INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF LOW VOLTAGE ELECTRICAL STIMULATION AND LEG RESTRAINT ON MEAT QUALITY OF CHAROLAIS CROSSBRED STEER CARCASSES

1990 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 1131-1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. L. BRUCE ◽  
C. R. JONES ◽  
R. O. BALL

The meat quality of the longissimus muscle of 12 Charolais crossbred steers that were electrically stimulated on randomly selected sides approximately 1 h postmortem was investigated. Temperature and pH measurements were taken on each side at 5 min prior and 1, 4, 24 and 48 h subsequent to stimulation and analyses performed following 7-d ageing for soluble, insoluble and total collagen and muscle protein solubility. Although there were no significant differences between the treatments for pH and temperature decline and collagen and protein characteristics, the unrestrained, stimulated sides had significantly lower shear force values than restrained, stimulated sides. Key words: Collagen solubility, electrical stimulation, beef, Charolais

Foods ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1587
Author(s):  
Archana Abhijith ◽  
Frank R. Dunshea ◽  
Robyn D. Warner ◽  
Brian J. Leury ◽  
Minh Ha ◽  
...  

The current study is a meta-analysis of the effects of electrical stimulation (ES, n = 28 papers) with different voltages combined with different ageing periods (0–3, 4–7, and 8–14 days) on the meat quality of small ruminants. A comprehensive search for published studies on meat quality of small ruminants investigating the application of low, medium, and high voltage electrical stimulation, was performed using Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Scopus databases. Forest plots, funnel plots, and other statistical tools and tests were used in the study to analyze the results. Electrical stimulation significantly reduced ultimate pH (p < 0.001), Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF) (p < 0.001), cooking loss (p < 0.05), and purge loss (p < 0.001). In addition, sarcomere length (p < 0.01), myofibrillar-fragmentation index (MFI) (p < 0.001), and color (L*, a*, b*) (p < 0.001) showed higher values in meat subjected to ES as compared with the control group. In conclusion, the meta-analysis revealed statistical proof of beneficial effects of ES on meat quality of small ruminants in terms of ultimate pH, tenderness, enhanced proteolysis, and higher colorimetric values.


1990 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-439
Author(s):  
H. L. BRUCE ◽  
R. O. BALL

Meat tenderness may be improved by accelerating muscle metabolism or by damaging muscle structure and increasing the solubility of muscle proteins. Pre- and postrigor protein and collagen solubilities were measured in semitendinosus muscles, removed pre-rigor from 24 Charolais crossbred steer carcasses, that were either unstimulated or electrically stimulated (115 V, 0.25 amp, 60 Hz) within 1 h postexsanguination to accelerate muscle metabolism. Temperature, pH, Hunterlab color reflectance, sarcomere length and lactate concentration were measured during ageing. Shear force was measured on aged (7 d) muscle only. Low voltage electrical stimulation increased glycolytic rate as indicated by significantly (P < 0.05) lower pH and higher L-lactate concentrations of stimulated muscles as compared to control muscles. Total and sarcoplasmic protein solubilities decreased due to ageing, and myofibrillar protein solubility increased; however, collagen solubilities were unchanged. Low voltage electrical stimulation did not affect color reflectance, sarcomere length or shear force, indicating that an increased rate of glycolysis alone was not sufficient to effect increases in meat tenderness. Key words: Beef, electrical stimulation, meat quality, muscle


2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Pouliot ◽  
C. Gariépy ◽  
M. Thériault ◽  
C. Avezard ◽  
J. Fortin ◽  
...  

Pouliot, E., Gariépy, C., Thériault, M., Avezard, C., Fortin, J., Simmons, N. J. and Castonguay, F. W. 2012. Effects of low-voltage electrical stimulation and aging on lamb meat quality. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 92: 59–66. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of electrical stimulation (ES) and aging time on meat quality of heavy lamb as produced in Quebec. Seventy-six Suffolk-sired crossbred male lambs were slaughtered at a target weight of 50±2 kg. Half of them were electrically stimulated (ES vs. control) at 5–10 min postmortem (21 V; 0.25 A; 60 s). Postmortem pH decline and temperature were monitored. After carcass cutting, longissimus dorsi sections were assigned to aging periods of 1, 3 or 8 d. Temperature decline was the same for both treatments (P=0.749). However, ES carcasses always had a lower pH value than controls during the first 24 h (P<0.001) while the ultimate pH was equivalent (P=0.803). Tenderness, as assessed by either Warner-Bratzler shear force (39 carcasses) or sensory evaluation (35 carcasses) was enhanced by both ES (P<0.001) and aging (P<0.001). At each aging time, tenderness was greater for ES meat. In addition, only 3 d of aging were necessary for ES meat to achieve the tenderness level attained by the controls after 8 d. Sarcomeres were longer (P<0.001) in ES meat than in controls while myofibrillar fragmentation index was not affected by ES treatment (P=0.743). Electrical stimulation also had small effects on color parameters (a*, b* and L*; P<0.01) and flavor (P=0.04). These results provide the first evidence that tenderness of the meat from heavy lambs produced and processed in Quebec could be enhanced by ES, mostly through cold shortening reduction.


