Beef for Tomorrow Conference Proceedings (1960) / Chapter Skim
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How to Identify the Quality of Beef
How to Identify the Quality of Beef
Pages 37-74
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From page 37... ...
investigated the characteristics of dark cutting beef and established the fact that the brightness or darkness was pH dependent. At pH 5.6 or below, the color was normally bright, and at 5.7 commenced to become shady or dull, while at 6.5 or above was dark.
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From page 38... ...
developed a photoelectric color comparator, which has seen limited usage in meat studies. The Hunter Color and Color Difference Meter (7)
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From page 39... ...
Recognition of tenderness in the beef carcass without subjective or objective testing is much more difficult. Many different factors have been suggested as possible indicators of tenderness including such items as conformation, maturity, finish, marbling, and histological structure.
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From page 40... ...
TABLE 1 Relationship between Ether Extract and Tenderness Tenderness Score Shear Force Loin Broiled Braised Bottom Round Broiled Braised .34 .30 .50 .54 -.33 -.34 -.35 -.52 Measurement of marbling can be accomplished by ether extraction of the ground muscle, which is probably the accepted method.
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From page 41... ...
studied the effect of breeds of cattle upon muscle fiber diameter and found that Friesan and Friesan crossbred steers had significantly thicker muscle fibers than the pure- or crossbred Dairy Shorthorn steers. Table 2 gives a summary of mean fiber diameters for the different breeds and crosses.
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From page 42... ...
, friability (crumbliness of muscle fibers) and tenderness of connective tissue (rated as no connective tissue, some is felt or heard during chewing but disappears, or some is left after chewing and must be gulped or discarded)
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From page 43... ...
has written an excellent review on the mechanical methods for measuring tenderness, which range from artificial dentures attached to a strain gauge to penetration devices. Briefly, the methods can be divided into shear devices, penetration devices, and food grinder methods.
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From page 44... ...
and gas chromatography (64, 65) have been applied to studying beef flavor, although the major amount of effort has been expended in studying irradiation-induced flavors in meat.
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From page 45... ...
Factors Affecting the Color of Beef. Report of the Committee on Chemistry of Dark Cutting Beef, American Meat Institute.
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From page 46... ...
1956. Extensibility of single beef muscle fibers.
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From page 47... ...
1959. Interrelationships of subjective, chemical and sensory evaluations of beef quality.
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From page 48... ...
The Secretary of Agriculture assured the Better Beef Association that the Department would provide the grading and stamping of beef on an experimental basis for one year. The Federal grading of beef actually began on May 2, 1927, and the records also indicate that packer brand identification of carcass beef began in August of that same year.
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From page 49... ...
After the compulsory grading period of 1951 to 1953, the volume of federally graded beef leveled at about 50 per cent of the total beef production. The prevailing pattern has always been, and still remains, that the large volume of beef graded is in the higher grades -- Prime, Choice, and Good.
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From page 50... ...
the factors that influence the yield of salable meat from the carcass. In evaluating the present grade standards and areas for improvement, it is essential to remember that grades are predicated on two considerations: (1)
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From page 51... ...
This study involved more than 100,000 measurements and observations. From our studies, it appears that beef carcasses may yield from 40 per cent to 70 per cent of their carcass weight in trimmed retail cuts from the round, full loin, rib, and square cut chuck.
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From page 52... ...
Rather limited progress in improving the present grade standards appears possible through the mere juggling of grade lines. Permanent improvements will undoubtedly be the product of good research designed to furnish additional factual information that can be used to provide a more precise market identification of the beef carcass.
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From page 53... ...
The original sensation of juicines may be due primarily to the moistness or amount of fluid in the cooked meat, while the sensation of sustained juiciness probably depends upon stimulation of salivary action by fat and other physiological effects. We know so little about meat flavor, the third important beef quality factor, that it is difficult to suggest precise techniques for its evaluation.
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From page 54... ...
. However, TABLE 1 Tenderness Scores for Broiled Ribeye Commercial Light Good Heavy Good Light Prime Heavy Prime 5.6' 5.9 6.2.
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From page 55... ...
Chemical, Physical, and Histological Properties of Beef as Related to Carcass Grade and Beef Quality Factors The information presented above indicates rather clearly that carcass grades as now used do not reflect adequately the palatability characteristics of beef.
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From page 56... ...
