Muscle-specific color stability in fresh beef from grain-finished cattle

Abstract

Objective To investigate the color and oxidative stabilities of longissimus lumborum (LL) and psoas major (PM) muscles from grain-finished Bos indicus cattle in Brazil. Methods The LL and PM muscles were obtained 24 h post-mortem from eight (n = 8) Nellore bull carcasses, fabricated into 1.5-cm steaks, aerobically packaged, and stored at 4°C for nine days. Steaks were analyzed for myoglobin concentration, pH, instrumental color, metmyoglobin reducing activity (MRA) and lipid oxidation. Results The LL steaks exhibited greater (p0.05) lightness and yellowness on days 0, 5, and 9. On the other hand, PM steaks exhibited greater (p<0.05) myoglobin concentration, pH, and lipid oxidation than their LL counterparts. Conclusion These results indicated that muscle source influenced the color and oxidative stabilities of beef from grain-finished Bos indicus animals. These results highlighted the necessity of muscle-specific strategies to improve the color stability of beef from grain-fed Bos indicus cattle.

Keywords

• Beef
• Meat Quality
• Myoglobin
• Nellore
• Oxidation