Beef Processing Research Articles

Comparisons of the effect of electrical stimulation methods on postmortem pH decline in beef muscle

Results of four electrical stimulation (ES) studies were summarized to demonstrate the impact of different ES parameters on pH decline patterns in postmortem M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum. Postmortem pH decline was modeled as a non-linear function of time, and estimates of minimum obtainable pH, pH decline rates, and time to reach pH 6·0 were compared for each study. The decline model for study 4 (AC, 60 Hz, 50 V; 5 min post mortem) had a larger (P < 0·05) estimate for decline rate than that for study 1 (AC, 60 Hz, 400 V; 1 h post mortem) and the control (non-stimulated) data. The model estimate of time to pH 6·0 (0·56 h) for study 4 was the shortest (P < 0·05) for all treatments. Different ES parameters produce different pH decline patterns post mortem and, therefore, may impact product quality and fabrication and chilling protocols adopted in fresh beef processing.

Value-added beef processing: increasing the value of beef shanks using BaaderTM processing technology (1993)

beef shanks can increase the value of a beef carcass by $1 to $5 by improving palatability and texture and reducing fat. By varying belt pressure and drum opening size and passing shanks twice through the desinewer, we obtained commercially acceptable yields. Maximum lean yield was 93% of the shank using 5 mm drum holes for both passes. With 3 mm drum holes, very lean ( produced on the first pass. Using desinewed lean and flaking the sinew with an Urschel Commitrol®, we produced low-fat (10%) ground beef patties. Patties from desinewed lean alone and/or desinewed lean with flaked sinew reincorporated were more acceptable (P<.05) and had fewer noticeable connective tissue particles than patties made from unprocessed ground shank.

Food safety consortium (1991)

In recent years, food safety has become an issue of concern for the beef industry, beef processors, and the consuming public. Even though America has the safest and most wholesome food supply in the world, consumers are worried about the safety of the meat they eat. In response to reports of illness from contamination by both microbes and chemicals in the meat supply, the United States Congress, in 1988, authorized and funded a Special Grants Program in the United States Department of Agriculture called the Food Safety Consortium. The members of the Consortium are Kansas State University, the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville and Iowa State University.

Measuring Market Power in Food‐Processing Industries: Discussion

Focuses on the measurement of market power in the beef processing industry in the United States. Causal linkage between concentrated industrial structure and antisocial economic performance; Structure-conduct-performance paradigm; Basic model for fed-cattle studies.

Fordson, Farmall, and Poppin’ Johnny: A History of the Farm Tractor and Its Impact on America by Robert C. Williams

