Abstract
Meat-grain-size (MGS) assessment is an empirical method for the early prediction of meat quality, a larger grain being synonymous with higher meat tenderness. The objective was to characterize 4 muscles (longissimus thoracis LT; rectus abdominis RA; longus colli LC; diaphragma D) of 5 coarse and 5 fine carcasses in terms of MGS in order to establish a link between muscular physicochemical properties and carcass MGS score. All comparisons were made of samples with similar fat content. The broiled sample hardness (shear force) was significantly higher for the coarse group than for the fine group (7.20 vs 5.89 kg; RA). Higher collagen content (27.94 vs 24.87 mg/g of dry matter in LT muscle; 15.86 vs 13.13 mg/g of dry matter in D muscle), higher oxidative metabolism (cytochrome-c oxidase; LT and D) but also higher glycolytic metabolism (lactate dehydrogenase; LT) were also observed in the coarse groups. Not all the muscles react in a similar way depending on the MGS group. Nevertheless, significant results are constant from one muscle to another, the RA being the only muscle for which the difference in hardness between the two groups is significant.
Highlights
Beef wholesalers and butchers are very interested in predicting meat quality traits in order to evaluate consumer acceptance of beef
It is interesting to note that even though carcasses were selected for homogeneous carcass fat development, the experts found a significant difference in M. longissimus thoracis marbling scores between the coarse and the fine groups: marbling was found to be more homogeneous on the M. longissimus thoracis of the fine group (p = 0.02)
M. longus colli was examined in detail and scored by experts even though this muscle was not as easy to sample as the other muscles
Summary
Beef wholesalers and butchers are very interested in predicting meat quality traits in order to evaluate consumer acceptance of beef. Knowledge allows professionals to direct carcasses to the various markets (butchers, mass retailing, hard-discount, etc.) in the most appropriate way For this reason, the beef industry is currently attempting to distinguish between standard and high-quality beef products sold by both supermarkets and butchers mainly on the basis of tenderness rather than flavor and taste. The beef industry is currently attempting to distinguish between standard and high-quality beef products sold by both supermarkets and butchers mainly on the basis of tenderness rather than flavor and taste This is partly founded on the assumption that butchers possess a know-how which allows them to classify the carcasses according to their expected quality early on. According to the operators of the French Charolais beef industry, four muscles can provide information about the meat grain size of a carcass: M. longissimus thoracis, rectus abdominis, longus colli and diaphragma [11]. Muscle relative depth Inter-muscular fat at the 5th rib level no muscle depth, high fat depth large amount large muscle depth, light fat depth limited fat development
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