PRERIGOR TREATMENT AND ENDPOINT TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON U.S. CHOICE BEEF TENDERNESS

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Abstract
Bone and connective tissues at the 12th thoracic vertebra and round/loin junction on one side of each of three U.S. Choice beef carcasses were cut 90 min postmortem (prerigor treatment, Tendercut), while opposite sides served as controls. Effect of prerigor treatment was determined on 10‐day aged Longissimus (LM), Rectus femoris (RF), and Biceps femoris (BF) steaks cooked to different endpoint temperatures (EPT: 65.6, 70.0, 76.7C). Treated RF steaks had higher (less perceptible) connective tissue scores than controls. Myofibrillar and overall tenderness in all treated muscles were not different (P>0.05) than controls. Treated carcasses resulted in lower (P<0.05) Warner‐Bratzler peak force values for LM and longer sarcomeres for all muscles. Tendercut resulted in lower (P < 0.05) values for Lee‐Kramer peak force (LM at 65.6C and 76.7C; RF at 65.6C) and total energy (LM at 70.0C and 76.7C) than controls. Tendercut did not affect the BF at any EPT.