Fresh Beef Cuts Research Articles

Proteomic approaches to characterize biochemistry of fresh beef color

Color of retail fresh beef is the most important quality influencing the consumers' purchase decisions at the point of sale. Discolored fresh beef cuts are either discarded or converted to low-value products, before the microbial quality is compromised, resulting in huge economic loss to meat industry. The interinfluential interactions between myoglobin, small biomolecules, proteome, and cellular components in postmortem skeletal muscles govern the color stability of fresh beef. This review examines the novel applications of high-throughput tools in mass spectrometry and proteomics to elucidate the fundamental basis of these interactions and to explain the underpinning mechanisms of fresh beef color. Advanced proteomic research indicates that a multitude of factors endogenous to skeletal muscles critically influence the biochemistry of myoglobin and color stability in fresh beef. Additionally, this review highlights the potential of muscle proteome components and myoglobin modifications as novel biomarkers for fresh beef color. SignificanceThis review highlights the important role of muscle proteome in fresh beef color, which is the major trait impacting consumers’ purchase decisions. In recent years, innovative approaches in proteomics have been exploited for an in-depth understanding of the biochemical mechanisms influencing color development and color stability in fresh beef. The review suggests that a wide range of factors, including endogenous skeletal muscle components, can affect myoglobin biochemistry and color stability in beef. Furthermore, the potential use of muscle proteome components and myoglobin post-translational modifications as biomarkers for fresh beef color is discussed. The currently available body of evidence presented in this review can have important implications in meat industry as it provides novel insights into the factors influencing fresh beef color and an up-to-date list of biomarkers that can be used to predict beef color quality.

Chitosan Coating Functionalized with Flaxseed Oil and Green Tea Extract as a Bio-Based Solution for Beef Preservation.

Ecological and safe packaging solutions arise as pivotal points in the development of an integrated system for sustainable meat production. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a combined chitosan (Ch) + green tea extract (GTE) + essential oil (thyme oil, TO; flaxseed oil, FO; or oregano oil, OO) coating on the safety and quality of vacuum-packaged beef during storage at 4 °C. An optimized bio-based coating formulation was selected (2% Ch + 2% GTE + 0.1% FO) to be applied to three fresh beef cuts (shoulder, Sh; knuckle, Kn; Striploin, St) based on its pH (5.8 ± 0.1), contact angle (22.3 ± 0.4°) and rheological parameters (viscosity = 0.05 Pa.s at shear rate > 20 s-1). Shelf-life analysis showed that the Ch-GTE-FO coating delayed lipid oxidation and reduced total viable counts (TVC) and Enterobacteriaceae growth compared with uncoated beef samples over five days. In addition, Ch-GTE-FO coating decreased total color changes of beef samples (e.g., ∆E* = 9.84 and 3.94, for non-coated and coated Kn samples, respectively) for up to five days. The original textural parameters (hardness, adhesiveness and springiness) of beef cuts were maintained during storage when Ch-GTE-FO coating was applied. Based on the physicochemical and microbial characterization results, the combination of the Ch-GTE-FO coating developed was effective in preserving the quality of fresh beef cuts during refrigerated storage along with vacuum packaging.

Reducing Pathogenic Escherichia coli Surrogates on Fresh Beef Cuts by Water-Reducing Antimicrobial Interventions

Water use for antimicrobial intervention application for beef harvest has come under increased scrutiny in recent years in an effort to enhance water conservation during beef harvest and fabrication. We determined the efficacy of beef safety interventions for reducing surrogates of the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) on beef cuts while lowering intervention-purposed water use for a small or very small beef establishment. Beef briskets, shoulder/clods, and rounds were inoculated with a gelatin-based slurry containing 6.8 ± 0.3 log CFU/g of nonpathogenic E. coli. After 30 min of attachment, inoculated cuts were treated by conventional lactic acid spray (2.5%, 55°C), lactic acid delivered by an electrostatic spray (2.5%, 55°C) handheld wand, hot water spray (82°C), or recycled hot water spray (82°C), wherein previously applied hot water was collected, thermally pasteurized to 82°C, or left untreated. One hundred milliliters of each treatment was sprayed onto marked surfaces of inoculated cuts, after which time surviving surrogate E. coli were enumerated. Lactic acid spray and electrostatic spray treatments produced greater reductions (1.0 to 1.1 log CFU/300 cm2) than hot water interventions (0.3 to 0.5 log CFU/300 cm2) (P ≤ 0.0001). Recycling of water reduced water losses by no less than 45% on recycled hot water spray-treated beef cuts. Low water beef safety interventions offer small and very small inspected beef establishments opportunities to incrementally reduce water use during intervention application, but not necessarily without loss of pathogen reduction efficacy.

