Graphical Abstract
Consumers rate meat tenderness as one of the most important quality traits underlying their purchasing decisions. Genetics, postmortem impacts and cooking methods contribute to eating quality of beef products (Warner et al., 2021). Extended postmortem aging (> 28 d) results in increased protein degradation leading to improved Warner Bratzler shear force values (Matney et al., 2021). However, a protracted aging period can lead to a reduction in palatability attributes arguing that further refinements are needed (Vossen et al., 2022). A recent paper by Tuell et al (2022) demonstrated that tumbling in combination with aging led to increased myofibrillar protein degradation and improved consumer perceptions of tenderness in some cuts of beef. These results provide additional insight into the roles of physical and biochemical disruption of proteins to meat quality.
References
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