Are muscle fiber types different between normal and dark-cutting beef?

Muscle fiber (MF) characteristics of Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscles from heifer (n = 11) and steer (n = 12) carcasses graded Canada AA (AA, normal, n = 4/sex) or dark-cutting (Canada B4) were examined and related to beef quality. Atypical (AB4, pH < 5.9, n = 4/sex) and typical (TB4, pH > 5.9, n = 3 and 4 for heifers and steers, respectively) dark-cutting carcasses were represented. Muscle fiber type proportions did not differ between AA, AB4 and TB4 muscles, although type I and IIB muscle fiber diameters were greater in TB4 than in AA LT. That AB4 muscle fiber proportions were not different from AA and TB4 muscles suggests that the increased MF diameter of TB4 muscle was due to water retained by muscle proteins at high ultimate pH, as evidenced by decreased cooking loss. Dark-cutting was therefore unrelated to muscle fiber proportions, and increased Type I and IIB diameters in dark cutting LT were likely driven by elevated intramuscular ultimate pH.

Effects of Neck-Arm Restraint Suspension of Beef Carcasses on Meat Quality and Proteome of Different Muscles During Post-mortem Aging

Beef quality is the first deciding factor for consumers to consider before purchasing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of suspension and aging time on beef quality. We compared the differences in pH, drip loss, cooking loss, color, shear force, myofibril fragmentation index (MFI), and electron microscope of three muscle tissues between Achilles tendon (AT) and neck-arm restraint (NR) suspensions during seven aging periods (days 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, and 21) after slaughter using the carcasses of six Xinjiang brown cattle. We found that NR suspension could significantly increase the water loss rate and MFI, as well as reduce the shear force compared to AT suspension. The muscle fiber structure with NR suspension was more severely damaged. The proteomics of longissimus dorsi was checked for the post-mortem days 1, 7, and 14. We detected 50, 26, and 29 differentially expressed proteins between NR and AT suspension at post-mortem days 1, 7, and 14, respectively. These proteins were involved in metabolic and muscle structure associated pathways and contributed to a comprehensive understanding of suspension-dependent meat quality regulation by proteins in beef cattle. To conclude, NR suspension can accelerate the aging time of beef carcasses, which will reduce the cost of carcass suspension and bring more benefits in the beef industry.

New Insights on the Impact of Cattle Handling on Post-Mortem Myofibrillar Muscle Proteome and Meat Tenderization

This study investigated the effect of different cattle management strategies at farm (Intensive vs. Extensive) and during transport and lairage (mixing vs. non-mixing with unfamiliar animals) on the myofibrillar subproteome of Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) muscle of “Asturiana de los Valles” yearling bulls. It further aimed to study the relationships with beef quality traits including pH, color, and tenderness evaluated by Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF). Thus, comparative proteomics of the myofibrillar fraction along meat maturation (from 2 h to 14 days post-mortem) and different quality traits were analyzed. A total of 23 protein fragments corresponding to 21 unique proteins showed significant differences among the treatments (p < 0.05) due to any of the factors considered (Farm, Transport and Lairage, and post-mortem time ageing). The proteins belong to several biological pathways including three structural proteins (MYBPC2, TNNT3, and MYL1) and one metabolic enzyme (ALDOA) that were affected by both Farm and Transport/Lairage factors. ACTA1, LDB3, and FHL2 were affected by Farm factors, while TNNI2 and MYLPF (structural proteins), PKM (metabolic enzyme), and HSPB1 (small Heat shock protein) were affected by Transport/Lairage factors. Several correlations were found between the changing proteins (PKM, ALDOA, TNNI2, TNNT3, ACTA1, MYL1, and CRYAB) and color and tenderness beef quality traits, indicating their importance in the determination of meat quality and their possible use as putative biomarkers.

Prediction of beef quality traits through mini NIR spectrophotometer and multivariate analyses

The aim of this study was to test the ability of mini NIR reflectance spectroscopy to predict beef quality traits. Sixty M. longissimus thoracis were collected and spectra were obtained prior to beef quality trait analysis. Calibration equations were developed from reference data (n=60) of pH, color traits (lightness, redness and yellowness), drip loss (%), cooking loss (%), CP (%), EE (%), moisture (%), DM (%), and Ash (%) using partial least squares regressions. Predictive ability of the models was assessed by coefficient of determination of cross-validation (R2CV) and root mean square error of cross-validation. Predictions models were satisfactory (R2CV = 0.95) for pH, (R2CV = 0.96) for lightness (L*), (R2CV = 0.96) for redness (a*), (R2CV = 0.97) for yellowness (b*), (R2CV = 0.95) for drip loss, (R2CV = 0.95) for cooking loss, (R2CV = 0.94) for CP, (R2CV = 0.95) for EE, (R2CV = 0.91) for moisture, (R2CV = 0.91) for DM and (R2CV = 0.91) for ash. The ratio performance deviation is 5.35, 5.34, 5.87, 5.16, 4.64, 4.81, 4.45, 4.95, 3.36, 4.73 and 4.47 for L*, a*, b*, pH, drip loss, cooking loss, CP, EE, moisture, DM and Ash respectively which indicates that all values are adequate for analytical purposes. Range error ratio are 20.69, 22.97, 27.11, 18.92, 20.74, 16.20, 17.80, 17.52, 14.96, 17.89 and 17.87 for L*, a*, b*, pH, drip loss, cooking loss, CP, EE, moisture, DM and ash respectively. From the findings of this study it can be concluded that mini NIRS is a suitable tool for a rapid, non-destructive and reliable prediction of beef quality.

