Associations of objective physical measurements of beef meat samples and tenderness assessed by a trained taste panel

Abstract

Meat tenderness is the single most important quality attribute in consumer acceptance studies of meat eating quality. Several mechanical-based techniques have been developed to provide an objective measure of meat tenderness that have good correlation with sensory tenderness, as assessed by trained taste panel. The classic Warner-Bratzler shear force technique (WBSF) has shown correlations with sensory tenderness in the range of -0.39 to -0.77 (Van Oeckel et al., 1999; Shackelford et al., 1999a), whilst the Volodkevitch bite test attempts to imitate the incisor biting action by a compression method. A rapid slice shear force (SSF) test, which uses only one steak and hot meat (significant benefits in a commercial environment), had a stronger correlation with taste panel tenderness scores than WBSF (Shackelford et al., 1999b). The Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand (MIRINZ) test results, transformed into categories, was highly correlated (-0.97) with sensory tenderness (Bickerstaffe et al., 2001). The objective of this study was to evaluate the associations between objective physical measures (SSF, MIRINZ and Volodkevitch) and taste panel tenderness scores in beef.