Associations among animal, carcass, muscle characteristics, and fresh meat color traits in Charolais cattle

Mohammed Gagaoua (1) , Brigitte Picard (1) , Valérie Monteils (1)

1 UMRH - Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213

This study investigated the effects of animal, carcass and muscle characteristics on initial color traits of steaks from 887 Charolais cattle. First, the fixed factors of year of birth, experiment and sex had strong impacts on color traits. From the covariates, increased age lead to intense color (low h*, −1.55 units) and darker and vivid meat (high a*, b* and C*: +4.56, +3.41 and +5.61, respectively). Increases in fatness score and carcass fat weight were associated with increases in a*, b* and C* (redness; +2.90 to +4.06 for a*; yellowness; +2.60 to +3.76 for b*; and vividness, +3.87 to +5.49 for C*) and a darker colored lean (L*; −1.56 to −3.23). As pH24h increased, a* (less red) and C* (less vivid) decreased (−3.06), whereas hue angle increased (+2.69) leading to poorer color. The selection of animals for high degree of muscularity or slaughter weight resulted in lighter and darker meat, respectively. The studied covariates could be used as indicators of Charolais beef color traits.

Mots clés: Beef color; Sex; Animal and carcass properties; Carcass grading; chemometrics

Mots clés: classification des carcasses; sexe; race bovine charolaise; couleur de la viande; chimiométrie

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Mohammed Gagaoua, Brigitte Picard, Valérie Monteils. Associations among animal, carcass, muscle characteristics, and fresh meat color traits in Charolais cattle. Meat Science, 2018, ⟨10.1016/j.meatsci.2018.03.004⟩. ⟨hal-01727156⟩