Smart Beef-Quality Tracking In Malaysia Using Blockchain Technology

Concerns and awareness on beef quality and safety are increasing among the consumers. Beef that is being served to the customers has to be of good quality and safe to eat, as well as to prevent foodborne illnesses. Hence, it is important to ensure good meat quality during the process of beef production. The existing beef supply chain systems lack transparency, as a result, a hike in food frauds has been witnessed in Malaysia. Consequently, it is hard to infer if the beef reaching the consumers is safe and wholesome. Besides that, the existing supply chains have a time-consuming and tiring procedure of product tracking, which is not desirable for consumers and other various stakeholders involved. To mitigate this issue, in this paper, we propose the use of blockchain technology for beef supply chain to maintain the transparency of ingredients and processes used in beef production. This will strengthen the trust of consumer in the company and ensure that the produced beef is contamination free and healthy. The study comprehensively highlights the feasibility blockchain technology to be implemented in the beef supply chain to make it transparent, secure and easily trackable.

Monitoring of beef cold chain to ensure quality, safety, and halal using RFID: A review

The traceability application by the industry to ensure products along the supply chain include quality, safe and halal. Traceability is an essential part of the cold chain system for meat and meat products. The cold chain of beef, including a slaughterhouse, distribution, and retail, needs to be monitored. The decline in the beef quality is marked by sensory changes such as color, unpleasant odor, and mucus formation triggered by bacterial growth. Beef quality is easily damaged during distribution due to the complexity and length of the cold chain. Consumers also pay attention to the halalness of beef in the supply chain. The implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can monitor changes in quality and halalness of beef when distribution utilizes various sensor and product information tags. RFID requires a transponder to store and retrieve data remotely, an antenna for transponders, and a reader. This article reviews the RFID traceability system, the cold supply chain for beef, and RFID development to maintain beef quality, safety, and halalness. RFID technology helps producers and consumers to get quality, safe, and halal beef information in real-time.

PSXV-24 Effects of dietary beet pulp on growth performance, beef quality, rumen fermentation characteristics, and blood parameters in Korean cattle steers

We investigated the effects of feeding beet pulp (BP) instead of corn flake (CF) on growth performance, beef quality, ruminal fermentation, and blood parameters in Korean cattle steers. Eighteen Korean cattle steers (body weight, 732 ± 12.6 kg; age, 31.2 ± 0.16 months) were divided into the CF and BP groups. The approximately 92% of dry matter of the requirement was offered as a concentrate portion, and the 8% was offered as an oat straw. The 85% of concentrate portion was provided by the pelleted basal concentrate, and the remaining 15% with CF or BP for 12 weeks. Average daily gain, feed efficiency, and carcass traits were not affected by feeding BP. The proportion of ruminal iso-butyrate (P = 0.004), iso-valerate (P = 0.001), and valerate (P = 0.01) were lower in the BP group compared to the CF group. Blood glucose (P = 0.06) and non-esterified fatty acids (P = 0.09) concentrations tended to be higher in the BP group than in the CF group. The results suggest that BP could be a good energy source without affecting the growth performance and beef quality in Korean cattle steers.

Carcass and beef quality of crossbred cattle fed increasing linseed oil levels

Strategies to improve beef nutritional value, mainly fatty acid composition, have been a major goal for the scientific community. The use of different oil contents, mostly those rich in unsaturated fatty acids, can be interesting for cost reduction, as well as cattle performance and meat quality improvements. This study assessed the influence of diets containing increasing linseed oil levels (1.0, 3.8, and 5.2% DM) on performance, carcass traits, and meat quality of feedlot-finished Nellore x Canchim steers and heifers. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design and arranged in a mixed 3 x 2 factorial scheme. Increasing oil levels linearly decreased dry matter intake (DMI) (P < 0.05) and hence improved feed efficiency (P < 0.05), regardless of sexual condition. A beneficial effect of increasing the inclusion of linseed oil was the reduction DMI. Steers had a higher weight at slaughter (P < 0.05) and heifers had greater backfat thickness (P < 0.05). The concentrations of most fatty acids were changed by the linseed oil levels studied (P < 0.05). Dietary inclusion of linseed oil improved beef quality by reducing (P < 0.05) the n-6:n-3 ratio by 1.3 points per percentage point increase in linseed oil level in the finishing diet of both sexes.