Bangladesh

Nepal

Middle East

Jerusalem mixed grill (Hebrew: מעורב ירושלמי, romanized: meorav yerushalmi) is a popular dish and local specialty originating in the Mahane Yehuda Market that consists of chicken hearts, spleens, and liver mixed with bits of lamb cooked on a flat grill, seasoned with onion, garlic, black pepper, cumin, turmeric, and coriander.

In Syria, lamb brain is used in nikhaat dishes and sometimes as a sandwich filling. A tradition practised less often today would be to eat fish eyes either raw, boiled, or fried. Another popular dish in the region surrounding is korouch, which is rice-stuffed sheep intestine. Raw mutton liver known as qasbeh nayyeh (sometimes lungs) is also occasionally consumed (when the animal's origin and processing is trusted). The meelaq is a traditional dish based on liver, kidney and (sometimes) the heart (which is strictly speaking muscle).

In Iran, tongue (zabaan), feet (paa) or Kaleh Pacheh, sheep liver (jigar), heart (del), lungs (shosh), testicles (donbalan) and kidneys are used as certain types of kebab and have a high popularity among people, as well as sheep intestines and stomach, though the latter is boiled. Sheep skull and tongue, alongside knee joints, as a formal breakfast dish called kale pache (lit. "head and leg"), are boiled in water with beans and eaten with traditional bread.

Pacha (Persian term), is a traditional Iraqi dish made from sheep's head, trotters, and stomach; all boiled slowly and served with bread sunken in the broth. The cheeks and tongues are considered the best parts. Many people prefer not to eat the eyeballs, which could be removed before cooking. The stomach lining would be filled with rice and lamb and stitched with a sewing thread (Arabic: كيبايات).

The dish is known in Kuwait, Bahrain, and other Persian Gulf countries as Pacha (پاچة), too. A variation of that is found in other Arab countries, such as in Egypt, and is known as Kawari' (Arabic: كوارع). It is still eaten by Iraqi Jews.

In Egypt, fried beef and lamb liver (kibda) with a cumin-based coating is a popular dish, most often served in sandwiches with a bit of onion from small shops in most major cities. Thin-sliced fried liver with slices of mild peppers, garlic, and lemon is considered a speciality of Alexandria (as كبدة سكندراني Kibda Skandarani, "Alexandrian liver"), and is often served as a separate plate, sandwich, or topping for kushari.

Cow brain is eaten in Egypt, as are sheep brains.

Sheep brain is eaten in Iraq. It is also eaten in Iran, where it is known as Kaleh Pacheh.

Turkic cuisine

In Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iranian Azerbaijan and some other Turkic cuisines, there are varieties of offal dishes, especially those of sheep. For "Jağur Bağur", sheep liver and heart are diced and soaked with onion for some hours and then fried with other additives. For "Bağırsak Kebab", sheep intestine is wrapped and baked in a stove or by skewers on a barbeque.

North America

United States

Mexico

Caribbean Islands

Australia

Health and food safety issues

The offal of certain animals is unsafe to consume:

The internal organs of the fugu pufferfish are highly toxic—in Japan, fugu can only be prepared by trained master chefs, working under extremely strict regulations, sanitary conditions, and licensing. Even a residual portion of fugu toxin can be fatal.
The liver of the polar bear is unsafe to eat because it is very high in vitamin A and can cause hypervitaminosis A, a dangerous disorder. This has been recognized since at least 1597 when Gerrit de Veer wrote in his diary that, while taking refuge in the winter in Novaya Zemlya, he and his men became gravely ill after eating polar-bear liver. Seal liver is similarly toxic, as is dog liver.
Some animal intestines are very high in coliform bacteria and need to be washed and cooked thoroughly to be safe for eating.
Nervous system tissue can be contaminated with TSE prions, which cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, "mad cow disease"); in some jurisdictions these offal are classified as specified risk materials and are subject to special regulations.
Offal very high in purines can precipitate an acute attack of gout in someone with the condition.
Certain types of offal, including kidneys, stomach, intestines, heart, tongue, and liver, can be very high in saturated fats.
The practice of feeding raw offal to dogs on farms and ranches can spread echinococcosis, a potentially fatal parasitic disease of animals, including humans.
The United Kingdom banned the sale of animal brains in order to curtail the spread of mad cow disease in the 1980s and 90s.
A similar ban is imposed by the Food and Drug Administration on animal lungs in the United States due to concerns such as fungal spores or cross-contamination with other organs, although these concerns have been criticized as unfounded.

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Bibliography

Edwards, Nina (2013). Offal: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781780230979. OCLC 809911205.
Helou, Anissa (2011). Offal: The Fifth Quarter (revised ed.). Bath, England: Absolute Press. ISBN 9781906650551. OCLC 751861350.
- First edition: Helou, Anissa (2004). The Fifth Quarter: An Offal Cookbook. Bath, England: Absolute Press. ISBN 9781904573210. OCLC 56650909.
McLagan, Jennifer (2011). Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal. Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press. ISBN 9781580083348. OCLC 694832866.

External links

Offal Good, Chris Cosentino's website dedicated to offal
Variety Meat Terminology and Preparation Techniques – Preparation techniques for various offal and terms defined.

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