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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Meat Safety and Quality » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #210178

Title: Effect of Blade Tenderization, Aging Time and Aging Temperature on Tenderness of Beef Longissimus Lumborum and Gluteus Medius

Author
item King, David - Andy
item Wheeler, Tommy
item Shackelford, Steven
item PFEIFFER, K - STANDARD MEAT COMPANY
item NICKELSON, R - STANDARD MEAT COMPANY
item Koohmaraie, Mohammad

Submitted to: American Meat Science Association Conference Reciprocal Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/15/2007
Publication Date: 6/20/2007
Citation: King, D.A., Wheeler, T.L., Shackelford, S.D., Pfeiffer, K., Nickelson, R., Koohmaraie, M. 2007. Effect of blade tenderization, aging time and aging temperature on tenderness of beef longissimus lumborum and gluteus medius. Proc. 60th Reciprocal Meat Conference, June 17-20, 2007, Brookings, SD. Available: http://www.meatscience.org/pubs/rmcarchv/2007/presentations/RMC_2007_060_4_019_King.pdf

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of blade tenderization, aging time, and aging temperature on the tenderness of longissimus lumborum (LL) and gluteus medius (GM) steaks. Beef strip loins (n = 300) and top sirloin butts (n = 300) were selected from a large beef processor and transported to a purveyor, where they arrived at 3 d postmortem. For each subprimal type, cuts were blocked by production lot and assigned to one of the twelve treatment combinations (n = 25 per cell) of storage temperature (-0.5 or 3.3°C), storage time at the specified temperature (12, 26, or 40 d), and tenderization treatment (blade tenderized or not blade tenderized). Blade tenderization was applied at the end of the aging period immediately before steak cutting. One steak (2.54 cm-thick) from each subprimal was used for slice shear force determination. In LL steaks, slice shear force values of blade tenderized steaks were lower (P < 0.05) than values from non-blade tenderized steaks regardless of aging time, although, the interaction was significant (P < 0.05). Aging time did not affect (P > 0.05) slice shear force values of blade tenderized LL steaks (10.4, 9.9, and 9.4 kg for 12, 26, and 40 d, respectively), however, increased aging time reduced (P < 0.05) slice shear force values of non-blade tenderized LL steaks (15.1, 13.8, and 12.3 kg for 12, 26, and 40 d, respectively). Additionally, blade tenderized LL steaks had lower (P < 0.05) slice shear force values than non-blade tenderized steaks regardless of aging temperature, although, the interaction was significant (P < 0.05). Storage temperature did not affect (P > 0.05) slice shear force of blade tenderized LL steaks (10.2 and 9.6 kg for steaks aged at -0.5 and 3.3°C, respectively), however, storing non-blade tenderized LL steaks at 3.3°C resulted in lower (P < 0.05) slice shear force values than aging non-blade tenderized LL steaks at -0.5°C (12.4 versus 15.1 kg). When aged at -0.5°C, 3% of blade tenderized and 45% of non-blade tenderized LL steaks had slice shear force values greater than 15 kg. When aged at 3.3°C, 100% of blade tenderized and 89% of non-blade tenderized LL steaks had slice shear force values less than 15 kg. Blade tenderization provided a dramatic decrease (P < 0.05) in slice shear force values of GM steaks (13.7 and 19.9 kg for blade tenderized and non-blade tenderized, respectively). Increasing the storage temperature during aging from -0.5°C to 3.3°C reduced (P < 0.05) slice shear force values (17.6 versus 16.0 kg) of GM steaks. Increasing storage time from 12 d to 40 d reduced (P < 0.05) slice shear force values of GM steaks (17.9 versus 15.2 kg, respectively). When aged at -0.5°C, 4% of blade tenderized and 56% of non-blade tenderized GM steaks had slice shear force values greater than 20 kg. After aging at 3.3°C, 1.4% of blade tenderized and 23.9% of non-blade tenderized GM steaks had slice shear force values greater than 20 kg. Blade tenderization, increased aging temperature, and increased aging time all improved slice shear force values of beef LL and GM steaks. However, blade tenderization provided much greater improvement in tenderness than increased aging time or increased aging temperature.