Associations among animal, carcass, muscle characteristics, and fresh meat color traits in Charolais cattle

Decision tree, a learning tool for the prediction of beef tenderness using rearing factors and carcass characteristics

“…In total, 308 young bulls that were handled in accordance with the French animal protection regulations (Code Rural, articles R214‐64 to R214‐71) were used. These animals constituted individual data of a dataset from the study by Gagaoua et al ., grouping experiments conducted in two INRA France experimental units: INRA‐UE232 (Bourges) for animal rearing and handling and INRA‐UE1414 Herbipôle (Theix) for lairage and slaughtering . The dataset included Charolais ( n = 116), Salers ( n = 93), Limousin ( n = 74) and Blond d'Aquitaine ( n = 25) breeds .…”

“…European Union regulations allow for three subdivisions of each conformation class: high ‘+’, medium ‘=’ and low ‘−’. Hence, an incremental scale ranging from 1 to 15 was used, where 1 corresponds to P– (very low muscle development) and 15 to E+ (very high muscle development) . At the same time, the fatness score of the carcasses, which describes the amount of fat on the outside of the carcass was numerically scored from 1 = leanest to 5 = fattest.…”

“…The carcass weight was used to calculate the dressing percentage and carcass composition. For carcass composition (see Supporting information, Table S1), muscle carcass percentage, fat carcass percentage and bone carcass percentage were computed . This was estimated from the composition of the sixth rib determined after physical dissection in accordance with standard commercial practice involving a close trimming and deboning of the muscle …”

“…Important classical research on tenderness aiming to satisfy consumers has received increasing attention over a more than 50‐year period. Studies have reported that beef tenderness depends on numerous factors related (or not) to the animal . Most of these factors, including both pre‐ and post‐slaughter events, have been investigated objectively.…”

Assessment of cattle inter‐individual cluster variability: the potential of continuum data from the farm‐to‐fork for ultimate beef tenderness management

“…Tenderness was reported by numerous studies as the most important beef palatability trait for the consumers, with evidence demonstrating that they are willing to pay a premium for steaks that are guaranteed tender . More recent studies have further shown that when tenderness reaches an acceptable level, flavor and juiciness become very important drivers of beef eating satisfaction as well as visual color and marbling . These constitute internationally the major beef sensory quality traits to be controlled by the beef industry for consumers' satisfaction.…”