 |
||||
|
||||
|
|
||||
Tenderness Study Shows Industry is Making Progress Cattle producers and processors are making progress in their efforts to produce more tender beef, a recent checkoff-funded study has shown. Findings of the study show that beef has enjoyed a 20 percent increase in tenderness compared to beef in 1990. Researchers in the study, which analyzed identical cuts and similar market outlets for 1999 and 1990, attributed the tenderness improvement to several factors: * There were fewer "no roll" steaks in the most recent study, and a higher percentage of steaks grading High Choice or Prime than in the 1990 study; * Beef packers are chilling products for a longer period of time than they did in 1990. Research has shown that cold toughening, caused by a shorter and more rapid chilling period, can play a part in causing beef toughness; * There is a lower incidence of injection-site blemishes and associated toughness in the top sirloin steak, which performed much better than it did in 1990; * The tenderness aging period is longer today than in 1990, for both retail and restaurant beef items. The study did find that improvements are still possible. Some retail cuts from the round, for instance, are at the tough end of the tenderness scale. Because a single cooking method was used, however, the study did not account for other cooking methods that may optimize the palatability of cuts that contain higher connective tissue levels. Completed in 1999, the National Beef Tenderness Survey was conducted on beef from retail stores and restaurants in New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The research was conducted by scientists at Texas A&M University in collaboration with researchers from Penn State University, University of Florida, Iowa State University and Oklahoma State University. |
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
All information is copywrited by Feed Lot magazine and cannot be printed or re-printed
without the publishers express consent. Please contact
Feed Lot Magazine for reprint and copy authorization.
|
||||