The effect of breed on muscle fiber diameter and its relationship to palatability

The various groups that comprise the beef cattle industry have become quite cognizant of the fact that they are producing beef for the consumer and not just selling live animals. Until recent years, more interest was placed on production performance and quality than on carcass quality and cutability. The producer was interested primarily in getting his product to market, and was less concerned with the quality of the end product. Many producers did not know and others were confused as to the characteristics in the live animal that produced the most desirable carcass when hung on the rail. This left the production of highly desirable carcasses as a hit or miss proposition. Many things go into making up the quality factors in beef and present knowledge is lacking in many of these areas. Meat tenderness is one of the quality factors that is of prime concern to the consumer. Regardless of the flavor and juiciness in a cut of meat, if the meat is not tender, the consumer will remember it as a poor cut. At the present time there is little basis for the consumer to use in selecting a tender cut of meat. This is one of the biggest problems facing the meat industry and researchers today. There are many factors that contribute to meat tenderness. Present knowledge of meat tenderness is confusing and in some cases contradictory. It was felt that a study of muscle fiber diameter would be timely in clearing up some of this confusion. With this purpose in mind, a study was undertaken to investigate differences in muscle fiber diameter and their relationship to tenderness, juiciness, flavor, shearing strength, panel evaluations, and other palatability and carcass characteristics.