BLADE TENDERIZATION OF STEER, COW AND BULL BEEF

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Abstract
A study was conducted to determine the extent to which blade tenderization could be used to make beef from mature cow and bull carcasses comparable in tenderness and overall palatability to that from the most commonly occurring kind (U.S. Choice and U.S. Good, A maturity steer) of block beef. Biceps femoris (BF), semimembranosus (SM) and longissimus (LD) muscles were obtained from each of 30 hindquarters (10 steers, 10 bulls and 10 cows). Steaks removed from each muscle prior to blade tenderization were used as control (0x) samples; steaks removed after one pass (1x) or two passes (2x) through a blade tenderizer were used as treated samples. Neither BF nor SM muscles from cows or bulls could be made as tender (based on shear force values) as control (0x) muscles from steer carcasses by blade tenderization. Although shear force values suggested that blade tenderization could make LD muscles from cows and bulls as tender as control (0x) LD muscles from steer carcasses, sensory panel ratings did not support such a conclusion for cow samples. Based on organoleptic evaluations of tenderness and overall palatability it is doubtful that beef from mature cow and bull carcasses can be improved enough by blade tenderization to make it comparable to beef from slaughter steer carcasses.