Sensory quality of beef from different finishing diets.

Beef production under different local husbandry systems might have meat sensory quality implications for the marketing of these products abroad. In order to assess the effect of finishing diet systems on beef quality, a trained sensory taste panel assessed meat aged for 20 days from 80 Uruguayan Hereford steers that were finished on one of the following diets: T1=Pasture [4% of animal live weight (LW)], T2=Pasture [3% LW plus concentrate (0.6% LW)], T3=Pasture [3% LW plus concentrate (1.2% LW)], or T4=Concentrate plus hay ad libitum. Beef odour and flavour intensities decreased with an increase in the energy content of the diet. The meat from T2 had the lowest acid flavour and strange odours intensities. In general, steers fed only concentrate plus hay (T4) produced meat that had an inferior sensory quality because they had more pronounced off-flavours and was tougher.

Effect of finishing diet on consumer acceptability of Uruguayan beef in the European market.

Eighty Hereford steers were used to evaluate the effect of finishing diet [A: pasture, B: pasture plus concentrate (0.6% live weight), C: pasture plus concentrate (1.2% live weight), D: concentrate] on consumer acceptability of Uruguayan beef in France (FR), United Kingdom (UK), Spain (ES) and Germany (DE). Consumers (200 per country) evaluated overall, tenderness and flavour acceptability of beef (8 point scale: 1 'dislike extremely', 8 'like extremely'). FR and UK rated lower acceptability scores for beef from D compared with A, B, and C. ES showed similar results for tenderness, but flavour scores did not differ between A and D. German consumers preferred beef from B and C. Overall, low levels of supplementation on pasture produced beef with the highest consumer acceptability followed by beef from pasture-fed animals. Feeding cattle with concentrate only may not be necessary to satisfy the EU market resulting in more profitable production systems for Uruguayan producers.

Fatty acid composition and sensory traits of beef fed palm oil supplements.

This study measured the effect of replacing dietary fat from an animal source with palm oil supplements on the intramuscular fatty acid profile and sensory quality traits of the meat from young bulls. Thirty-six entire male Friesian calves (mean age=6.8±1.1 months, mean live weight=162.5±28.6kg) were assigned to one of four isoenergetic (1.03 MFU/kg DM) and isoproteinic (15.5% CP) diets, that differed in their fat additives: (D1) lard-tallow mix (control); (D2) hydrogenated palm oil fatty acids (PFA); (D3) calcium salt of partially hydrogenated PFA, and (D4) calcium salt of the fatty acid distillate from palm oil. Bulls (mean live weight=391.3±30.3kg) were slaughtered under commercial conditions and sensory tests were performed to evaluate the effects of the four diets and ageing time (1, 10, and 21d). Only the proportions of C16:0 and C18:0 were significantly affected by the palm oil dietary supplement. Ageing time affected grass odour, tenderness, juiciness, fibrosity, liver flavour, and acid flavour. Nevertheless, palm oil supplements did not negatively alter the organoleptic characteristics of the meat.

Effect of social dominance on the meat quality of young Friesian bulls.

This study examined whether social status of the animals influenced the productive, morphological, physiological, and meat quality parameters in young Friesian bulls. The social dominance index (SDI) was estimated by direct observation of the dominance relationships among animals living in a feedlot. Thirty young bulls were divided into three groups based on their social status as assessed by SDI. The social status of the animals had a small effect on daily growth rate, but did not affect carcass or meat quality parameters. Physiological measures of stress were also unaffected by the animals' social status.

Fatty acid composition of meat from typical lamb production systems of Spain, United Kingdom, Germany and Uruguay.

The fatty acid composition of commercial lambs from different production systems of Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and of two types of Uruguayan lambs (heavy and light) was studied. Concentrate fed lambs, as Spanish lambs, displayed the highest proportions of linoleic acid (C18:2), while Uruguayan lambs, reared under extensive grazing conditions, showed the highest proportions of linolenic acid (C18:3), due to the great concentration of this fatty acid in grass. German and British lambs, which were fed grass and concentrate, displayed intermediate proportions of linolenic acid (C18:3). Heavy Uruguayan lambs had higher intramuscular fat content (5.92%) than German (4.25%) and British (4.32%) lambs, and this content was twofold higher than light lambs (Spanish (2.41%) and light Uruguayan (3.05%)). Heavy Uruguayan, German and British lambs had a low polyunsaturated/saturated (P/S) ratio due to their high saturated fatty acid (SFA) content and proportion. Principal component analysis was performed to study the relationship between fatty acids. Spanish lambs were clearly separated from the other types and were situated close to the proportions of short chain and n-6 fatty acids and n-6/n-3 ratio in the data plot for fatty acid proportions. Light Uruguayan lambs were located close to long chain fatty acids, and heavy Uruguayan and British lambs were placed near the antithrombotic potential (ATT), stearic acid (C18:0), SFA and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) proportions. German lambs were located between Spanish lambs and the other types.