1994 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Aalhus ◽  
S. D. M. Jones ◽  
D. R. Best ◽  
W. M. Robertson ◽  
S. Lutz

Two experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy, in terms of beef quality, of low voltage (LV), high voltage (HV) and combined low and high voltage (LH) electrical stimulation under two chilling regimes (blast chilling, BC; conventional chilling, CC).In both experiments, regardless of the type of electrical stimulation, shear values were significantly lower (P < 0.01) in stimulated carcasses compared with non-stimulated control carcasses (CON). Despite the results of the objective measures of shear, taste panel data from exp. 1 indicated a preference for steaks from treatments subjected to high voltage stimulation (HV and LH; P < 0.01). Colour of the musculature in electrically stimulated carcasses was significantly lighter and brighter than CON carcasses in both experiments. However, in exp. 2, where LV was applied for 40 s, a small proportion (~ 10%) of the carcass sides exhibited a pale, soft, exudative condition. This was reflected in the significantly higher drip losses in the LH and LV treatments in exp. 2. Overall, these results indicate an advantage of HV over LV stimulation. Since high voltage stimulation resulted in improved objective measures of meat quality and improved palatability, its use can be recommended to Canadian packers.Under the blast chilling conditions employed in the present studies there were no significant interactive effects with electrical stimulation. Blast chilling resulted in a significant reduction in cooler shrink (P < 0.01), a darker meat colour (P < 0.01) and slightly higher shear force values. The small magnitude of the increase in shear force (approximately 0.3 kg) was not identified by the taste panel and is unlikely to be detected by consumers. Key words: Beef quality, high voltage, low voltage, electrical stimulation


Meat Science ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 184 ◽  
pp. 108664
Author(s):  
Gaiming Zhao ◽  
Xueyuan Bai ◽  
Wei Tian ◽  
Ang Ru ◽  
Jiahui Li ◽  
...  

Meat Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yimin Zhang ◽  
Xiaokai Ji ◽  
Yanwei Mao ◽  
Xin Luo ◽  
Lixian Zhu ◽  
...  

Meat Science ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.B. Li ◽  
Y.J. Chen ◽  
X.L. Xu ◽  
M. Huang ◽  
T.J. Hu ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (7) ◽  
pp. 967
Author(s):  
E. C. Webb ◽  
B. Agbeniga

Context The present study investigated the effects of several electrical-stimulation parameters with conventional chilling of heavy- and light-grade carcasses from commercial feedlot cattle on selected meat-quality attributes. Aims The aim was to determine the combination of electrical-stimulation parameters that produced the most desirable results in terms of meat quality, which will serve as a guide to processors seeking to enact best processes in the meat industry. Methods Low-voltage electrical stimulation (110 V peak, 17 pulses/s, 5-ms pulse width) was applied either early post-mortem (PM) at 7 min or late PM at 45 min, for either 30 or 60 s on steer carcasses (n = 98) divided into two weight categories (light (≤260 kg) and heavy (≥290 kg) grades). The Longissimus lumborum muscle was evaluated for sarcomere length, myofibril fragment length (MFL), calpain-1, calpastatin, shear force and drip loss (3 and 14 days PM). Key results There were no significant differences in sarcomere length and no sarcomere shortening was observed. There were minor inconsistencies where early stimulation coincided with marginally longer MFL at 3 and 14 days PM, while late stimulation produced the shortest MFL at 14 days PM. Higher decline in calpain-1 concentration (mean 36.2%) was recorded in the early stimulated carcasses compared with the late stimulated carcasses (mean 29.7%) from 1 to 24 h PM, while calpastatin concentration decreased at a similar rate (mean 24%). Early stimulation resulted in lower shear force (P &lt; 0.05) at 3 days PM, especially in the heavier carcasses, indicating that higher initial temperature did accelerate tenderisation. At 14 days PM, there were no significant differences in shear force as regards stimulation time or carcass weight. Higher drip loss was however recorded in the early stimulated carcasses. Conclusions Early application of low-voltage electrical stimulation produced faster tenderisation early PM, due to higher rigor temperature, but, after aging for 14 days, all meat was acceptably tender with a lower variability, regardless of the stimulation time and carcass weight. Higher drip loss was associated with higher tenderness, which is normal and not a defect. Implications The use of low-voltage electrical stimulation should be encouraged for its ability to reduce variability in meat quality due to carcass-weight differences, especially in the current feedlot systems.


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