146 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE the Second World War. The rise of companies such as Iowa Beef Processors and Excel, with their low labor costs, modern plants, and boxed meat, has established a new order in the packing industry. However, the author concludes, these newcomers may soon constitute a new oligopoly. For those seeking an overview of America’s red meat industry, Prime Cut offers a good starting point. Although I am enthusiastic about Skaggs’s effort to integrate so much material, I have two serious res­ ervations about his book. On the technical side, the references are far too spartan. The few existing footnotes do little to enlighten us about the sources or suggest differences in viewpoint. This greatly dimin­ ishes the book’s value as a research tool for other scholars. And interpretively , Prime Cut would have benefited from a tighter focus and a sharper sense of the underlying themes. A good conclusion could have tied the story together. In a broad synthesis of this nature, the unifying threads ought to be clearly identified. Mark Wildf. Dr. Wilde, a former Hagley Fellow, recently completed a dissertation on the history of America’s food-processing industries. He is currently a senior economist with the WEFA Group in Philadelphia. Fordson, Farmall, and Poppin’ Johnny: A History of the Farm Tractor and Its Impact on America. By Robert C. Williams. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1987. Pp. ix + 232; illustrations, figures, notes, bib­ liography, index. $24.95. If your color preference in a tractor is gun-metal gray, green and yellow, red and yellow, red with black and white, blue, gray, safety yel­ low, or Persian orange, it is dealt with in this “biography” of the Amer­ ican tractor. Earlier accounts concentrated on mechanical detail or on pictures, and there are excellent histories of individual implement companies with impressive lines of tractors. This book examines the effect of the tractor (except for the crawler) as it relates to American agriculture since about 1900. Robert C. Williams, long acquainted with farming in Texas (he now operates a farm near Clarendon), adapted Fordson, Farmall, and Poppin’Johnny from his Texas Tech University dis­ sertation. He knows his topic well and presents his thesis ably. Through World War I, the first generation of American tractors, generally produced by farm implement companies, were highly ex­ perimental and best suited to the needs of small grain producers. Their implements were designed for the speed of the horse and were frequently incompatible with the faster, more powerful, pace of the tractors. The Fordson, first introduced in 1918, was an exception. Ford automobile dealers were pressured into selling the new tractor, which quickly dominated American tractor production. Henry Ford, with his own unpredictable prejudices, kept the Fordson going for a TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 147 decade without significant modifications, then he abandoned the trac­ tor business. Nevertheless, Ford contributed much from the auto­ motive business to all tractor producers. All-out competition between Fordson and International Harvester’s tractor brought introduction of IHC’s Farmall in the mid-1920s, counted as a “watershed” between past and present. Most new tractor developments, such as the power take-off, were initiated many years before they came into widespread use. The au­ thor takes note of the contribution of professional organizations such as the American Society of Agricultural Engineers on getting agree­ ment on standardization and interchangeability. Technological ma­ turity camejust prior to World War II. This period emphasized down­ sizing the tractor to fit the needs of a majority of American farms. Afterward, when almost every tractor line moved to greater power, the small tractor field was abandoned. To stay in competition, John Deere shifted from its two-cylinder engines, with their distinctive ex­ haust noise. By 1983, more than half of the tractors sold to American farmers were of foreign manufacture. The final third of the volume examines the tractor’s effect on Amer­ ican society. Williams recognizes the tractor’s contributions, but he also sees the problems, admittedly intertwined with many other fac­ tors, brought on by bigger capital needs and overproduction, and social consequences involving suffering in hard times, displaced labor, and increased farm size...

Prime Cut: Livestock Raising and Meatpacking in the United States, 1607–1983 by Jimmy M. Skaggs

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 145 Prime Cut: Livestock Raising and Meatpacking in the United States, 1607— 1983. By Jimmy M. Skaggs. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1986. Pp. xiii + 263; illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $28.50. In terms of production technology as well as distribution and mar­ keting developments, the meat-packers have been important inno­ vators. They were the most influential segment of the food-processing industries. Over the past decade, America’s meat-packing industry has drawn renewed attention from historians. Two recent books de­ serve special note, Margaret Walsh’s The Rise of the Midwestern Meat Packing Industry and Mary Yeager’s Competition and Regulation: The De­ velopment of Oligopoly in the Meat Packing Industry. While Walsh and Yeager limited themselves to particular issues and time periods,Jimmy Skaggs has a more ambitious scope. Moving from 1607 to 1983, Prime Cut covers both livestock raising and meat-packing, in chronological fashion, moving back and forth between the two. In the opening pages, Skaggs discusses the colonial period, then traces the gradual movement of the livestock industry into the Ohio territory and beyond. By the 1810s, cattle drives were moving animals from the western frontier to slaughtering operations in coastal cities such as Baltimore and New York. Looking across the continent, Skaggs reviews the antebellum livestock trade in California and Texas. On the meat-packing side, the most interesting details concern the sani­ tary problems and political wrangling generated by slaughtering and packing operations in metropolitan centers like New York. Viewed as a necessary evil at best, these operations were regulated from an early point and were constantly pushed toward the outlying sections of the city. In analyzing the period between the Civil War and World War I, Skaggs focuses on two developments: cattle raising on the western plains and the rise of the large midwestern packing firms such as Swift and Armour. Strangely enough, though, he insists that the role of western operations in the nation’s cattle production has been consis­ tently overstated. Unfortunately, little evidence is offered to support this argument. While the story of Swift, Armour, Hammond, and the other Chicago-area meat-packers is a familiar one, most readers should find this an interesting tale. Resistance to the introduction of chilled beef was widespread; not only the railroads opposed it, so did cattle­ men and butchers. In an attempt to blunt some of the opposition, Swift continued to ship both cattle and chilled meat. Skaggs also out­ lines the emergence of oligopoly within the industry and reviews the story of organized labor in the packing houses. The final chapters of this work are the weakest, often lacking any apparent focus. Skaggs discusses the slump in the market during the 1920s and 1930s and the decline of the Big Four packing firms after 146 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE the Second World War. The rise of companies such as Iowa Beef Processors and Excel, with their low labor costs, modern plants, and boxed meat, has established a new order in the packing industry. However, the author concludes, these newcomers may soon constitute a new oligopoly. For those seeking an overview of America’s red meat industry, Prime Cut offers a good starting point. Although I am enthusiastic about Skaggs’s effort to integrate so much material, I have two serious res­ ervations about his book. On the technical side, the references are far too spartan. The few existing footnotes do little to enlighten us about the sources or suggest differences in viewpoint. This greatly dimin­ ishes the book’s value as a research tool for other scholars. And interpretively , Prime Cut would have benefited from a tighter focus and a sharper sense of the underlying themes. A good conclusion could have tied the story together. In a broad synthesis of this nature, the unifying threads ought to be clearly identified. Mark Wildf. Dr. Wilde, a former Hagley Fellow, recently completed a dissertation on the history of America’s food-processing industries. He is currently a senior economist with the WEFA Group in Philadelphia. Fordson, Farmall, and Poppin’ Johnny: A History of the Farm Tractor and Its Impact on America. By Robert C. Williams...

