Carcass fatty acid mapping

• Published in: Meat science Vol. 81; no. 4; pp. 658 - 663
• Main Authors: Turk, S.N., Smith, S.B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2009; [Amsterdam]: Elsevier Science; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; beef carcasses; beef cattle; Biological and medical sciences; Bovine; breed differences; brisket; carcass composition; cattle breeds; chuck; fatty acid composition; Fatty acids; flank; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; loins (meat cut); Meat and meat product industries; meat cuts; monounsaturated fatty acids; plate; ribs; saturated fatty acids; sirloin; subcutaneous fat; trans fatty acids; Bovine; Fatty acids; Adipose tissue; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Meat product; Lipids; Artiodactyla; Ungulata
• ISSN: 0309-1740; 1873-4138
• DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2008.11.005

We hypothesized that subcutaneous (s.c.) adipose tissue would differ in monounsaturated (MUFA) and saturated fatty acid (SFA) composition among different depots throughout a beef carcass. To test this, 50 carcasses from a variety of breed types and backgrounds were sampled. External fat samples were collected from eight different carcass locations: round, sirloin, loin, rib, chuck, brisket, plate and flank. The brisket was significantly lower (
P
=
0.001) in palmitic (16:0) and stearic (18:0) acid than the other seven sampling sites. The brisket contained the highest concentration of MUFA (
P
=
0.001) and the lowest concentration of
trans-vaccenic acid (
P
=
0.002) and SFA (
P
⩽
0.002). There was a high, negative correlation between palmitoleic and stearic acid (
R
2
=
0.76). The flank had the highest slip point (39
°C; a measure of melting point), whereas the brisket had the lowest slip point (25
°C) (
P
⩽
0.001). We conclude that substantial differences exist in fatty acid composition across fat depots, which may be useful in formulating value-added processed beef products.