Antibacterial activity of soy edible coatings incorporated with thyme and oregano essential oils on beef against pathogenic bacteria.

Inhibitory effects of soy-protein edible coatings incorporated with 1, 2, or 3% of thyme or oregano essential oils (EOs) were determined against Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EC), Listeria monocytogenes (LM), and Staphylococcus aureus (SA) in vitro and on fresh beef during refrigerated storage for 14days. The soy-protein coatings with oregano and thyme EOs exhibited similar antimicrobial activity against the test bacteria. Greater antimicrobial activity of soy edible coatings was demonstrated against SA when 3% of EOs were added. Coatings with 3% thyme and oregano EOs exhibited 2.86 and 2.59, 1.97 and 1.90, and 1.87 and 1.83 log CFU/g reductions in SA, LM, and EC populations, respectively, as compared with the control by Day 14. This study demonstrated that application of edible coatings containing oregano and thyme EOs on fresh beef cuts could have a potential for controlling pathogenic bacteria and enhancing color stability with acceptable sensory characteristics.

Retail Meat Case Survey-2015

ObjectivesMeat retail space throughout the US is an ever-changing area of the modern supermarket. The objective of this survey was to further investigate the retail trends of the fresh meat case across the US.Materials and MethodsNational and regional supermarkets and club stores (n = 114) were surveyed from April to August 2015. Two trained auditors visited each store between the hours of 9 AM and 7 PM, with the typical audit lasting 2 h. Retail self-service cases were evaluated for the percentage of space allocated to fresh meat of various species (whole muscle beef, ground beef, pork, veal, lamb, chicken, and turkey). Five regions were represented across the U.S.:: northeast (NE), southeast (SE), midwest (MW), southwest (SW), west coast (WC). The following traits were recorded for each stock keeping unit (SKU): Species, Region, Natural (NAT), Organic (ORG), Case Ready (CR), and packaging type. NAT, ORG, and CR were recorded as either yes or no, based on the presence of NAT or ORG labeling, or the presence of a USDA mark of inspection containing an establishment number indicating CR. Data were summarized using R: A language and environment for statistical computing (version: “Fire Safety” 3.2.2).ResultsAcross the United States 15,136 SKU were evaluated. Thirty percent of SKU’s was represented by beef, and chicken was the second most prevalent at 22%. The SW region had the highest percentage (34.4%) of beef in the case, while the MW had the lowest prevalence (28.3%) of beef. Chicken presence was very consistent across the MW, SE, and SW (22.3, 22.2, and 22.0%, respectively) with the NE higher at 25.0% and the WC on the lower end at 20.2%. Ground beef prevalence was more variable, with a range from 9.4% in the NE and 13.35 in the MW. There was nearly a 5% difference from the greatest pork presence in a region (SE, 24.7%) to the lowest (SW, 20.1%).Natural labeling varied by species across the US. Over 50% of chicken and turkey SKU’s were labeled as NAT (62.6 and 51.7%, respectively). The majority of beef, ground beef, and pork packaging did not carry a natural labeling claim (89.4, 67.6, and 77.2%, respectively). Organic labeling claims were much less prevalent than NAT. Of the species audited, ORG labeling was observed most often in chicken (7.8%), followed by ground beef (5.4%). Case ready was most common with poultry products, as 93% of chicken and 97.2% of turkey was CR. Ground beef was also commonly found packaged as CR (71.7%) The only species that had a majority of store packaged product was fresh beef cuts (64.0%).Packaging type was another trait evaluated at all stores. PVC overwrap with a foam tray was the most common (42.2%) packaging type across the US. Most chicken (58.6%) was packaged in SSD/SES packages which contributed to 15.5% SKU’s evaluated. Rollstock packaging was the third most used (12.3%) packaging type in the US. Rollstock was most commonly used for pork packaging rollstock (17%).ConclusionThe data in this study in a small snapshot of retailers’ stocking trends. Overall the data is suggesting that an increasing amount of meat in self-service retail cases is case ready. The level of organic products remain below 4% on average, but has still made substantial gains since the last audit. PVC overwrap still remains the preferred package by retailers, but varies by species. More research and education needs to be completed to improve the efficiency of this packaging type to help reduce product waste.

Effectiveness of a polyamide film releasing lactic acid on the growth of E. coli O157:H7, Enterobacteriaceae and Total Aerobic Count on vacuum-packed beef

The suitability of a polyamide 6 monolayer film containing lactic acid for use as an antimicrobial package for fresh beef cuts was studied. The release of lactic acid in an aqueous environment was immediate (within 1h) and was from approx. 55μglactic acid/cm2 film at 0–8°C to approx. 67μglactic acid/cm2 film at 12–20°C. Beef was contaminated with an Escherichia coli O157:H7 isolate with known minimum inhibitory concentration against lactic acid (0.09% v/v), then wrapped with the lactic-acid polyamide film and vacuum packaged. During storage at 12°C, the numbers of E. coli were 1 log unit lower than that of a control (untreated polyamide film) and decreased by an additional 1 log during storage for 14days.