Virucidal Effectiveness of Flexible Pouch Processing of Meat Products Prepared from Foot‐and‐Mouth Disease‐Affected Cattle

ABSTRACTThermal processing of ground beef, beef cubes or beef slices in commercially popular flexible pouches, effectively inactivated foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) virus that had resulted from infection of cattle. Cooking the meat products at 75°C for 20 min or 80°C for 15 min was virucidal; however, FMD virus survived in ground beef products processed for shorter time periods and/or at lower temperatures. The processing schema described were limited to 200g samples of these meat products. Postmortem decrease of pH due to electrical stimulation of carcasses inactivated the virus in skeletal muscle but not in lymph mode tissue.

Input Substitution and the Distribution of Surplus Gains from Lower U.S. Beef‐Processing Costs

AbstractAnalysis of a switch from boxed beef to tray‐ready beef processing demonstrates that limited substitution between farm and nonfarm inputs has a significant impact on the distribution of surplus gains. A two‐input, two‐output (beef and by‐products) industry model was specified. Technical change was modeled as a shift in marketing input supply. This approach yields equivalent results to a demand increase from biased technical change. Using an estimated elasticity of substitution of 0.1 and parameter values from previous studies, the results indicate cattle producers would receive either 57% or 72% of surplus gains depending upon whether input substitution occurs.

Total Caloric Input of a Thermal Process as an Index of Lethality for Foot‐and‐Mouth Disease Virus

ABSTRACTBecause significant quantities of foot‐and‐mouth disease virus undetectable by cell culture infectivity assay can persist in infected tissues throughout thermal processing, classical methods for measuring virus inactivation are difficult to achieve. This study was undertaken to observe the lethality of a given process rather than determining a constant for process time for a given lethality. Thermal diffusivities (α) and one‐dimensional heat flux (Q) were determined for three thermal processes used in processing of beef and pork products. Foot‐and‐mouth disease virus survived in ground beef cooked in flexible nylon thermal processing tubes to core temperatures of 63°C (892 kcal/ m2) in 1.2 hr and 71.2°C (1004 kcal/m2) in 1.45 hr; however, the virus did not survive after processing to a core temperature of 79.4°C (1363 kcal/m2) in 2.0 hr.

