MLA Newsletters
The following Meat Technology Updates and Information Sheets cover eating quality topics.
There appears to be increased interest in Australia in dry ageing, especially for the high quality restaurant market where premium cuts from grain-fed cattle of the Angus and Wagyu breeds are often used.
It appears that Hormone Growth Promotants treatment of cattle can result in measurable reductions in palatability of beef, especially in the case of cattle with a significant Brahman content. There are several options that the processor can take to ensure acceptable eating quality of the meat from implanted cattle.
A range of new electrical technologies is helping Australian processors deliver better quality sheepmeat.
Development of a brown colour in fresh meat occurs as a result of oxidation of the pigment myoglobin to metmyoglobin. Other undesirable colours and appearances are describe in this issue.
This article gives some realistic expectations for display life, discusses the basis for meat colour and some reasons for premature loss of bloom.
Carcase fat palys an important role in many areas of meat quality. Surface fat prevents rapid chilling of the underlying muscle tissues, thereby reducing the likelihood of cold-shortening and reducing weight loss during chilling.
Toughness is linked to five major factors - advancing age of the animal, 'cold shortening' (the muscle-fibre contraction that can occur during chilling), animal stress (unfavourable meat acidity - pH), ageing and breed. This update primarilt discusses Tenderstretch, which is used to prevent cold shortening.
Hot boning of beef and sheep carcases has distince advantages over cold boning. However, there are also perceived disadvantages of hot boning; for instance the potential for the meat to be tough, darker in colour and for some primals to be difference in shape.
In the interests of animal welfare and beef quality, it is essential that effective management strategies be implemented to minimise adverse pre-slaughter effects.
While live animal factors (animal age, nutrition, breed, pre-slaughter stress) often have a marked effect on beef eating quality, in many cases the treatment of the carcase on the slaughter floor and in the chiller can have a far greater effect.
The production of beef that satisfies or, better still, exceeds the consumer's expectations with regard to eating quality is central to the industry's future. The purpose of this update is to provide an overview of beef eating quality and the critical control points in any production pathway that can impact on quality.
Good animal handling is essential if one is to achieve meat of an ultimate pH of 5.7 or less, and prevent dark cutting meat and bruising. In order to design efficient systems for handling of animals at a meatworks one needs to understand how the animal perceives its environment.
The production factors covered in this newsletter include: within and between breed variation, sex, fatness, age and nutrition and growth path.
Although there are conflicting scientific studies about colour relevant to eating quality, it is the colour of meat that first influences the potential customer and also affects the judgement of wholesale and institutional purchasers. It is therefore necessary to have an understanding of the variations in meat colour and how it is affected by various conditiond and handling practices.
Almost all consumers who buy sheep meat expect it to be tender and flavoursome. Meat quality can be improved by careful selection of pastures, correct pre-slaughter handling and carcase processing.
Meat flavour is influenced by on-farm factors such as species, animal age and sex, fat amount and composition, feed tyoe (eg- pasture species and grain ration content) and post-slaughter factors such as chemical taints, bacterial off-flavours and rancid off-flavours that may develop during extended frozen storage. This update deals with chemical and pasture feed taints.
The application of best practice based on research results from the sheep meat eating quality program, including application of electrical stimulation or tenderstretch, has resulted in improved tenderness of lamb purchased by the consumer. Far fewer tough samples are encountered meaning that consumers are less likely to have a poor eating quality experience.
When it comes to defining and assessing meat quality, there is ongoing debate about whether the link between marbling and eating quality is good enough to warrant the costs of achieving extensive marbling. This update investigates some of the factors that affect the development and assessment of marbling as a meat-quality attribute.
As colour is the main factor that determines whether or not meat cuts will be purchased, any deviation from normal may decrease the value of the meat. One problem is the natural occurence of iridesence, which is a rainbow-like or multi-coloured appearance sometimes found in fresh beef muscles and often in cooked meats.
Excessive electrical inputs may effectively over-stimulate carcases and cause a rapid pH decline with undesirable effects on meat-eating quality. Thus, when evaluating the overall effect of an electrical input, it must be considered in conjunction with all other electrical inputs being applied to the carcase.
This newsletter discusses factors that can affect the visual appearance of meat characteristics and contribute to variations in grading scores of marbling and meat colour.
This article briefly discusses the mechanism of drip formation in meat tissue and its eventual accumulation at the surface. It also considers a number of factors that people have demonstrated or implicated as contributors to drip loss.
Recently is has been recognised that inappropriate application of electrical stimulation can actually contribute to toughening and changes in colour and texture similar to that observed in PSE pork.