Comparison of results of sensory and chemical and physico-chemical investigations of fresh chilled beef packaged in vacuum during storage in retail conditions

Vacuum packaging of fresh meat can contribute to prolonged shelf-life, slower chemical changes in meat, and maintaining of desirable sensoric properties. The main goal of this work was the comparative examination of sensory and chemical properties relevant for oxidative and hidrolytic changes of cooled fresh beef cuts (m.quadriceps femoris) in vacuum packaging, and the determination of interdependence of hydrolytical and oxidative changes regarding to sensory characteristics. The beef flank cuts taken from primal cuts (quarters) of 3 Simmental steers (average weight of 400 kg; one steer per testing cycle) after slaughtering, dressing and cooling were taken for the experiment. Cutting and packaging in vacuum thermo-shrinkable multilayered bags was performed in the industrial meat establishment, within 40 hours after slaughtering. The vacuum packaged beef cut samples were stored under controlled temperature conditions (0-2°C) in refrigerated retail show case. During the night, samples were removed from show case and stored in cold storage room in the same establishment (0-4°C). This method was repeated as daily routine during examination period. Sensory and chemical examination dynamics was set as: day 1 (immediately after packaging), days 15, 21 and 28 in each particular testing cycle (3). Sensory properties were evaluated by using quantitative-descriptive test, on a scale of 1 to 5. The following properties were evaluated: appearance of meat, the colour of meat surface, the colour of meat intersection, structure, texture, smell of the fresh meat, smell of the meat after cooking, taste of the meat after cooking and roasting. The examined chemical properties indicating oxidative and hydrolytic changes were: acid value, peroxide number, TBA test (test with thiobarbituric acid to determinate malonaldehide content), TVB-N (total volatile basic nitrogen), aw (water activity value) and pH. Sensory and chemical qualities of vacuum packaged beef flank under established storage conditions were acceptable in all three testing cycles, ending with the 21st day. In the first and second cycle, in most cases, there were confirmed medium to strong correlations of all examined chemical parameters with the sensoric characteristics of beef. In the third cycle, the registered above mentioned correlations between chemical parameters and sensory properties were classified as negative weak correlations.

A Review on Some Organic Acids Additives as Shelf Life Extenders of Fresh Beef Cuts

This study was aiming to present some approaches by which the shelf life of fresh beef cuts was extended. These approaches were based on using organic acids. Therefore the work was started with highlighting the deterioration of some quality attributes due to spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. These attributes included colour, flavour and lipid oxidation changes. In a given holding temperature, the deterioration are controlled by three major factors, they are pH, water activity and microbial growth. The four organic acids approaches (citric, lactic, acetic and tartaric) were presented as fresh beef shelf life extenders due to their abilities to decrease the pH and antimicrobial effects. The pros and cons of these approaches as well as the latest published researches were stressed at the end of this review. This information helps the researchers and gives them the motivation to develop new superior approach.

Microbiological Status of Fresh Beef Cuts

Fresh beef samples (n = 1,022) obtained from two processing plants in the Midwest (July to December 2003) were analyzed for levels of microbial populations (total aerobic plate count, total coliform count, and Escherichia coli count) and for the presence or absence of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella. A fresh beef cut sample was a 360-g composite of 6-g portions excised from the surface of 60 individual representative cuts in a production lot. Samples of fresh beef cuts yielded levels of 4.0 to 6.2, 1.1 to 1.8, and 0.8 to 1.0 log CFU/g for total aerobic plate count, total coliform count, and E. coli count, respectively. There did not appear to be substantial differences or obvious trends in bacterial populations on different cuts. These data may be useful in establishing a baseline or a benchmark of microbiological levels of contamination of beef cuts. Mean incidence rates of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella on raw beef cuts were 0.3 and 2.2%, respectively. Of the 1,022 samples analyzed, cuts testing positive for E. coli O157:H7 included top sirloin butt (0.9%) and butt, ball tip (2.1%) and for Salmonella included short loins (3.4%), strip loins (9.6%), rib eye roll (0.8%), shoulder clod (3.4%), and clod, top blade (1.8%). These data provide evidence of noticeable incidence of pathogens on whole muscle beef and raise the importance of such contamination on product that may be mechanically tenderized. Levels of total aerobic plate count, total coliform count, and E. coli count did not (P ≥ 0.05) appear to be associated with the presence of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella on fresh beef cuts. E. O157:H7 was exclusively isolated from cuts derived from the sirloin area of the carcass. Salmonella was exclusively isolated from cuts derived from the chuck, rib, and loin areas of the carcass. Results of this study suggest that contamination of beef cuts may be influenced by the region of the carcass from which they are derived.