CALCULATION of an APPROXIMATE COOLING CURVE FOR COOKED ROAST BEEF1

ABSTRACTOn June 1, 1983, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a final regulation regarding cooking and cooling requirements for roast beef. This regulation includes a specification of the time that the cooked roast may be exposed to temperatures in the range 120°F (332K) and 55°F (285.93K), no more than 6h, and that chilling must continue until the center temperature reaches 40°F (277.6K) before packaging. the purpose of this work was to suggest means by which processors may estimate these temperature limits. Several measured temperature profiles at the center of the roasts were obtained from beef processors, h was found that the measured temperatures obtained during the cooling of cooked roasts by ice water, may be predicted satisfactorily by methods described in this paper. Cooling with cold air introduces a boundary layer resistance to heat transfer and possibly also mass transfer because of potential evaporation of water. However, in this latter case further investigation is needed to determine its effect on the cooling of moist food products; the use of heat transfer considerations alone gave reasonable agreement with measurement in this particular instance. It appears that ice water velocities should be kept in excess of about 0.076 m/s to ensure that minimal surface resistance to heat transfer occurs during cooling; ice water velocities in the order of 0.15 m/s seem to lead to excellent cooling conditions.

Post-mortem processing of export beef in Costa Rica

Eighteen intact male beef animals of 2 1 2 to 3 years of age, weighing 400–425 kg and fed entirely on rangelands grass, were slaughtered in a Costa Rican export plant. Six animals each were assigned to: low-voltage stimulation (75V), high-voltage stimulation (350V) and control. Hot-boning coupled with various chilling rates was also investigated. Mean muscle pH values for all treatment groups were above 6·4 at 1 1 2 h after slaughter, which may be related to the fact the animals were intact males which had been exposed to stressful conditions prior to slaughter. Palatability traits measured were tenderness, juiciness, flavor and overall desirability. With the exception of tenderness, there were no significant differences among electrical stimulation or chill treatments, and there were no interactions. The low-voltage electrical-stimulation treatment produced less tender meat ( P<0·05) than the high-voltage treatment, but there was no significant difference compared to the control. In an attempt to explain the finding that electrical stimulation had little or no effect on tenderness, the data were inspected in regard to ultimate pH. The panel score for samples with an ultimate pH less than 6 was 3·27, and for samples with a pH higher than 6 it was 5·70. A possible explanation is to suggest that the high-pH group underwent appreciable neutral proteolytic enzyme activity compared to the low-pH group.

Hanging tongues: A sociological encounter with the assembly line

This study reflects approximately nine weeks of participant observation on an assembly line in the slaughter division of a large beef processing plant in the Midwest. Couched within a symbolic interactionist perspective, it focuses on the day-to-day activities of assembly line workers. It examines the sociological aspects of the workers' interaction on the job, how they coped with the danger, strain, and monotony of the work, and how they developed consumer spending norms which virtually trapped them in the plant. It also examines how the workers attempted to maintain their sense of self-worth despite the demeaning and dehumanizing aspects of their jobs.

Influence of Postmortem Changes in Bovine Muscle on the Water‐Holding Capacity of Beef. Postmortem Storage of Muscle at Various Temperatures Between 0 and 30°C

ABSTRACTBovine neck muscles were incubated between 0° and 30°C soon after slaughter. At different times postmortem biochemical and physical parameters and cooking loss in homogenates with or without salt were measured. The rate of pH fall in muscle depends on the incubation temperature. At 0.5°C the pH drops fast at first, leveling off afterwards but between 7° and 14°C there is an initial lag period of 2‐3 hr. At 30°C no lag phase occurs. The increased rate of postmortem metabolism at 0.5°C is accompanied by cold shortening which occurs before onset of rigor and is followed by little rigor shortening. Above 16°C rigor shortening increases with rising temperature without prerigor contraction. Neither shortening nor development of rigor have an immediate influence of WHC of muscle and unsalted muscle homogenates; the small decrease of WHC postmortem is due to pH fall only and independent of temperature. Salted homogenates prepared from muscles at different time postmortem show above pH 6.0 a similar relationship between pH and WHC. At the onset of rigor mortis (pH 5.9), however, the WHC of the salted homogenate decreases strongly. The practical consequences of these results with regard to processing of beef are discussed.

