Cow Muscle Profiling: A Comparison of Chemical and Physical Properties of 21 Muscles from Beef and Dairy Cow Carcasses

About 43% of the meat from cow carcasses is sold into the boxed beef trade. This research was conducted to compare muscles from beef and dairy cows in an effort to identify optimal uses for cow muscles. Twenty-one muscles from beef and dairy cow carcasses were analyzed for objective color, total heme-iron, total collagen, pH, expressible moisture and proximate composition. Wide variation was observed for all properties measured. Effects of breed type on all measured traits were minimal except in the case of percent moisture. These results indicate muscles from beef and dairy cows are similar in chemical and physical properties. Opportunities exist to upgrade the value of selected cow muscles

Impact of Feeding NaturSafe® (An Immune Support Product) on Beef Quality

Th e objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feeding NaturSafe® and the potential impact on meat quality characteristics in beef. Steers were fed one of five diets: a control with dietary antibiotics, a control without dietary antibiotics, or a diet without antibiotics containing 12 g/d/, 15 g/d/, or 18 g/d/ of NaturSafe® for a period of 112 d. Following harvest, strip loins were collected, aged for 13 or 29 d and placed under retail display conditions for 0 or 7 d. Feeding NaturSafe® at 12 g/d or 15 g/d resulted in tenderness (shear force) values less than or equal to the control diets. Differences in color were observed between the NaturSafe® levels and the control diets. However, feeding NaturSafe® had minimal discernible effects overall, on meat quality

Benchmarking the Differences Between Cow and Beef Muscles

Some muscles from the different populations of cows evaluated have similar chemical and physical properties to muscles from A-maturity, USDA Select grade cattle. Perhaps those muscles from cows could be utilized in a manner that would increase their value. Fifteen carcasses were selected from five populations (fed beef cows, non-fed beef cows, fed dairy cows, non-fed dairy cows, and Select grade beef) and nine muscles per carcass were characterized. Most muscles from cows were darker in color, had higher pH values, and had greater heme iron content than muscles from younger cattle, which may be undesirable to consumers. Supplemental technology may be needed to upgrade muscles from cow carcasses