Causes and Contributing Factors to “Dark Cutting” Meat: Current Trends and Future Directions: A Review

Abstract

Dark cutting in beef and sheep meat has been the subject of extensive research with numerous associations established between it and various production practices. Despite these associations, dark cutting still occurs and causes significant financial losses globally in the fresh meat market. Consumers tend to reject dark meat as it is perceived to be from old or poorly-handled animals and is described as being tough, having an undesirable flavor, and having a short shelf-life. There is no universal system to categorize dark cutting carcasses and meat across countries, although various methods are used to determine the phenomenon. Classifying carcasses as dark cutters on the basis of ultimate pH or color using one muscle, such as the m. longissimus thoracis can lead to mis-description of other muscles within the same carcass and loss of income across the supply chain. The purpose of this review was to identify the factors predisposing animals to dark cutting and to provide recommendations and directions for future research. The review revealed no single production factor causing dark cutting, but that a range of factors or a combination of factors and interactions lead to its occurrence. Dark cutting is a complex condition that can be resolved through comprehensive management of animals, and management of human involvement, and clear guidelines to minimize the incidence of "dark cutting" meat and to improve the profitability of all sectors in the supply chain are provided here.

Quality and Acceptability of Fresh and Long-Term Frozen In-Bag Dry-Aged Lean Bull Beef

“…awed in-bag dry-aged beef in the current study became darker but still within the consumer acceptable range (approx. 35-40 of L * ) [54]. a * declined to around 13.0 which was slightly below the threshold of 14.5, according to their study.…”

Stress Effects on Meat Quality: A Mechanistic Perspective

“…Furthermore, the reasons for the variance in both the biochemical parameters and the eating quality traits being attributable to intra‐animal variability under stress conditions are not entirely clear. For example, variability in the incidence of dark cutting meat in beef and sheep between animals of the same breed, maintained under the same diet and transported to the same abattoir, has been attributed to different handling practices and individual variability in stress susceptibility (Ponnampalam et al., ). Broilers subjected to preslaughter transport under high ambient temperature showed different activities of stress indicators, different protein profiles of the pectoralis major ( PM ) muscle, and variations in meat quality (Xing et al., 2017).…”

Characterization of the Myofibrillar Proteome as a Way to Better Understand Differences in Bovine Meats Having Different Ultimate pH Values

“…However, some studies have reported the main factors contributing to dark cutting meat and the controversial use of pHu to detect it. [ 11 ] A high pHu meat is related to pre‐slaughter stress condition but not in all cases this gives rise to DFD meat. [ 12 ] The discovery of reliable protein biomarkers related to stress response in farm animals has been proposed to assist in better explain occurrence of defective meats.…”