Ossification score is a better indicator of maturity related changes in eating quality than animal age

Relationships between European carcass evaluation and Meat Standards Australia grading scheme applied to young beef cattle

The European carcass grading scheme (EUROP) places large emphasis on meat yield and therefore on quantitative traits such as carcass conformation and superficial fat coverage. However, it falls short in considering sensory properties and consumer satisfaction. In contrast, the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading scheme considers, among others, animals' ossification, marbling, and ultimate pH as primary indicators of beef eating quality. This study aims to characterize MSA carcass grading scheme applied to the Italian beef production system, considering its significant role in European beef market. The study involved 3204 Charolais, Limousin, and crossbred young bulls and heifers slaughtered in a commercial Italian abattoir. Data collection spanned a broad range of variables, including animal characteristics, MSA traits, and EUROP carcass grading traits. Regardless of the sex of the animal, no significant relationship was observed between MSA traits and EUROP carcass grading scores. Factors such as sex, age, and arrival season at the fattening unit significantly affected most of MSA traits. Females had significantly higher marbling score, and lower ossification score and hump height than males. Animals imported in autumn and winter had significantly lower marbling score, but similar ossification score compared to those imported in spring and summer. Older females had the highest marbling scores. While further research is needed to assess whether the MSA grading scheme can be adapted to all different European rearing systems, results of this study are a prelude to the potential benefits that the MSA grading scheme can bring to the European beef industry.

The effect of humate as a feed additive on feed intake, production, and carcass parameters of Angus steers

Humate may be a valuable livestock feed additive, with potential effects on nutrient utilisation and animal performance. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of K Humate S 100R supplementation on the feed intake, liveweight gain, and carcass parameters of Angus steers. Within individual pens, 40 weaned steers were allocated to four treatment groups (n = 10/potassium humate K Humate S100R, Omnia Specialities Australia) for 100 days. The treatment groups included Group 1, 35 g K Humate S100R/animal/day; Group 2, 70 g K Humate S100R/animal/day; Group 3, 140 g K Humate S100R/animal/day; and Control Group, which were not supplemented with K Humate S100R (0 g K Humate S100R/animal/day). Chemical and mineral composition of the feed ingredients, dry matter intake (DMI), and average daily weight gains were recorded. The steers were slaughtered as a single group at a commercial Australian abattoir. Standard measures for hot standard carcass weight, eye muscle area, fat depth and coverage, marbling, ossification, meat and fat colour, dressing percentage and loin pH values at 24-hour postmortem were recorded. It was found that the steers allocated to Group 2 had higher DMI (P = 0.003) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P < 0.001) compared with those allocated to Group 1 and the Control Group. The MSA marbling score was lowest for steers allocated to the Control Group (P < 0.05) and comparable for those allocated to Groups 1, 2, and 3. Together, these results demonstrate that increased levels of K Humate S100R supplementation improved the carcass quality, via an increase in MSA. However, further research is warranted on the potential effects of humates supplementation on intramuscular fat associated qualities of beef.

Growth and Carcass Characteristics of Beef-Cross-Dairy-Breed Heifers and Steers Born to Different Dam Breeds

Simple Summary

The dairy industry is an important source of animals for the beef industry in New Zealand. Since 1998, the proportion of Friesian–Jersey cows in dairy herds has increased from 19% to 49%. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dam breed on growth and carcass characteristics of beef-cross-dairy-breed progeny born to Friesian, Friesian-cross, Friesian–Jersey and Jersey-cross cows. Dam breed had an effect on all growth traits, as well as carcass weight, fat colour, fat depth, and ossification score. An increase in Jersey genetics in calves retained for beef finishing would result in calves that take a longer time to reach weaning weight and have a lighter carcass and yellower fat.

