The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of aged meat from different
commercial beef cuts. The three commercial cuts, internal abdominal oblique,
semitendinosus and tensor fascia lata of F1 Angus x Nellore females aged 23 months
reared on pasture receiving supplementation were aged for 7 and 14 days and
evaluated the shear force, pH, colorimetry (luminosity, red index, yellow index, chroma
and hue) and losses in the process of aging and cooking process. From each section,
three samples were taken (2.54 cm thick steaks) sectioned transversely to the muscle.
The steaks were individually identified as to muscle, repetition and maturation time,
were vacuum-packed in a flexible film with a high oxygen barrier and were matured
under refrigeration at 2 to 4°C in a refrigerator with controlled temperature. When
observing the pH values, at day 0, the pH was lower than at days 7 and 14, where they
obtained an increase, keeping at an adequate level, in between 5,6 the 5,8 as the
shear force verified the softness, the values at day 0 were the highest and in the day
7 and 14 suffered reductions due to the maturation process, which concludes that the
semitendinosus is considered not very soft without the aging process, while the other
cuts were classified as moderate tenderness. The tensor fascia lata and internal
abdominal oblique, regardless of the aging time, were classified as very tender meat.
|
