Introducing an Angle Adjustable Cutting Box for Analyzing Slice Shear Force in Meat

Summary

Slice shear force is a reference method for beef texture analysis. Using an angle adjustable cutting box could increase its accuracy for research purposes. The results from different locations within the longissimus muscle show a high correlation with Warner-Bratzler shear force methodology and high potential adaptability for different muscles.

Abstract

Research indicates the fibre angle of the longissimus muscle can vary, depending upon location within a steak and throughout the muscle. Instead of using the original fixed 45 ° or 90 ° cutting angle for testing shear force, a variable angle cutting box can be adjusted so the angles of the knives correspond to the fibre angle of each sample. Within 2 min after cooking to an internal temperature of 71 °C on an open-hearth grill set at 210 °C, a 1 cm by 5 cm core is cut from the steak, parallel to muscle fibre direction, using 2 knife blades set 1 cm apart. This warm core is then subjected to the Slice Shear Force protocol (SSF) to evaluate meat texture. The use of the variable angle cutting box and the SSF protocol provides an accurate representation of the maximal shear force, as the slice and muscle fibres are consistently parallel. Therefore, the variable angle cutting box, in conjunction with the SSF protocol, can be used as a high-throughput technique to accurately evaluate meat tenderness in different locations of the longissimus muscle and, potentially, in other muscles.

Introduction

Tenderness is one of the most important quality attributes in meat¹. Inconsistency in beef tenderness has been identified as one of the major problems facing the beef industry². The Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) test, characterized by a triangular hole in a precisely machined shear plate, is the most widespread method used to indicate meat sensory tenderness^3,4, as it is the instrumental method that arguably has shown the best correlation with sensory panel scores for meat toughness⁵. However, the slice shear force protocol (SSF) has become an important technique for analyzing muscle texture and tenderness⁶, ....

Protocol

1. Steak Collection

1. Following grading at 24 hr - 48 hr post slaughter, the longissimus muscle (either the thoracic and/or lumborum end) is removed from beef carcasses and collected for quality analysis.
2. The muscle is trimmed of subcutaneous fat and squared off. The muscle is then cut into 2.5 cm (1 in) steaks following safety and food handling protocols. Following the cutting of individual steaks, appropriate labels (animal number, side, muscle location, or time) are placed on the respective steak.
3. Steaks are then prepared for storage. If they are to remain fresh, they are placed on a tray and taken to the....

Results

Thirty-one finished commercial beef steers were slaughtered and their carcasses (528 - 601 kg) were split. In order to create variability in tenderness, right sides were immediately stored at 2 °C, while the left sides were held at 10 °C for 3 hr and then at 2 °C. The longissimus muscles from right and left sides were removed 24 hr after slaughter. Samples from the right sides ("TOUGH" treatment) were analyzed that day, while samples from the left side ("TENDER" treatment) were aged for 6 d before be.......

Discussion

The angle adjustable box ensures the SSF blade always shears muscle fibres at a true perpendicular angle, rather than approximately perpendicular which could happen with a fixed 45 ° angle cut⁸. The application of the variable angle cutting box allows for more accurate depictions of the maximal shear force in a sample, and it is on this basis of improving objective quality analysis techniques that the variable angle cutting box was developed. Furthermore, the wide range of angles presented by the angle adj.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Name of equipment	Company	Catalogue number
Vacuum Packager	Koch Equipment, Kansas City, MO, USA	Model UV2100
Vacuum bags	Winpak Ltd., Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Thermocouples and Scanning Device	Agilent / Hewlett Packard, Santa Clara, CA, USA	34970A Data Acquisition Switch Unit
Grill	Garland Commercial Ranges Ltd., Mississauga, ON, Canada	Model ED-30-B
Crisco Vegetable Shortening	The J.M. Smucker Company, Orrville, OH, USA
Sample sizing box	G-R Manufacturing Co., Manhattan, KS, USA
Angle adjustable box	Innovation Centre, Red Deer College, Red Deer, AB, Canada
Texture Analyzer Machine	Texture Technologies, Hamilton, MA, USA	Model TA-XT Plus
Load Cell, 50 kg	Texture Technologies, Hamilton, MA, USA	TA-XT Plus
USDA Warner-Bratzler knife w/guillotine block	Texture Technologies, Hamilton, MA, USA	TA-7
Flat rectangle Blade for Slice Shear Force	Texture Technologies, Hamilton, MA, USA	TA-7C