Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of various dry-aging methods on meat quality and palatability attributes of cull cow beef loins. Paired bone-in loins (m. longissimus lumborum) from 13 cull cow carcasses (Holstein, 42þ mo) were obtained at 5 d postmortem, divided into 4 equal sections, and randomly assigned into 4 aging methods (wet-aging [WA], conventional dry-aging [DA], dry-aging in water-permeable bag [DWA], and ultraviolet light dry-aging [UDA]). The beef sections were aged for 28 d at 2°C, 65% relative humidity, and 0.8 m/s airflow. Following aging, surface crusts and bones were removed, and loin samples were collected for the meat quality, microbiological, and sensory analyses. Results indicated that all dry-aged loins had greater moisture and trimming loss compared with WA (P < 0.05), while DWA had lower loss than DA and UDA (P < 0.05). No differences in shear force, cook loss, or both lipid and protein oxidation across all treatments were observed (P > 0.05). Among all treatments, DWA exhibited the least color stability indicated by rapid discoloration observed in the sample, while UDA had color attributes comparable with WA throughout the whole display. Microbial analysis indicated that UDA had lower microbial concentration on the surface than the other samples (P < 0.05). The consumer panel analysis found that all loins were acceptable, and the trained panel analysis indicated that DA loins decreased sourness and animal fat flavor (P < 0.05) and had a trend of decreasing oxidized flavor (P = 0.07). The results indicate that dry-aging can potentially be utilized as an effective natural process by nullifying some of well-known off-flavor attributes associated with cull cow beef while not compromising other meat quality attrib- utes or microbiological shelf life.
Highlights
Cull cows account for up to 19% of the total beef cattle harvested in the United States (USDA, 2019), playing an important role in fulfilling the beef demands in the United States
The majority of cull cow beef, was utilized as ground beef or manufacturing products rather than retail whole muscle cuts (Xiong et al, 2007), placing the products in a low-value beef category compared with conventional beef from young animals
Lower shrink/purge loss was observed for WA samples compared with the dry-aged beef samples, such as DA, dry-aging in water-permeable bag (DWA), and UV light dry-aging (UDA), as expected (P < 0.05, Table 1)
Summary
Cull cows account for up to 19% of the total beef cattle harvested in the United States (USDA, 2019), playing an important role in fulfilling the beef demands in the United States (about 10% of beef supply). The majority of cull cow beef, was utilized as ground beef or manufacturing products rather than retail whole muscle cuts (Xiong et al, 2007), placing the products in a low-value beef category compared with conventional beef from young animals. Multiple postharvest techniques, such as salt injection (Morgan et al, 1991; Diles et al, 1994) and blade tenderization (Obuz et al, 2014), have been developed and are currently utilized as a postharvest. There is a need for developing natural/value-adding postharvest processes to improve cull cow meat palatability
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