ESTIMATE OF THE SHELF‐LIFE OF BEEF UNDER VACUUM PACKAGING BY OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE MEASUREMENTS

Abstract This work was carried out in order to establish variables which would be useful to estimate the shelf‐life of vacuum packaged beef from the Pirenaica breed. This breed is the main source of beef meat in the Spanish West Pyrenees. Two different fresh beef cuts (rib and chuck) samples were evaluated for total fatty acid composition, pH, lipid oxidation (TBA values), total bacterial counts (APC), Enterobacteriaceae counts and by sensory evaluation after 15 and 30 day under vacuum and then after 3 days of display. The variables that contributed to separating the storage periods determining the shelf‐life of vacuum packaged beef were TBA, APC, Enterobacteriaceae counts and the sensory variables of color, odor and overall appearance.

CHANGES IN THE PALATABILITY OF BEEF CHUCK MUSCLES WITH THE ADDITION OF SODIUM LACTATE AND SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE1

ABSTRACTAn increase in the utilization of certain muscles from the beef chuck may require processing methods to improve tenderness, juiciness, flavor and retain retail display characteristics of fresh cuts. The Supraspinatus (SSP), Infraspinatus (INF), Rhomboideus/Splenus (RMB), Complexus (CMP) and Triceps Brachii (TRB) were removed from 30 beef two‐piece chucks and injected with four different solutions to examine the effect on tenderness, retail display and palatability. Sodium lactate (2%) and soy protein isolate (2%) were added separately or in combination to a basic brine containing salt (0.5%) and sodium tripolyphosphate (0.3%). One group of muscles was not injected. The addition of sodium lactate yielded values for purge loss, thaw loss and cook loss equivalent (P > 0.05) to steaks not injected. Sodium lactate also increased (P < 0.05) beef flavor intensity, and reduced (P < 0.05) the off‐flavors found with the addition of soy protein. Soy protein was most effective (P < 0.05) for tenderness improvement and tenderness was not enhanced further (P > 0.05) with the addition of sodium lactate to the soy protein solution. Steaks obtained from these muscles, which were injected with a salt, sodium tripolyphosphate, and sodium lactate solution, had increased tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and achieved moisture losses equivalent to fresh beef cuts.

LOSSES IN CONVERTING BEEF ANIMALS TO FRESH MEAT PRODUCTS

Losses in converting live beef animals to fresh beef cuts are reviewed. Pre- and post-slaughter condemnations were calculated to account for the major losses amounting to over 59 million lb of carcass beef and 66 million lb of liver annually. The major causes of carcass condemnations were inflammatory diseases (pneumonia), neoplasms (cancer), septic conditions (abscesses) and degenerative conditions (emaciation), accounting for over 88% of total carcass condemnations. On the other hand, carcass condemnations from infectious diseases, parasitic diseases and from residues (drugs and pesticides) amounted to only 1.7, 0.3 and 0.1% of the total condemnations, respectively. In addition, some 4% of all carcasses lost a major part to condemnation. Other major losses included blood and shrinkage (moisture losses) during chilling and holding. All losses are discussed and procedures for minimizing them are suggested.

LONG‐DISTANCE TRANSOCEANIC SHIPMENTS OF FRESH BEEF

ABSTRACTFresh beef cuts and quarters were shipped from Ellensburg, Wash. to Yokohama, Japan in refrigerated vans with either normal (ambient air) or modified (60% CO2, 25% O2, 15% N2) atmospheres. Packaging treatments involved use of polyvinyl chloride film, calcium alginate coating, cotton stockinettes, polyethylene‐lined boxes and vacuum packages for rounds, chucks, ribs, loins and/or quarters. Use of a 0.02% solution of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) did not affect the terminal condition of beef cuts or quarters. Use of modified atmosphere was associated with significant improvements in overall appearance and desirability of beef cuts and quarters. The best method for protecting fresh beef cuts during long‐distance shipments was vacuum packaging; vacuum packaged cuts were adequately protected from deterioration and weight loss during the 20–21 day shipment. The best system for protecting fresh beef quarters during long‐distance, transoceanic shipments consisted of wrapping with PVC film and transport in a modified atmosphere van; however, quarters treated in this manner were not adequately protected from deterioration and received relatively low appearance ratings.