Postrigor citric acid enhancement can alter cooked color but not fresh color of dark-cutting beef1

Abstract

In 2 experiments, dark-cutting (DC) beef strip loins were used to test the effects of citric acid-enhancement pH on visual and instrumental color of fresh and cooked steaks. In Exp. 1 and 2, each DC (mean pH = 6.57 and 6.65, respectively) and normal-pH, low USDA Choice (CH; mean pH = 5.48 and 5.51, respectively) strip loin was cut into 2 equal-length sections, and DC sections were injected to 111% of raw section weight with pH 3.5 to 5.0 (Exp. 1) or pH 2.0 to 3.5 (Exp. 2) solutions made by mixing citric acid in either 0.05% orthophosphate (PO) solution or tap water (HO) base solutions (Exp. 1) and 0.5% PO or 0.5% tripolyphosphate solution base solutions (Exp. 2). After enhancement, sections were cut into steaks, which were assigned to either 5 d of simulated retail display or cooked to 71°C for cooked color measurement. Postenhancement pH of DC steaks enhanced with pH 3.5 to 5.0 solutions did not ( ≥ 0.180) differ from that of nonenhanced DC steaks (Exp. 1) but linearly decreased ( < 0.001) as solution pH decreased from 3.5 to 2.0 (Exp. 2). Even though fresh color scores were increased ( < 0.001) by citric acid enhancement over untreated DC steaks during the first 3 d of display, fresh steak color never ( < 0.001) approached that of nonenhanced CH steaks. When compared with nonenhanced DC steaks, enhancement with pH 3.5 to 5.0 solutions received lower cooked color scores, whereas enhancing DC sections with pH 2.5 solutions produced cooked color and degree-of-doneness scores similar ( ≥ 0.113) to those of nonenhanced CH steaks (Exp. 2). Results indicated that the pH of citric acid enhancement solutions, regardless of base solution, were insufficient to improve the fresh color of DC beef; however, enhancement with pH 2.5 citric acid solutions effectively eliminated the persistent red cooked color typically associated with DC beef comparable with that of normal-pH beef.

Improving the lean muscle color of dark-cutting beef by aging, antioxidant-enhancement, and modified atmospheric packaging1

“…Seyfert et al (2007) noted that ground beef treated with water presented a lighter and brighter red color (Seyfert et al, 2007). Previous research reported that the citric and lactic acid enhancement increased free-water in dark-cutting steaks (Sawyer et al, 2009;Stackhouse et al, 2016). Further, the addition of water in meat through enhancement can have a slight effect on pH (Hamm, 1961).…”

“…A greater ultimate muscle pH shifts the pH away from the isoelectric point; hence, muscle fibers can hold more water resulting in muscle fiber swelling and less free water on the surface to reflect light (Barbut et al, 2005;Swatland, 2008). Dark-cutting steaks have greater levels of bound water and less free water than normal pH steaks (Sawyer et al, 2009;Stackhouse et al, 2016). In support, approximately 60% less overall reflectance was noted in dark-cutting steaks than normal-pH steaks (English et al, 2016a).…”

High-oxygen modified atmosphere package improves color stability of <i>Longissimus lumborum</i> with high ultimate pH from pasture-fed Nellore bulls

“…The least MMb formed in MRA analysis in high pHu group is in concordance with other findings in this study, such as higher redness (more a* and a*/b*) and lower discoloration throughout storage (less Hue and surface MMb), It demonstrates the oxidative protection of high pHu regarding red color stability, as authors have been documented (ABRIL et al, 2001;CHMIEL et al, 2012;ENGLISH et al, 2016;GEORGE;STRATMANN, 1952;MCKEITH et al, 2016;STACKHOUSE et al, 2016;WULF;WISE, 1999 The greater content of NADH in the high pHu group could also be a factor for the increased MRA this group had in this study.…”

“…Other authors showed decreased hue and Chroma as pH u increased and (ABRIL et al, 2001;MCKEITH et al, 2016;STACKHOUSE et al, 2016;WȨGLARZ, 2010). Lower Chroma indicates that as pH u increases, surface color presents less vivid, losing normal pH u bright red color, which may be attributable to higher OCR.…”

“…; PAGE; WULF;SCHWOTZER, 2001;STACKHOUSE et al, 2016), with incidence worldwide Moore et al (2012). reported 3.5% of the carcasses evaluated in the 2011 United States' National Beef Quality Audit.…”