Abstract

Approximately two thirds of the annual beef kill in New Zealand originates from the dairy industry. The recent increase in Jersey genetics in the dairy herd will inevitably result in an increase in Jersey genetics entering the beef herd from retention of dairy-origin calves for finishing. Limited literature is available on the effect of dam breed on the performance of beef-cross-dairy-breed progeny. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dam breed from dams with varying proportions of Friesian and Jersey genetics on growth traits and carcass characteristics of their 24-month-old beef-cross-dairy-breed heifer and steer progeny. Liveweights of 142 heifers and 203 steers from Friesian (F), Friesian-cross (FX), Friesian–Jersey (FJ) and Jersey-cross (JX) dams were recorded at birth, weaning, as yearlings and at slaughter. Carcass characteristics were also recorded. At each point measured, liveweight was greatest for calves born to F dams. Calves born to F dams took 93 days to reach a weaning weight of 100 kg, whereas those from FX, FJ and JX dams took 99, 101 and 102 days, respectively. Carcass weight was greatest for progeny of F dams (286 kg, compared with 279, 275 and 276 for progeny of FX, FJ and JX dams, respectively). The progeny of JX dams had yellower fat than all other dam breed groups and a greater incidence of excessively yellow fat (fat score ≥ 5).

Bone mineral concentration predicted by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and its relationship with lamb eating quality

Lumbar bone mineral concentration, as predicted by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), may reflect changes in lamb maturity and eating quality. New season (n = 60) and old season (n = 60) lambs were slaughtered and DEXA scanned at a commercial abattoir across 2 kill groups. The second lumbar vertebra was isolated from the spine for determination of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium concentration (mg/g). The loin and rack cuts were collected for consumer sensory grilling and roasting analyses. Mineral concentration was significantly higher in old season lambs within kill group 1 (P < 0.05). DEXA was a positive predictor of phosphorus and calcium concentration, but only when DEXA lean % (P < 0.05) was included in the model. Calcium and phosphorus were significant positive predictors of overall liking scores (P < 0.05), but only for the rack roast. These effects became insignificant when DEXA lean % was included. These results suggest that DEXA values likely reflect changes in both DEXA lean % and bone minerals, and that DEXA lean % was the driver of eating quality, rather than maturity.

Effects of chilling duration on USDA Quality Grade of beef carcasses

Two hundred and nine beef carcasses (BW of 361 ± 53 kg) from crossbred, grain-finished cattle were harvested in a commercial abattoir and subjected to a 96-h spray chilling treatment, conducted at 0 to 3°C in a commercial hot box with a wind speed of 3.1 m/s and 153-lux of fluorescent light. At the 24, 48, 72, and 96 h points of the treatment, the carcasses were analyzed for fatty acid composition, marbling score, core temperature (n = 1), pH, shrinkage, color, and aerobic plate count (n = 50). Carcasses reached 3ºC after 12 to 16 h of chilling. There were minimal changes in shrinkage among time point (-0.4 to 1.2%; P ≤ 0.002), pH (5.56 to 5.69; P ≤ 0.001), and aerobic plate count (APC) (0.1 to 0.7 log; P ˂ 0.001). Initial 24-h grading revealed a grade composition of 21.1% Slight (SL, n = 44), 34.0% Small (SM, n = 71), 17.2% Modest (MT, n = 37), 17.7% Moderate (MD, n = 36), and 10.1% Slightly Abundant (SA, n = 21). With marbling score in numeric values between 200 (Practically Devoid00) and 1100 (Abundant00), carcasses that had SM or greater marbling score at 24 h experienced a deduction of 34 to 60 points by the 96th hour of spray chilling (P ≤ 0.042). Comparatively, the marbling scores of the SL carcasses increased from 442 points at 24 h to 469 points at 96 h. Moreover, SL carcasses had a greater percentage of polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) (P &lt; 0.001). Results indicate that spray chilling for 96 h may slightly increase the marbling score of USDA Select, but has minimal impacts on marbling score of greater USDA quality grades.

Prediction of consumer palatability in beef using visual marbling scores and chemical intramuscular fat percentage

With development of objective technologies that can predict chemical intramuscular fat percentage (IMF%), there is a need to understand the relationships between existing marbling traits, IMF% and eating quality. This study utilised historical carcass data (n = 9641 observations) from the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) industry research dataset and included MSA grading data, chemical IMF% data and weighted composite eating quality scores (MQ4). Several analyses were performed to assess the prediction of MQ4 by MSA marbling, M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum (striploin) IMF% and cut specific IMF%. Results demonstrated that there was similar precision between chemical IMF% (R² = 0.32, RSE = 11.8) and MSA marbling (R² = 0.28, RSE = 11.9) in the prediction of grilled 14 day aged striploin MQ4, with similar results across other cut by cook by days aged combinations. These results support the development of objective technologies that predict chemical IMF% in parallel with MSA marbling for carcass grading and the prediction of eating quality.