Physical Characteristics Some physical determinations as shear strength, press fluid, electrical conductance, and penetrometer reading have been used in studies on meat as possible objective means for evaluation of quality factors. In our studies, the values obtained by these physical measurements were not consistently related to carcass grade or weight (except for shear values as shown in Table 4)
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From page 57... ...
S carcass grade is related to beef quality factors and to consumer acceptance, but it must be emphasized that this relationship is not close, particularly in the lower grades.
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From page 58... ...
Thus, the "identity" that is desired and which I assume to be implied in the topic assigned to me is, first and most important, the production of a block beef supply from which the undesirable types have been eliminated and which has the uniformity and repeatability that contributes effectively to trading on a specification basis. Then, second, how the specifications are worded is of minor importance, as long as they contribute to the selection of meaningful categories by age, weight, and finish.
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From page 59... ...
Neither the retailer nor his customer are happy with a superabundance of supply at one season of the year and dearth at a later time. Thus, the even flow of slaughter cattle from present day feed lots has contributed both to the stability of the beef market and to total consumer beef purchases.
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From page 60... ...
But this could not have been done without the changes that have occurred in our beef cattle, in the feeding industry, and in the character of the slaughter animals that produce our present supply of block beef. New Concept of Acceptable Quality Recently, while analyzing the development of the cattle feeding industry over the last 30 years, I was intrigued to find that there have been three distinct waves of different grades of cattle marketed from feed lots.
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From page 61... ...
Customers are increasingly accepting beef with lesser finish -- from Prime down to Choice, to low-Choice, and now down into the Good grade -- because of changes that have taken place in the quality of blood lines in our beef herds and because of new characteristics and uniformity in the cattle that are producing the block beef supply. The new characteristic of age -- meaning uniform youthfulness in the slaughter cattle -- is gaining supremacy over the historic characteristic of finishmeaning fat -- in the production of an acceptable consumer product.
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From page 62... ...
It came into voluntary use mostly because it proved to be a convenient component of the purchase specifications written by mass retailers. It cannot be regarded, however, as primarily responsible for the uniform beef supply of today and for the marked success of beef in the consumer market, as some people have claimed was the case.
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From page 63... ...
I believe that more retailers in the future will make a similar change, and as they do so they will tend to shift away from the use of Government grades. They will shift down in the grade range because their customers will find that something less than the Choice grade, as it now stands, will be entirely acceptable from an eating standpoint.
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From page 64... ...
H BRANDENBURG: It seems to me that there is a thought that grading is not uniform geographically; that in Colorado, a man can receive a choice grade on cattle, where he may not be able 64
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From page 65... ...
value, say within the choice grade or good grade, or is it more complicated than that?
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From page 66... ...
S government grades and propietary brands are presently being used to reflect the application of these standards and are useful means of identifying beef of different qualities for merchandising.
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From page 67... ...
You can get the same results by patronizing and encouraging a butcher who consistently handles the better grades of beef. It is convincing now, after a few years' experience in the California feed lots, that unless our taste buds for good red beef change, we can look forward confidently to increased per capita beef consumption as we learn to produce consistently more of the popular beef and less of 67
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From page 68... ...
Beef carcasses weighing more than 700 pounds are usually sold to the Armed Forces or are used for breaking purposes. These weights are not in popular demand.
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From page 69... ...
In addition, I suppose there are other psychological factors that are unfavorable for the public markets.
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From page 70... ...
I do not have the experience nor do I know any operator who can answer this comparison. There are commercial feed lots in the Midwest that seem to no more than compete with the lots serving the West Coast.
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From page 71... ...
Big commercial feed lots may be put up in all areas where there is ample roughage to go with grain. Many range states will be producing more grain fattened animals.
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From page 72... ...
I assure you that profits will be the reward on the average. You may decide, as we have had to do often since grain comes to the commercial feeder at a protective price, that competition is going to be rough, but we do have to do a certain volume of business to hold our organization intact.
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From page 73... ...
This can be done through your commission man on the public markets as well as through direct contacts. Unfortunately, for the commission merchant more sales are being made outside public stockyards each year.
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From page 74... ...
I would almost guarantee if you can master these "Three Steps to Merchandising Beef on the Hoof," that you will be in the business when others are having more troubles than you. I believe these steps will keep your operation adaptable to the changes in the industry.
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