Development of a Lexicon for Beef Flavor in Intact Muscle

Abstract

A lexicon describing the flavor characteristics of beef across different cuts, grades, and cooking temperatures and methods was developed. Four major cuts of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) quality grade beef were cooked to five endpoint temperatures using braising, broiling (oven broiling and electric charbroiling), roasting and grilling (indoor and outdoor grilling). Six highly trained panelists identified and defined a total of 38 aroma and flavor characteristics in 176 beef samples. Beef identity, brown/roasted, bloody/serumy, metallic, fat-like, overall sweet, sour aromatics and five tastes were present in practically all samples. Other attributes were present only in certain samples, depending on either the sample group or the cooking method/endpoint temperature combination used. This lexicon potentially offers the beef industry a standard tool to identify and quantify flavor attributes as impacted by temperature, cooking method, aging process, storage time, diet regime, packaging, USDA quality grades, etc. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSUntil now, the beef industry's main focus has been to assess beef tenderness and juiciness, with an emphasis on ways to improve beef texture. Meat companies and academic institutions have been using the 1995 American Meat Science Association guidelines to assess the flavor of beef, which are not comprehensive. Recent work has focused on flavor, and the industry needs a standardized flavor lexicon that can be used for many projects. It is important for the industry to be able to systematically identify and quantify flavor attributes that drive consumer acceptance.

Ground beef patties prepared from brisket, flank and plate have unique fatty acid and sensory characteristics

“…Trimethyl pyrazine (an important nutty, roasted, smokey, burnt aroma), butyl-cyclopentane, and 1-butylpentyltrifluoromethanesulfo nate were absent in samples from the brisket, and thiobis-methane Table 3 Definition and reference standards for meat descriptive flavor aromatics and basic taste sensory attributes and their intensities where 1 = none and 15 = extremely intense (Adhikari et al, 2011).…”

“…Panelist evaluated samples using a descriptive flavor analysis, using the Spectrum Universal intensity scale where 0 = none and 15 = extremely intense for each attribute (Adhikari et al, 2011;AMSA, 1995). Each panelist evaluated 36 different samples, each coming from a different source of primal and fat percentage.…”

Sensory Evaluation of Enhanced Beef Strip Loin Steaks Cooked to 3 Degrees of Doneness

“…Ten sensory training sessions were held in the 3 wk prior to starting the trained sensory panels. Additionally, training references and anchors were consistent with those described by Lucherk et al (2016) and Adhikari et al (2011). Steaks were prepared as described previously for consumer panel evaluation.…”

Impact of Multiple Antimicrobial Interventions on Ground Beef Quality

“…To avoid panelist fatigue, there was a 10-minute break halfway through the session. A 6-member, trained panel (Meilgaard et al, 2007) was used to determine flavor attributes and aromatics as described by Adhikari et al (2011) and American Meat Science Association (2016). Ballot development sessions and training, as defined by American Meat Science Association (2016), were conducted before trained panel sessions were held.…”