European conformation and fat scores of bovine carcasses are not good indicators of marbling

Marbling is one of the primary carcass attributes utilized in most beef grading systems for eating quality evaluation. In Europe, the current beef grading system is the EUROP grid, which is focused on carcass commercial value and production yield rather than eating quality estimation. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between marbling and the most common scores for carcass classification in Europe. If there are strong associations between marbling and European classification scores, marbling score may be estimated from the carcass characteristics. However, this study indicated that European classification scores explain only a slight proportion of the variance in marbling score (32%, 46%, 34% and 21% for the entire cattle group, young bulls, females and steers, respectively). Therefore, whereas the EUROP grid is well adapted to estimate yield, it does not reflect marbling at all. The European beef industry should take into account additional indicators related to beef palatability to assist the determination of the commercial value of carcasses.

Predicting the Quality of Meat: Myth or Reality?

This review is aimed at providing an overview of recent advances made in the field of meat quality prediction, particularly in Europe. The different methods used in research labs or by the production sectors for the development of equations and tools based on different types of biological (genomic or phenotypic) or physical (spectroscopy) markers are discussed. Through the various examples, it appears that although biological markers have been identified, quality parameters go through a complex determinism process. This makes the development of generic molecular tests even more difficult. However, in recent years, progress in the development of predictive tools has benefited from technological breakthroughs in genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Concerning spectroscopy, the most significant progress was achieved using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict the composition and nutritional value of meats. However, predicting the functional properties of meats using this method-mainly, the sensorial quality-is more difficult. Finally, the example of the MSA (Meat Standards Australia) phenotypic model, which predicts the eating quality of beef based on a combination of upstream and downstream data, is described. Its benefit for the beef industry has been extensively demonstrated in Australia, and its generic performance has already been proven in several countries.

Untrained consumer assessment of the eating quality of European beef: 2. Demographic factors have only minor effects on consumer scores and willingness to pay

The beef industry must become more responsive to the changing market place and consumer demands. An essential part of this is quantifying a consumer's perception of the eating quality of beef and their willingness to pay for that quality, across a broad range of demographics. Over 19 000 consumers from Northern Ireland, Poland, Ireland and France each tasted seven beef samples and scored them for tenderness, juiciness, flavour liking and overall liking. These scores were weighted and combined to create a fifth score, termed the Meat Quality 4 score (MQ4) (0.3×tenderness, 0.1×juiciness, 0.3×flavour liking and 0.3×overall liking). They also allocated the beef samples into one of four quality grades that best described the sample; unsatisfactory, good-every-day, better-than-every-day or premium. After the completion of the tasting panel, consumers were then asked to detail, in their own currency, their willingness to pay for these four categories which was subsequently converted to a proportion relative to the good-every-day category (P-WTP). Consumers also answered a short demographic questionnaire. The four sensory scores, the MQ4 score and the P-WTP were analysed separately, as dependant variables in linear mixed effects models. The answers from the demographic questionnaire were included in the model as fixed effects. Overall, there were only small differences in consumer scores and P-WTP between demographic groups. Consumers who preferred their beef cooked medium or well-done scored beef higher, except in Poland, where the opposite trend was found. This may be because Polish consumers were more likely to prefer their beef cooked well-done, but samples were cooked medium for this group. There was a small positive relationship with the importance of beef in the diet, increasing sensory scores by about 4% in Poland and Northern Ireland. Men also scored beef about 2% higher than women for most sensory scores in most countries. In most countries, consumers were willing to pay between 150 and 200% more for premium beef, and there was a 50% penalty in value for unsatisfactory beef. After quality grade, by far the greatest influence on P-WTP was country of origin. Consumer age also had a small negative relationship with P-WTP. The results indicate that a single quality score could reliably describe the eating quality experienced by all consumers. In addition, if reliable quality information is delivered to consumers they will pay more for better quality beef, which would add value to the beef industry and encourage improvements in quality.