Contributing factors to beef meat quality

Price and quality are key factors for success in food markets and as such are important both for the competitiveness and economic efficiency of firms and of the while supply chain in meeting consumer demands.

The price premium, which high quality products receive compared to low price products, is one measure (in this case financial) of the quality of a product.

The quality characteristics of beef as with any other meat are very important to the ultimate eating satisfaction of the consumer. Meat quality is defined in terms of consumer acceptability and it’s determined by properties and various factors such as tenderness, juiciness, color and flavor may be influenced by changes occurring during the conversion of muscle to meat.

These properties are not easily accessed by a visual approach of the carcass and they are related to human perception, so that they can change depending of geographic, commercial psychologist aspects.

Similar, the post slaughter fabrication and handling steps by the muscle foods processor can affect the ultimate eating quality of fresh and previously frozen beef products.

Microbial growth if permitted to continue will render meats unacceptable to consumers. The ultimate goal of the beef industry is to produce high quality products that consumers will enjoy and purchase again.

Factors contributing to the sensory quality characteristics of meat include breed, intra-muscular fat content; calpastatin and u-calpain gene status, Halothane gene status, ryanodine receptor gene status, diet, antemortem handling and ultimate pH.

In Japan, beef marbling is considered one of the most important factors that determined beef eating quality and high marbled beef is usually consumed.
Contributing factors to beef meat quality

Nutrition of beef cattle

In the United States, the sale of cattle for beef is the number one source of income to agriculture by a wide margin.

Most successful year around production of beef cattle usually depends upon the degree of attainment reached in meeting their day-to-day nutrient requirements.

Nutrition is an important modulator of immune function and can often tip the balance between health and disease.

Nutrition plays a key role in production success. In cattle, one of the most studied nutrition relationships is the effect of dietary energy and body energy reserves on postpartum breeding performance.

Feeding grain is common in feedlots. Corn or maize is the most prevalent followed by grain sorghum, barley and wheat.

Corn is a relatively abundant and inexpensive energy source containing approximately 70% starch. In feedlot diets, calcium supplementation is required in all cases, owing to the low concentration of calcium in basal ingredients such as grain.
Nutrition of beef cattle