Abstract
The effects of slaughter age and muscle type on meat quality properties of Eastern Anatolian Red (EAR) bulls () were investigated in the present study. Forty-six EAR bulls were slaughtered at 15, 17, 19, 25 and 27 months. Meat samples were taken from longissimus dorsi (LD) and gluteus medius (GM) muscles obtained from the carcasses at 24 h post-mortem. Meat color parameters were significantly affected by slaughter age. Older animals (19, 25 and 27 months of age) possessed higher , and values than those of younger animals (15 and 17 months of age). LD muscle had higher and values than those of GM muscles. The influences of slaughter age and muscle type on the proportions of dry matter, ether extract, crude ash and crude protein were not significant in the present study. The influence of slaughter age on the tenderness, acceptability, juiciness, number of chews and Warner–Bratzler shear (WBS) values were found to be significant. Tenderness, juiciness, flavor intensity and acceptability increased until 19 months of age, and then increase in age resulted in lower tenderness, flavor intensity and acceptability scores. Cooking yield significantly increased depending on the increase of age. WBS and cooking yield values from the LD were higher than that of the GM muscle. Textural characteristics such as hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness and resilience were not affected by slaughter age, but muscles had a significant influence on hardness, gumminess, chewiness and resilience. In conclusion, most eating quality characteristics and color parameters were positively influenced by slaughter age.
Highlights
The changes in the world and Turkey meat markets over the past decade and the recruitment in the educational and economical conditions of most consumers have raised the demands related to the meat (Vieira et al, 2007)
The aim of this study was to compare pH, color characteristics, Warner–Bratzler shear (WBS) force, sensory attributes, chemical compositions and texture characteristics of meat from longissimus dorsi (LD) and gluteus medius (GM) muscles of Eastern Anatolian Red (EAR) bulls slaughtered at different ages or weights
Higher values with respect to pH were determined for meat samples obtained from the muscles of older animals (p < 0.05); compared to LD muscle, pH values were higher than those of GM muscles (p < 0.01)
Summary
The changes in the world and Turkey meat markets over the past decade and the recruitment in the educational and economical conditions of most consumers have raised the demands related to the meat (Vieira et al, 2007). It is becoming increasingly obvious that consumers will continue to demand a leaner meat product in the market (Cross et al, 1984). Consumers all over the world are health conscious and demand high-quality meat products. Many factors influence meat quality, and all of them can be divided for simplicity into two categories: intrinsic factors such as breed, age, sex, slaughter weight, diet etc. Consumers prefer meat obtained from animals slaughtered at light weight or youthful beef because it is believed that the younger animals yield more tender meat than older, heavier animals (Vergara et al, 1999). Slaughter weight affects carcass and meat quality traits such as meat physiology, which concerns the properties and structure of muscle (Sanudo et al, 2004)
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