Effects of Marbling on Meat Quality Characteristics and Intramuscular Connective Tissue of Beef Longissimus Muscle

Li, Chunbao; Zhou, Guanghong; Xu, Xinglian; Zhang, Jingbo; Xu, Shuqin; Ji, Yanfeng

doi:2006.19.12.1799

Article

Animal Products

Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 2006;19(12): 1799-1808.
https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2006.1799 Published online September 29, 2006.

Effects of Marbling on Meat Quality Characteristics and Intramuscular Connective Tissue of Beef Longissimus Muscle

Chunbao Li, Guanghong Zhou, Xinglian Xu, Jingbo Zhang, Shuqin Xu, Yanfeng Ji

Abstract

This study was designed to explore the effects of marbling on meat quality characteristics and intramuscular connective tissue of beef longissimus muscle. Chemical determinations, histological and mechanical measurements were performed on the raw and cooked meat at d 4 postmortem. The results showed that crude fat, collagen, fiber diameter and maximum transition temperature of intramuscular connective tissue increased (p<0.05) with the increase of marbling score. The cooking losses, collagen solubility, WBSF and perimysial thickness decreased (p<0.05) with the increasing marbling. WBSF correlated (p<0.05) with moisture, crude fat, collagen, cooking losses, sarcomere length and perimysial thickness. The development of marbling results in the decline in cooking losses, the avoidance of sarcomere shortening, and the disorganization of the perimysia, which accounts for the improvement of beef tenderness.

Keywords: Marbling; Tenderness; Connective Tissue; Longissimus