L12

• Value of a carcass

  Quantity of saleable meat x Quality of the meat

  
• Market Requirements


  • Consumer preferences
  • Production driven
  • Market led
• Balance of the two (consumer preferences and production driven) is what is important
• What market are we supplying

  Ultimate consumer or intermediate consumer
• What is Quality Then?

  • Eating Quality
  • Brands
  • Labels
  • Production System
  • Intrinsic
  • Extrinsic
• CONSUMER AND PRODUCT PRINCIPAL CONCERNS

  • Palatability characteristics (tenderness, flavour, juiciness)
  • Safety & wholesomeness of the product
  • Nutritive value
  • Appearance characteristics (colour of the lean & fat, texture, firmness, fatness)
  • Yield of edible meat/kg bought
  • Price/kg
  • Packaging & presentation
  • Ease of preparation
  • Storage requirements
  • Cooking/handling instructions
  • Nutritional information
  • Previous experiences
  • Production system used
  • Brand name/advertising
• Characteristics of the beef carcass

  • Saleable meat yield
  • Percentage of more valuable cuts
  • Processing properties of the meat (if it is to be processed further)

  
• Characteristics of the growing animal

  • Dressing-out percentage
  • The rate and efficiency of growth
  • The composition of growth
  • Complementarity with other farm activities
• Beef Quality characteristics


  • Appearance Characteristics: Beef meat colour, Beef fat colour, Beef texture, Beef firmness, Fatness
  • Palatability characteristics: Tenderness, Flavour, Juiciness
• Tenderness


  Measured by Warner Bratzler shear machine and MRINZ tenderometer
• Flavour


  Taste and aroma
• Juiciness


  Water content and salivation (fat content)
• Sensory or taste panels

  Mechanical or objective measures
• BEEF - Traits to measure

  • Eye Muscle Area
  • Fat Colour
  • Rib fat depth
  • Marbling or IMF%
  • Meat Colour & pH
• Where are the opportunities?

  • More accurate carcass evaluation: Closer reflection of retail value and consumer preference
  • Online measurements of SMY (saleable meat yield) and MEQ (meat eating quality)
  • Very important for breeding decisions (performance recording)
  • Sorting of carcasses for greater product consistency
  • Guarantee of tenderness

  
• Objective measure


  One in which an instrument or machine or some measuring device is used
• Subjective measure


  Use of human sense to make a judgment about the level of a measurement
• Near Infra Red Spectroscopy (NIRS)

  Scan meat surface, non destructive fast, Predict peak slice shear force values (ie tenderness)
• Video Image Analysis (VIA)


  Can predict Sirloin and Fillet weight
• Traits we COULD measure

  • Water holding capacity
  • Sarcomere lengths
  • Fat composition
  • Connective tissue
  • Shear force
  • Enzyme levels
• Examples of Sensory analysis results for cube-roll steaks using a trained tasting panel

  
• Nutritive Value Characteristics


  • Fat content – saturated v unsaturated
  • Lean meat content
  • Nutrient density
  • High biological value
  • Mineral zinc and iron

  
• Measurement of carcass composition

  • The accuracy of the method
  • Costs associated with the method
  • The speed of operation
  • The extent to which the method is destructive or invasive
  • Simplicity and ease of operation
• Dressing out %


  Carcass wt / Live wt x 100/1
• Typical dressing-out percent values for prime P2-type cattle in New Zealand are 50 to 55 % based on a full live weight and a hot carcass weight
• Saleable Meat Yield (SMY)

  Retail beef yield is the total weight of boneless cuts, trimmed to 3 mm fat cover, plus weights trimmed to 10 mm for the remainder, expressed as a percentage of recovered side weight

  
• Saleable Meat yield is between 65 – 72% of carcass weight and 35 – 38% of live weight

  
• Distribution of Muscle and Fat

  • Muscle distribution usually expressed as weights of individual muscles or muscle groups relative to total muscle
  • Fat – fat partitioning (in different depots)
  • Intramuscular fat (marbling) decreasing subcutaneous fat levels
• Carcass Shape


  • Conformation = (Muscle + fat) thickness relative to a skeletal dimension
  • Muscularity = Muscle thickness relative to a skeletal dimension
  • Fleshiness = (Muscle + intermuscular fat) thickness relative to a skeletal dimension
• Beef carcass classification Factors in NZ System

  • Animal Age: Bobby calf, Heifer
  • Animal Gender: Steers, Heifers, Cow, Bull
• Beef carcass classification Factors in NZ System

  • Fat Classes: Steer Class A L P T F, Prime Cow P T and F, Manufacturing cow (under 4 mm), Bull M (under 3 mm) and TM (3 mm and over)

  
• Summary


  • Current beef carcass evaluation: no direct measures of eating quality, no eating quality measures (except Silver Fern Farms), lack of consumer focus
  • A value-based marketing system: use objective measures, improve consumer to producer links, use saleable meat yields, consider eating quality

  
• Criteria for Silver Fern Farms EQ system

  • Ultimate pH
  • Marbling
  • Ossification
  • Rib Fat depth
  • Meat colour
  • Fat Colour
  • Eye muscle area