Wet aging effect on beef meat physical traits

The aim of this work was to study the evolution of meat quality traits during wet aging. Two hundred and two samples of longissimus lumborum muscle belonging to four genotypes (Limousine, Charolaise, Romagnola and crossbreed) were randomly sampled at the same slaughterhouse from April 2015 to June 2016. Slaughter age ranged from 11 to 30 months, while carcass weight ranged from 147 to 482 kg. longissimus lumborum was collected from the right half-carcass the day after slaughtering and 4 steaks were obtained by hand cutting. One steak was analysed the same day of sampling (day 1), the remaining three steaks were vacuum packaged and stored at 4°C to perform wet aging at three different aging period (4, 9 and 14 days). Determinations carried out at each time were: pH, moisture, colour parameters L, a and b, with Minolta chromameter CR200, finally TPA analysis were performed using a Zwick/Roell Z2.5 instrument. Data were analysed using the ‘lsmeans’ package of R software. Statistical model included the fixed effects of breed (4 levels), day (4 levels) and the covariate effects of carcass weight and slaughter age. Due to the difference height of the steaks this measure was included as covariate for TPA traits. Results show that pH did not change significantly during the aging period, on the contrary L (from 41.86 to 43.13), a(from 21.78 to 20.49) and b(from 6.45 to 7.16) changed significantly. Moisture was also significantly affected by the aging period (from 73.71% to 72.99%) as well as the TPA (from 0.7 N to 0.43 N) and chewiness (from 5.06 J to 3.09 J) decreased significantly with the aging period, while cohesiveness and springiness remained constant. In conclusion, wet aging could be considered a good alternative to dry aging; changes in meat colour, although statistically significant, are egligible, and loss of water during aging is contained. Vacuum packaging does not influence negatively meat tenderization process as confirmed by the reduction of hardness, gumminess and chewiness.