Benchmarking Muscles from Various Commercially Available Cow Carcasses

1
Benchmarking Muscles from Various Commercially
Available Cow Carcasses A.M. Stelzleni1, D.D.
Johnson1, C.R. Calkins2, L.E. Mink2, and B.L.
Gwartney3 1University of Florida, Gainesville,
FL 2University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 3National
Cattlemens Beef Association, Centennial, CO

• Objective
• Compare and benchmark various muscles from the
  chuck, loin and round from beef and dairy cows on
  supplemental and non-supplemental feed to
  A-maturity, USDA Select grade beef muscles.

Figure 1. Main effect least square means of
sensory attributes from the five groupsa

• Introduction
• Need to determine how muscles from top-tier beef
  and dairy cows compare to muscles from
  A-maturity, USDA Select grade muscles.
• With a low supply of intermediate steak cuts, can
  muscles from top-tier beef and dairy cows
  supplement low volume intermediate steak needs.

e
e
e
e
e
f
e
f
f
f
f
f
g
f
g

• Materials and Methods
• Groups Five groups of carcasses were
  commercially identified (n15 each) from lots of
  cattle designated beef-not fed (B-NF), beef-fed
  (B-F), dairy-not fed (D-NF), dairy-fed (D-F), and
  A-maturity, USDA Select grade (SEL) carcasses as
  a control (Table 1).
• Muscles Nine muscles were excised from each
  carcass for use in this study including gluteus
  medius (GLM), infraspinatus (INF), longissimus
  dorsi (LOD), psoas major (PSO), rectus femoris
  (REF), tensor fascia latae (TFL), teres major
  (TEM), triceps brachii long head (TRL), and
  triceps brachii lateral head (TRM).
• Sensory and WBS Steaks were cut from the
  anterior end, and across the grain of the muscle
  for both Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBS)
  determination and sensory panel evaluation
  (overall tenderness, beef intensity flavor, and
  off-flavor) . Steaks were stored at -40C until
  WBS and sensory evaluation was conducted. All
  steaks were thawed for 18 hours at 2 to 4C,
  broiled on Farberware Open-Hearth broilers to an
  internal temperature of 71C, being turned once.
  Sensory evaluation and WBS were conducted as
  outlined in AMSA, 1995.
• Statistics Least squares, mixed procedures of
  SAS (2003) were used to analyze these data.
  Treatment (group) and muscle were the main
  effects, all interactions were explored.

b
c
d
aRefer to materials and methods b1Extremely
tough, 2very tough, 3moderately tough,
4slightly tough, 5slightly tender, 6moderately
tender, 7very tender, 8extremely
tender c1Extremely bland, 2very bland,
3moderately bland, 4slightly bland, 5slightly
intense, 6moderately intense, 7very intense,
8extremely intense d1Extreme off-flavor,
2strong off-flavor, 3moderate off-flavor,
4slight off-flavor, 5threshold, 6none
detected efgMeans in the same column having
different superscripts are significant at p
Figure 2. Main effect least square means for
sensory attributes for the nine musclesa sampled
Table 1. Least square means of carcass
characteristics for the groupsa
e
e
f
f
f
f
f
f
f
g
e
e
f
f
g
g
g
f
h
h
g
i
g
g
g
g
h
b
c
d
aRefer to materials and methods b1Extremely
tough, 2very tough, 3moderately tough,
4slightly tough, 5slightly tender, 6moderately
tender, 7very tender, 8extremely
tender c1Extremely bland, 2very bland,
3moderately bland, 4slightly bland, 5slightly
intense, 6moderately intense, 7very intense,
8extremely intense d1Extreme off-flavor,
2strong off-flavor, 3moderate off-flavor,
4slight off-flavor, 5threshold, 6none
detected efghiMeans in the same column having
different superscripts are significant at p
aB-NFbeef-not fed, B-Fbeef-fed, D-NFdairy-not
fed, D-Fdairy-fed, SELA-maturity, USDA Select
grade beef. b1 white, 2 creamy white, 3
slightly yellow, 4 moderately yellow, 5
yellow c1 extremely dark red, 2 dark red, 3
moderately dark red, 4 slightly dark
cherry-red, 5 slightly bright cherry-red, 6
moderately bright cherry-red, 7 bright
cherry-red, 8 extremely bright cherry- red d1
light-, 2 light0, 3 light, 4 medium-, 5
medium0, 6 medium, 7 heavy-, 8 heavy0, 9
heavy eSl slight, Mt modest, Sm small, Md
moderate fghiMeans in the same row having
different superscripts are significant at P 0.05 level
Figure 3. Least square means of Warner-Bratzler
shear force for groupa by musclea interaction
b
b
b
e
b
c
b
b
c
c
c
b
c
b
c
d
b
b
c
c
b
b
d
c
c

• Results
• All groups were less tender than SEL, B-NF being
  the least tender.
• All groups had higher beef flavor intensity
  scores than SEL carcasses.
• All groups had more off-flavor than was noted for
  muscles from Select carcasses (Figure 1).
• PSO was the most tender muscle tested (similar to
  TEM), while GLM was the least tender muscle
  tested.
• Beef flavor intensity was similar for most
  muscles.
• REF had the lowest incidence of off-flavor while
  TRM, PSO and GLM exhibited the highest incidence
  off-flavor (Figure 2).
• B-NF had the highest WBS values for all muscles,
  SEL carcasses had the lowest WBS values of all
  groups (Figure 3).

b
b
b
d
b
d
b
c
b
d
c
c
c
b
b
c
b
c
b
b
d
aRefer to materials and methods bcdMeans in the
same column having different superscripts are
significant at p

• Conclusion
• Beef from B-F, D-NF, D-F were more similar to SEL
  carcasses than were B-NF and could be used in
  value-added applications.

• References
• AMSA, 1995. Research guidelines for cookery,
  sensory evaluation, and instrumental tenderness
  measurements of fresh meat. Am. Meat Sci. Assoc.
  and Nat. Live Stock and Meat Board.

Contact Information Alex Stelzleni
stelzleni_at_animal.ufl.edu
Acknowledgements This project is funded in part
by beef producers and importers through their
1-per head checkoff and was produced for the
Cattlemens Beef Board and state beef councils by
the National Cattlemens Beef Association.