Consumers relate the color of meat to freshness and base their purchasing decisions on color more frequently than any other quality trait, said Paul Beck, Oklahoma State University Extension beef cattle nutrition specialist, in a letter to Extension agents.
A recent published study from Oklahoma State University meat science researchers noted the US beef industry loses $3.73 billion annually to beef discoloration, Beck said.
Here are some highlights of efforts by OSU Animal and Food Sciences faculty and students to improve beef value:
ANTIOXIDANTS
Gretchan Mafi and Laura Yoder studied natural antioxidants and different packaging types on color and freshness of ground beef, Beck said. Consumers preferred traditional foam trays with PVC plastic overwrap but this may limit shelf life.
Alternatives like “Master Packaging” or “Modified Atmospheric Packaging” will extend shelf life of meat products, Mafi and Yoder said. In an MP, products are first packaged in traditional PVC and placed into a large bag, which is flushed with inert gasses like carbon monoxide, nitrogen or carbon dioxide, to create an anaerobic condition.
Modified Atmospheric Packaging is where beef is placed in rigid trays with air evacuated and then back-flushed with gas mixtures, the pair said.
Rosemary, green tea and a combination of rosemary and green tea were added to ground beef and formed into patties, Mafi and Yoder said. Patties were packaged into PVC, MAP or MP.
However, panelists detected a green-hay flavor in patties with rosemary and rosemary with green tea, they said. However, patties with green tea or regular ground beef patties did not have a detectable green-hay flavor.
All patties in PVC had greater amounts of lipid oxidation and discoloration than those in MAP, they said. In PVC packaging, green tea or rosemary with green tea reduced lipid oxidation and discoloration compared with control or rosemary patties in PVC.
HIGHER pH
Dark-cutting beef has a higher pH from increased stress caused by many factors including transportation, weather and handling, Beck said. A project by Ranjith Ramanthan and Morgan Denzer looked at the effects of packaging type and enhancement of dark cutting beef with glucono delta-lactone and rosemary.
Dark cutting steaks with enhancement had an increase in redness in 24 hours of dark storage, Ramanthan and Morgan said.
DCE steaks packaged in a novel nitrite-embedded packaging improved surface redness during retail display, they said. However, repackaging DCE steaks in PVC decreased color stability and redness of steaks within 12 hours of the display.
The enhancement decreased internal redness upon cooking, and panelists did not notice major tenderness differences, they said.
This research suggests that adopting appropriate packing and enhancement technology has the potential to increase the value of dark-cutting beef.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $182.69 per cwt to $187.04, compared with last week’s range of $182.50 to $187.80 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $286.98 per cwt to $291.23, compared with $287.19 to $292.38.
The USDA choice cutout Thursday was up $1.00 per cwt at $297.76 while select was off $0.10 at $274.77. The choice/select spread widened to $22.99 from $21.89 with 112 loads of fabricated product and 48 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.37 to $1.50 a bushel over the Dec corn contract, which settled at $4.97 1/2 a bushel, up $0.11 1/2.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Wednesday was $251.45 per cwt, down $0.45. This compares with Thursday’s Oct contract settlement of $247.50, up $0.27.