Marbled beef quality grades under various ageing conditions
The Russian beef market is growing, which means that the problem of meat quality is getting more and more relevant. The gradually improving culture of meat consumption raises the demand for beef maturation, or ageing. The current research is the first of its kind in Russia. It features the quality...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Kemerovo State University
2018-12-01
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Series: | Foods and Raw Materials |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://jfrm.ru/?page=archive&jrn=12&article=20 |
Summary: | The Russian beef market is growing, which means that the problem of meat quality is getting more and more
relevant. The gradually improving culture of meat consumption raises the demand for beef maturation, or ageing. The
current research is the first of its kind in Russia. It features the quality of Russian marbled beef in the process of its
open-air and vacuum-packed maturation. The authors studied the changes in the quality grades of dry-aged and
vacuum-packed marbled beef during 4, 16 and 28-day ageing and defined the optimal maturation conditions and terms.
The study included pH, colour, microstructure, organoleptic properties, the qualitative and quantitative composition of
the volatile aroma-forming compounds, and the area of intramuscular fat. The samples were on-the-bone beef cuts
obtained from 18-month-old Aberdeen-Angus castrated bulls that had received 200 days of grain fattening. The pH
value remained stable throughout the ageing period in the dry-aged and vacuum-packed samples. Approaching the end
of the test period, the change in pH reached 0.12 for the dry-aged samples and 0.21 for the vacuum-packed ones. The
surface of the dry-aged samples obtained a dark red to burgundy-red dry crust after 16 and 28 days of ageing. The
colour was significantly different from the colour of the samples after 4 days of ageing. The colour of the vacuumpacked samples remained unchanged throughout the maturation period. However, the microstructure of the packed beef
showed a deeper and more widespread decomposition of muscle tissue on days 16 and 28. The changes in the dry-aged
samples were less obvious. All in all, the process of extended ageing improved the organoleptic properties of the beef. |
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ISSN: | 2308-4057 2310-9599 |