PART 2

• The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 made inspection mandatory for all meat crossing state lines or entering the US through foreign commerce
• Meat inspection


  Responsibility of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
• Meat inspection guarantees only the wholesomeness and does not ensure quality or tenderness of the meat

  
• Meat inspection


  • Conducted by licensed veterinarians or specially trained, supervised inspectors
• Meat inspection


  1. Examine live animals prior to slaughter and animal carcasses

  2. Observe the meat at various stages

  3. Monitor temperatures and additives

  4. Review packaging materials and labels

  5. Determine employee and facility hygiene

  6. Check imported meat

  
• The grading of meat is not under government mandate or control, but is a strictly voluntary procedure that the meat packer or distributed may have done under contract with USDA

  
• Meat grading


  Cut is made between the twelfth and thirteenth rib in order to expose the rib muscle
• Tenderness of meat


  • Cut of meat
  • Animal's age at slaughter (connective tissue concentration)
  • Animal's heredity and diet
  • Meat's marbling
  • Slaughtering conditions
  • Aging

  
• Cut


  • Location of the muscle form which the meat came
  • Muscles that are note exercised are tougher than those are not, due to higher concentrations of connective tissue

  
• Tough meat cuts

  • Chuck
  • Round
  • Flank steak
  • Short plate
  • Shank
  • Short ribs
  • Rump roast
  • Brisket

  
• Tender meat cuts

  • Sirloin
  • Tenderloin
  • Rib eye
  • Strip steak
  • Strip loin
  • T-bone steak
  • Standing rib roast

  
• Intermediate tenderness meat cuts

  • Flank
  • Chuck
  • Top blade
  • Skirt steaks

  
• Tenderness of meat


  • As muscle age, the diameter of the muscle fiber increases and more connective tissue develops, resulting in toughening of the meat
  • Beef from Black Angus cattle, which are bred to be heavily muscled and marbled, will be very different from meat obtained from dairy cattle
  • Grain-fed cattle yield ground beef that is more tender and better flavored than that from cattle fed hay or left to feed on the range

  
• Marbling


  • Fattening animals before slaughter is thought to increase tenderness by increasing marbling and the development of subcutaneous fat
  • Amount of subcutaneous fat contributes to tenderness by delaying the speed at which the carcass chills when refrigerated
• When choosing meat cuts, consumers seem to prefer lean-looking meats over marbled ones, but usually reverse their choices in a taste test after those same cuts are prepared

  
• Rigor mortis


  • Temporary stiff state following death as muscles contract
  • Occurs within 6 to 24 hours after slaughter
  • Reverses naturally 1 or 2 days after slaughter
• Rigor mortis


  • The way the meat is handled during this period is important as it can affect pH, which influences meat quality
  • A pH that is too low or too high results in less than desirable meat
  • Meat pH changes because the oxygen-deprived cells switch to glycogen as an energy source

  
• Slaughtering conditions affecting meat quality

  • Poor quality
  • Dark-cutting beef
  • Pale, soft, and exudative pork
  • Thaw rigor
  • Cold shortening
  • Green meat

  
• Aging


  • Improves the meat's juiciness, tenderness, flavor, color, and ability to brown during heating
  • Enzymes break down the muscle tissue, improving its texture and flavor

  
• Aging


  • Hanging the carcass also aids in the aging process by stretching the muscles
  • The animal's species, size, age, and activity before slaughter influence how long rigor mortis lasts
  • Beef takes about 10 days to age
  • Top quality beef is aged longer (6 weeks)
• Mutton is sometimes aged, but pork and veal from such young animals that aging is not required
• Aging

  • The fat in pork tends to go rancid quickly, and the veal's lack of protective fat covering causes it to dry out too quickly
  • Dry aging, fast or wet aging, vacuum-packed aging
• Enzymes


  The reason that contracted muscle being to "relax" toward the end of rigor mortis is that proteolytic enzymes work internally to break down proteins within the muscle fibrils
• Artificial tenderizing - Enzymes


  • Injecting a tenderizing solution of papain into the bloodstream 10 minutes before slaughter
  • Increase tenderness, but shortens the time of rigor mortis and aging
• Artificial tenderizing - Salts


  • Can increased tenderness (i.e., potassium, calcium, or magnesium chloride)
  • Retain moisture and break down the component that surrounds the muscle fibers, resulting in the release of proteins
  • Polyphosphates are added to improve the meat's juiciness by increased water retention ability
  • Can also increase firmness, emulsion stability, and antimicrobial activity
  • Increase water retention capacity is accompanied by an increase in sodium concentration
• Artificial tenderizing - Acids


  • Application of marinades containing acids or alcohols, which break down the outside surface of the meat
  • Vinegar, wine, lemon, tomato, and other fruit juices
  • They increase flavor and contribute to color
  • Maximum benefit can be obtained by increasing the surface are of the meat
• Marinades penetrate only the surface of the meat and are not effective at tenderizing large cuts of meat or poultry
• Artificial tenderizing - Mechanical


  • Grinding, cubing, needling, and pounding
  • Physically break the muscle cells and connective tissue, making the meat easier to chew
  • Grinding and cubing increase the surface-area-to-volume ratio
  • Needling uses needle-like blades into the meat, separating the tissue
  • Pounding the meat with a special hammer that breaks apart its surface tissue
• Artificial tenderizing - Electric stimulation


  • Application of an electric current which is passed through the carcass after slaughter and before the onset of rigor mortis
  • Speeds up rigor mortis by accelerating glycogen breakdown and enzyme activity, which disrupts protein structure, making the meat more tender