Factors affecting inactivation of Moraxella-Acinetobacter cells in an irradiation process.

The effect of various stages of the irradiation processing of beef on the injury and inactivation of radiation-resistant Moraxella-Acinetobactor cells was studied. Moraxella-Acinetobacter cells were more resistant to heat inactivation and injury when heated in meat with salts (0.75% NaCl and 0.375% sodium tripolyphosphate) then in meat without salts. These salts had no effect on radiation resistance. Both radiation- and heat-injured cells were unable to form colonies at 30 degrees C in plate count agar containing 0.8% NaCl. Neither unstressed nor heat-stressed cells were able to multiply in minced beef incubated at 30 degrees C for 12 h. Only after the beef was diluted 1:10 with peptone water were the heat-injured cells able to repair and eventually multiply. Heated cells were more sensitive to radiation inactivation and injury than unheated cells. After repair, the cells regained their resistance to both NaCl and irradiation. Freezing and storage at -40 degrees C for 14 days had only a slight effect on either unstressed or heat-stressed cells.

Study II: Electrically stimulated and hot-processed beef--color and eating qualities (1980)

Hot processing is gaining increased interest in the beef processing industry today because of the previously mentioned processing efficiencies and economic advantages. This study examined the color and eating characteristics of electrically stimulated hot-processed beef compared with beef conventionally chilled and processed.

THE COMBINED EFFECT OF ELECTRICAL STIMULATION AND BLADE TENDERIZATION ON SOME BOVINE MUSCLES

The electrical stimulation (ES) period was a very important factor determining the tenderness of three bovine muscles: Biceps femoris (BF), Longissimus dorsi (LD), and Semimembranosus (SM). Tenderness (shear force values) increased in most cases with increasing the ES period. An ES period of 15 min was optimal for obtaining a tenderness equal to that obtained by conventional processing of beef. The shortest ES period used (1 min) was adequate in most cases to set the muscles in rigor mortis and in preventing cold shortening. The tenderness of blade tenderized muscles was in most cases independent from the ES period. Blade tenderization was very effective to tenderize the BF muscle followed in decreasing order of efficacy by the LD and SM muscles. The cooking times and cooking losses of the three muscles were not affected by either the ES period or by blade tenderization.

Microbiology of beef processing

Microbiology of beef processing

Microbiology of beef processing

Abstract The microbiological quality of beef prepared in a number of meatworks, using both on-the-rail and cradle flaying systems, has been evaluated. The results indicate that there is little difference between the two systems in producing beef of high microbiological quality. Much of the contamination occurs during flaying, and a high proportion of the organisms appear to be of soil origin. Cleanliness of stock before slaughter is necessary to reduce contamination, and during flaying care should be taken to prevent the freed portions of the hide from flapping and spreading contamination on to the carcass.

HEAT PROCESSING OF BEEF. V. TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS DURING PROCESSING OF BEEF AT HIGH RETORT TEMPERATURESa

Journal of Food ScienceVolume 20, Issue 5 p. 399-414 HEAT PROCESSING OF BEEF. V. TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS DURING PROCESSING OF BEEF AT HIGH RETORT TEMPERATURESa H. HURWICZ, H. HURWICZ The Trane Company, La Crosse, Wisconsin Formerly of Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa.Search for more papers by this authorR. G. TISCHER, R. G. TISCHER The Quartermaster Food and Container Institute for the Armed Forces, Chicago, Illinois Formerly of Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa.Search for more papers by this author H. HURWICZ, H. HURWICZ The Trane Company, La Crosse, Wisconsin Formerly of Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa.Search for more papers by this authorR. G. TISCHER, R. G. TISCHER The Quartermaster Food and Container Institute for the Armed Forces, Chicago, Illinois Formerly of Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa.Search for more papers by this author First published: September 1955 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1955.tb16851.xCitations: 6 a Journal Paper J-2745 of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project 1123. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume20, Issue5September 1955Pages 399-414 RelatedInformation