For the vast majority of consumers today, beef quality is an extremely important factor in their purchasing decision. To adapt to this scenario, cattle breeders and slaughterhouses are increasingly investing in measures to bring this product closer to consumer demand.
To achieve this, the segment considers the intrinsic parameters – such as race, gender, age at slaughter – and extrinsic to cattle – such as nutrition, management and environment.
These parameters are considered by experts to be critical to the quality of the meat, contributing to a better aroma, flavor and tenderness of the product. They also consider post-slaughter processing, which affects the preservation and health safety of beef.
To learn more about the parameters related to beef quality, Agrishow Digital spoke with Marcelo Coutinho, executive director of Brazil Beef Quality (BBQ), Welder Baldassini and Luis Artur Chardulo, professors at FMVZ UNESP in Botucatu/SP.
Beef evaluation: laboratory methods or sensory analysis
In Brazil, the main aspects that consumers consider when buying beef at retail are, in order of importance:
- Food safety (where the origin and brand of the product are key)
- Cut type and size
- Staining and
- Amount of fat
All these factors are related to the quality of beef, which requires great care and attention from the sector. In this context, Baldassini and Chardulo, from Unesp, explain that the quality of beef can be evaluated by laboratory methods or sensory analysis.
The first is carried out in the laboratory, using techniques that evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of the meat, such as pH, shear force (instrumental softness), color (brightness, red intensity and yellow intensity) and intramuscular fat content.
There are also mechanical/objective laboratory methods. They use instruments designed to simulate the resistance of the cut of meat during chewing to assess the hardness of the meat.
“The measured value represents the force required to cut a piece of meat perpendicular to the muscle fibers. These measurements can be made on cooked meat, using a Warner-Bratzler blade with thickness and size defined by international protocols”, they point out.
Unlike laboratory methods, sensory analysis relies on people as assessors of meat quality.
The Unesp professors mention that there are two types of evaluators, trained and untrained. “Trained evaluators rate specific attributes, a method in which some individuals (usually 10 to 12) act like “machines” and determine the intensity of an attribute, such as tenderness.
In the analysis of untrained evaluators, on the other hand, the questions may be broader, seeking general impressions of the meat, such as liking or disliking the taste or tenderness of the meat.
“In this method, consumers rate quality attributes such as tenderness, flavor, juiciness and overall satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 100”, they explain.
But regardless of the method or technique used, the most important parameters for beef quality approval are those related to tenderness, flavor and juiciness.
Factors that influence meat quality
Achieving quality beef is the result of a combination of factors. These factors can be divided into those related to agricultural production and those related to industrial processes.
Among the production factors, Marcelo Coutinho highlights the following as the most important ones:
- Genetics (lines, breeds and crosses);
- Food quality (e.g. energy content of the diet);
- Good production practices (sanitary protocols, infrastructure and stress reduction). “The strategies adopted by the producer can result in light, thin and old animals or heavy, fat and young animals”, adds Coutinho.
The BBQ director points out that such factors affect the level of marbling (amount of intramuscular fat), the color of the meat and subcutaneous fat, ossification (physiological maturity) and pH (important indicators of meat tenderness and flavor).
Coutinho also points out that once the animal arrives at the slaughterhouse, it undergoes industrial processes that are crucial to the quality of the meat, such as reception, rest and humane slaughter.
In the refrigerator, the carcass will have the use or not of electrical stimulation, pelvic suspension, adequate cooling, maturation and packaging. “Any failure in any of these processes can affect the final quality of the product”, explains Coutinho.
As meat quality can be influenced by a number of post-mortem factors, studies have shown the benefits of combining technologies such as electrical stimulation, pelvic suspension and maturation to improve sensory quality for consumers, particularly tenderness.
“These technologies can have a positive impact on other beef characteristics such as taste, juiciness and overall satisfaction”, Coutinho concludes.
The cattle breeder also has a responsibility
The Brazilian beef herd is composed mainly of Zebu (Bos indicus), with a predominance of the Nelore genotype.
Many farms in the Southeast and Midwest regions rebreed these animals on pasture, with subsequent termination in confinement, a system in which the use of uncastrated male Nelore cattle is common.
“For several reasons, mainly economic and cultural, this biological production model supplies a large part of the domestic and export market”, point out Baldassini and Chardulo.
However, the Unesp professors point out that the meat of these animals is of limited quality, especially in terms of tenderness, compared to Bos taurus and crossbreeds, and requires a longer maturation period to improve this characteristic.
However, considering the costs of a meat processing industry, very long maturation times can make the product too expensive and infeasible.
Therefore, Baldassini points out the possibility of using crossbred cattle (Bos taurus x Bos indicus) that are finished in confinement and slaughtered young.
“This is a strategy adopted to improve beef production and quality, especially tenderness, in less time.”
In addition, Coutinho notes a growing use of castrated male and female crossbred cattle, as there are consumers who are willing to pay more for higher quality meat products.
“To supply their own meat boutiques, some Brazilian slaughterhouses pay more for carcasses of this organic type (heifers or steers, confined and slaughtered young),” adds the BBQ director.
Tips to improve beef quality
From what we have seen so far, both cattle breeders and slaughterhouses have their place in the production system and play a key role in ensuring meat quality.
Cattle breeders should look for animals with a genetic predisposition for good muscle development, precociousness, docility (more tolerant to stressors) and marbling.
The addition of taurine blood in crossbreeding is also recommended to improve the tenderness of the meat.
Regarding the diet, Unesp professors recommend the use of diets that allow good weight gain throughout the production phase (breeding, rearing and fattening).
As for handling, it is recommended to keep the animals in a quiet environment, avoiding excessive stress and diseases. “Meeting the demands of consumers today is a matter of survival in the activity”, they point out.
In the slaughterhouse, technology is a great ally for companies that want to maintain or even improve the quality of the beef they receive from cattle breeders. Electrical stimulation of the carcass, pelvic suspension and cold room management are essential in this regard.
Consumers have more choices than ever before and are increasingly aware and demanding of the beef they consume.
Companies understand this process and are developing products to meet consumer demands.
