Muscle-specific color stability in fresh beef from grain-finished Bos indicus cattle

Abstract

Objective To investigate the color and oxidative stabilities of longissimus lumborum (LL) and psoas major (PM) muscles from grain-finished Bos indicus cattle in Brazil. Methods The LL and PM muscles were obtained 24 h post-mortem from eight (n = 8) Nellore bull carcasses, fabricated into 1.5-cm steaks, aerobically packaged, and stored at 4°C for nine days. Steaks were analyzed for myoglobin concentration, pH, instrumental color, metmyoglobin reducing activity (MRA) and lipid oxidation. Results The LL steaks exhibited greater (p<0.05) redness, color stability, and MRA than their PM counterparts on days 5 and 9. The LL and PM steaks demonstrated similar (p>0.05) lightness and yellowness on days 0, 5, and 9. On the other hand, PM steaks exhibited greater (p<0.05) myoglobin concentration, pH, and lipid oxidation than their LL counterparts. Conclusion These results indicated that muscle source influenced the color and oxidative stabilities of beef from grain-finished Bos indicus animals. These results highlighted the necessity of muscle-specific strategies to improve the color stability of beef from grain-fed Bos indicus cattle.

Production system influences color stability and lipid oxidation in gluteus medius muscle

“…In agreement with our results, Salim et al [26] documented similar MRA in longissimus lumborum muscle from grain-fed cattle during 9 days of refrigerated storage. On the contrary, Canto et al [25] reported a decrease in MRA in longissimus lumborum and psoas major muscles from pasture-fed cattle for 9 days.…”

Study on meat color stability of Qinchuan cattle during post-slaughter storage

“…At present, most studies are to improve the stability of meat color by reducing the activity of MetMb reductase. Some studies have shown that the color stability of meat depends not only on the species (Bechtold et al, 2019;Lima et al, 2021), but also on the muscle specificity (Nair et al, 2016;Salim et al, 2019;Wu et al, 2016). Therefore, different strategies are needed to improve the meat color stability of different varieties and muscles.…”

New alternatives for improving and assessing the color of dark–cutting beef – a review

“…Higher MMb reductase activity may explain the greater color stability shown by certain muscles, such as longissimus lumborum compared to psoas major, as observed by Canto et al (2016) and Salim et al (2019).…”

“…In general, muscles with high oxidative metabolic activity, where there is more than 40 % of slow oxidative red fibers, such as psoas major muscles, exhibit higher Mb concentration (4.66 ± 0.31 mg g -1 ), higher content of mitochondria and thus more intense respiration, and are characterized as muscles with less color stability. In contrast, muscles comprising more than 40 % of fast glycolytic white fibers, such as longissimus lumborum, have lower Mb concentration (3.97 ± 0.12 mg g -1 ), lower concentration of mitochondria and thus high color stability (Kirchofer et al, 2002;Salim et al, 2019).…”