Relationships among selected carcass traits and cooked meat palatability were studied on 240 carcasses obtained from steers of different biological types produced under a wide range of feeding regimens. Breed type of steer or feeding regimen had little or no effect on correlations among taste panel (TP) scores for tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and general acceptability. Treatments also had little effect on correlations of conformation, lean color, lean texture, and final maturity with TP observations. Late maturing breeds of steers and steers fed on low energy regimens were rated more youthful than early maturing breeds of steers and steers fed on high energy regimens. Marbling, percentage of longissimus muscle (LM) fat, quality grade, and adjusted fat thickness independently accounted for 2 to 3% of the variation in TP tenderness and 6 to 8% of the variation in TP acceptability
