A Survey on Some Parameters of Beef and Buffalo Meat Quality

Abstract

A survey was carried out on 13 Vietnamese Yellow cattle, 14 LaiSind cattle and 18 buffalos in Hanoi to estimate the quality of longissimus dorsi in terms of pH, color, drip loss, cooking loss and tenderness at 6 different postmortem intervals. It was found that the pH value of longissimus dorsi was not significantly different among the 3 breeds (P>0.05), being reduced rapidly during the first 36 hours postmortem, and then stayed stable. The value was in the range that was considered to be normal. Conversely, the color values L*, a* and b* tended to increase and also stable at 36 hours postmortem, except that for LaiSind cattle at 48 hours. According to L* scale, the meat of Yellow and LaiSind cattle met the normal quality but the buffalo meat was considered to be dark cutters. The tenderness of longissimus dorsi was significantly different among the breeds (P<0.05). The value was highest at 48 hours and then decreased for LaiSind and buffalo, but for Yellow cattle the value decreased continuously after slaughtering In terms of tenderness buffalo meat and Yellow cattle meat were classified as “intermediate”, while LaiSind meat was out of this interval and classified as “tough”. Drip loss ratio was increased with the time of preservation (P<0.05). The cooking loss ratio was lowest at 12 hours and higher at the next period, but there was no significant difference among the periods after 36 hours postmotem.Peer reviewe