Relationship between collagen characteristics, lipid content and raw and cooked texture of meat from young bulls of fifteen European breeds.
Variations in texture were determined for 10 day aged raw and cooked Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle from 436 bulls of 15 European cattle breeds slaughtered at an age of 13-16 months. Variations in texture were related to differences in pH 24 h post-mortem, sarcomere length, collagen characteristics and lipid content. The shear force of cooked meat samples varied from 43.8 to 67.4 N/cm². Simmental, Highland and Marchigiana cattle had the highest shear force values and Avileña-Negra Ibérica, Charolais, Casina and Pirenaica cattle had the lowest values. Cooked meat toughness showed a weak negative correlation to lipid content (P<0.001) but no correlation to collagen characteristics. Raw meat texture measured by compression correlated positively (P<0.001) with total and insoluble collagen. In conclusion, collagen characteristics showed correlation to raw meat texture but not to cooked meat toughness of LT muscle in European young bulls.
Christensen
Mette
M
Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark. mec@life.ku.dk
Ertbjerg
Per
P
Failla
Sebastiana
S
Sañudo
Carlos
C
Richardson
R Ian
RI
Nute
Geoff R
GR
Olleta
José L
JL
Panea
Begoña
B
Albertí
Pere
P
Juárez
Manuel
M
Hocquette
Jean-François
JF
Williams
John L
JL
D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002417:Cattle / Q000145:classification; D003094:Collagen / Q000032:analysis*; D003296:Cooking; D005524:Food Technology; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D012518:Sarcomeres; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
D008055:Lipids; D003094:Collagen