Prediction of consumer palatability in beef using visual marbling scores and chemical intramuscular fat percentage

• Published in: Meat science Vol. 181; p. 108322
• Main Authors: Stewart, S.M., Gardner, G.E., McGilchrist, P., Pethick, D.W., Polkinghorne, R., Thompson, J.M., Tarr, G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2021
• Subjects: Eating quality; IMF; M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum; Meat quality; M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum; IMF; Eating quality; Meat quality
• ISSN: 0309-1740; 1873-4138
• DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2020.108322

With development of objective technologies that can predict chemical intramuscular fat percentage (IMF%), there is a need to understand the relationships between existing marbling traits, IMF% and eating quality. This study utilised historical carcass data (n = 9641 observations) from the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) industry research dataset and included MSA grading data, chemical IMF% data and weighted composite eating quality scores (MQ4). Several analyses were performed to assess the prediction of MQ4 by MSA marbling, M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum (striploin) IMF% and cut specific IMF%. Results demonstrated that there was similar precision between chemical IMF% (R2 = 0.32, RSE = 11.8) and MSA marbling (R2 = 0.28, RSE = 11.9) in the prediction of grilled 14 day aged striploin MQ4, with similar results across other cut by cook by days aged combinations. These results support the development of objective technologies that predict chemical IMF% in parallel with MSA marbling for carcass grading and the prediction of eating quality.
•Intramuscular fat (IMF%) was moderate to highly correlated across ten different beef cuts.•Striploin IMF% could predict the IMF% of other cuts with moderate precision.•Increasing IMF% and MSA marbling improved consumer eating quality scores across multiple cuts.•IMF% and MSA marbling predicted eating quality with similar precision.