Relationships between the assessment of “grain of meat” and meat tenderness of Charolais cattle

• Published in: Meat science Vol. 93; no. 3; pp. 397 - 404
• Main Authors: Ellies-Oury, M.P., Durand, Y., Delamarche, F., Jouanno, M., Lambert, J., Micol, D., Dumont, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Cattle; Collagen - analysis; Computer Science; Food Industry - classification; Grain of meat; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Know-how; Life Sciences; Meat; Meat - analysis; Muscle, Skeletal; Quality; Stress, Mechanical; Tenderness; Grain of meat; Know-how; Quality; Tenderness; Meat; EATING QUALITY; STANDARDS; HEIFERS; RECTUS-ABDOMINIS; YOUNG; REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY NIRS; ADULT STEERS OXEN; BEEF; TRAITS
• ISSN: 0309-1740; 1873-4138
• DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2012.11.001

Beef industry operators often use a “grain of meat” assessment to aid in selecting carcasses according to their tenderness potential. The first aim of this study was to formalise this empirical notion by building a scoring scale for grain of meat. Two experts, regular users of this notion, were called upon to build the assessment grade. A group of 16 criteria was identified on the carcass as being effective in predicting an overall “grain of meat” score. The second aim of this study was to establish the relationship between the meat grain score estimated on the carcass and the tenderness of the longissimus thoracis muscle estimated by sensory evaluations. Some individual criteria such as “nerve presence”, “marbling”, and “touch of muscles” appeared to be linked to muscular characteristics such as collagen content, lipid content and shear force. No significant relationship was identified between grain of meat and either tenderness (initial: p=0.58; overall: p=0.50), shear force (p=0.33), or collagen content and collagen solubility (p=0.23; p=0.33). ► “Grain of meat" as aid in selecting carcasses according to tenderness potential. ► We built a scoring scale for grain of meat based on 16 criteria. ► No significant relationship between grain of meat and LT tenderness. ► No link appeared between grain of meat and LT muscular properties.