Relationship between overall liking score and sensory meat attributes in different types of beef cattle

M Gagaoua, D Micol, R I Richardson, J-F Hocquette, et al.

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference Paperpeer-review

Abstract

The present study aimed to explain overall liking score. It investigated sensory meat qualities of 248 animals (steers, young bulls and heifers) of 8 different breeds or cross breeds finished in France, Germany, Ireland and UK. Samples from Longissimus muscle aged for 10 or 14 days and cooked at 55 °C were rated by sensory panels in France (French and German animals) and UK (British and Irish animals). Regression analyses showed that 27% of the variability in overall liking of beef aged 10 days from steers could be explained by the scores for abnormal beef flavour. For beef aged 10 days from heifers, 51% of the variability in overall liking could be explained in terms of tenderness, juiciness, beef flavour and abnormal beef flavour. For beef aged 14 days from bulls, 75% of the overall liking could be explained by tenderness, beef flavour and abnormal beef flavour scores as well as breed effects. Among muscle characteristics analysed, only Citrate synthase activity explained a part of overall liking in young bulls from France and Germany. The results from this study show that to understand the relative contributions of various sensory attributes to overall liking it is necessary to take into account the gender or other aspects of the animal type, and possibly also the laboratory and protocol relative to sensory analysis.
Original languageEnglish
PagesS5-47
Number of pages6
Publication statusPublished - 2013

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