Volatile Concentration and Flavor of Beef as Influenced by Diet

Abstract

Yearling steers (48) were finished on one of three intense pasture rotation systems: (1) Tifleaf pearl millet; (2) millet with restricted grain; or (3) millet followed by grain ad libitum in the feedlot. In both 20% fat ground beef and subcutaneous fat, gamey/stale off-flavor decreased and roasted beef flavor increased when steers were fed grain. Compounds (59) including acids, alcohols, aldehydes, diterpenoids, hydrocarbons, and lactones, were identified in the purgeand-trap volatiles. Lactones positively correlated with roasted beef flavor and negatively correlated with gamey/stale off-flavor, whereas diterpcnoids positively correlated with gamey/stale off-flavor and ncgatively correlated with roasted beef flavor.

A comparison of phenol and indole flavour compounds in fat, and of phenols in urine of cattle fed pasture or grain

“…Understanding has been limited by the confounding effects of the much higher growth rates of animals on high energy grain diets compared with pasture. Treatment differences in age and carcass weight of the animals at slaughter have often been considerable (e.g., Maruri & Larick 1992). For this reason, the present study compared animals raised on pasture and finished for nine weeks either on pasture or on a restricted maize diet, with the aim of removing differences in age and nutritional plane from the comparison.…”

“…A number of studies have shown that sensory panels can distinguish cooked beef from grain-fed and grass-fed cattle, the latter being said to have a "pastoral" or "grassy" flavour (Larick et al 1987 and references cited therein; Larick & Turner 1990;Maruri & Larick 1992). Correlations have been established between flavour attributes and the concentration of particular compounds in the volatiles from cooked beef, but these associations have not shown a consistent pattern and have not been supported by evidence of the sensory impact of the individual compounds.…”

Review: Canadian beef grading – Opportunities to identify carcass and meat quality traits valued by consumers

“…Phospholipid and fatty acid contents increase with time on feed beyond the initial forage grazing period (Larick et al, 1989). When steers are fed grain, gamey/stale off-flavor decreases and roasted beef flavor increases (Maruri and Larick, 1992). This may be due to increases in the phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine.…”

Effect of α‐Tocopherol on Lactone Formation in Marbled Beef and Changes in Lactone Volatility during Storage

“…It remains unclear whether the lactones are produced in the live animal and/or during storage or cooking. However, these lactones have been detected at higher levels in the headspace above heated fat from grain‐fed animals compared to grass‐fed animals (Maruri and Larick 1992). One proposed explanation (Urbach 1990) is that the lactones are derived from the corresponding hydroxyl‐fatty acids and that these acids are formed in the rumen by the hydration of dietary oleic and linoleic acids, which occur at higher levels in grain than in grass.…”