Effect of production system before the finishing period on carcass, meat and fat qualities of beef.

Twenty Gascon young bulls that had been reared either in intensive conditions (INT) (n=10) with early weaning at 3 to 4 months, or in a traditional extensive (EXT) system (n=10) with weaning at 7 months, were subjected to the same conditions during the 145-day finishing period. Production system before the finishing period did not affect conformation, dressing percentage or morphology of the carcass; nevertheless, tissue composition differed somewhat between the two groups. Display had a stronger effect on meat colour than did production system. Percentage of myoglobin was highest in INT (P≤ 0.001), although meat texture and sensory quality did not differ between rearing conditions. EXT animals had darker, more yellow fat, a higher percentage of n-3 fatty acids (P≤ 0.001), a lower percentage of saturated fatty acids (P≤ 0.05) and a lower n-6/n-3 index (P≤ 0.001) than did the INT-reared animals. Production system before the fattening period might modify some of the characteristics of commercial beef, especially those associated with fat.

Relationship between consumer ranking of lamb colour and objective measures of colour.

Given the lack of data that relates consumer acceptance of lamb colour to instrument measures a study was undertaken to establish the acceptability thresholds for fresh and displayed meat. Consumers (n=541) were asked to score 20 samples of lamb loin (m.longissimus thoracis et lumborum; LL) on an ordinal scale of 1 (very acceptable) to 5 (very unacceptable). A sample was considered acceptable by a consumer if it scored three or less. Ten samples were used for testing consumer response to fresh colour and 10 to test consumer response to colour during display of up to 4days. The colour of fresh meat was measured using a Minolta chromameter with a closed cone and a Hunter Lab Miniscan was used for measuring meat on display. For fresh meat when the a( *) (redness) and L( *) (lightness) values are equal to or exceed 9.5 and 34, respectively, on average consumers will consider the meat colour acceptable. However a( *) and L( *) values must be much higher (14.5 and 44, respectively) to have 95% confidence that a randomly selected consumer will consider a sample acceptable. For aged meat, when the wavelength ratio (630/580nm) and the a( *) values are equal to or greater than 3.3 and 14.8, respectively, on average consumers will consider the meat acceptable. These thresholds need to be increased to 6.8 for ratio (630/580nm) and 21.7 for a( *) to be 95% confident that a randomly selected consumer will consider a sample acceptable.