VACUUM AGING, DISPLAY AND LEVEL OF NUTRITION EFFECTS ON BEEF QUALITY

Abstract

ABSTRACTVacuum aging and display effects on various quality traits of beef produced from 38 cattle on four nutritional regimes (grass‐, short‐, long‐, and forage‐fed) were studied. Anterior halves of the longissimus, biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus muscles were fabricated into steaks at 48 hr postmortem; the posterior halves were vacuum aged for 21 days at 0—1°C before fabrication. Taste panel, shear force and cooking analyses were done on steaks from each muscle half before and after 5 days of display under continuous lighting at 1,076 lumens/m2 (100 ft‐c) of deluxe warm white fluorescent light. Vacuum‐ aging improved (P < 0.05) taste panel tenderness, juiciness and flavor, scores; reduced Warner‐Bratzler shear values and increased total and volatile cooking losses for averages of muscles and feeding regimes. Taste panel flavor scores were lower and drip and total cooking losses were reduced (P < 0.05) after vacuum‐aged cuts had been displayed for 5 days. Shear force values continued to decline (P < 0.05) during display. Initial taste panel tenderness and flavor scores were less desirable for steaks from grass‐ and short‐fed cattle. Vacuum aging improved (P < 0.05) tenderness, juiciness, and flavor scores in steaks from grass‐ and short‐fed cattle, but flavor scores were less desirable in these steaks after 5 days of display. Shear force values were lowest (P < 0.05) in steaks from long‐fed cattle. Total cooking and drip losses generally were lowest (P < 0.05) in steaks from grass‐fed cattle. Vacuum aging increased (P < 0.05) total cooking loss in all steaks except those from the short‐fed regime but reduced the variation in total cooking loss across all nutritional regimes.