The effect of muscle excision before the onset of rigor mortis on the palatability of beef

Summary A study has been made to determine if organoleptically and microbiologically acceptable beef could be produced by pre‐rigor excision followed by rigor setting and short‐term aging of bovine muscle. Six carcasses (three steers, two young bulls and one old bull) were subjected to each of three treatments: (1) the control side of each carcass was chilled at 9°C for 24 hr; (2) one sample (PRE‐24) from each of five sites on the other side of each carcass was removed pre‐rigor and stored at 15°C for 24 hr; (3) one sample (PRE‐48) from each of five sites was stored at 15°C for 48 hr. Although the PRE‐24 samples of the middle of the biceps femoris, anterior longissimus, and posterior longissimus were generally assessed to be similar to their controls in tenderness and other organoleptic properties a further 24 hr storage at 15°C resulted in a significant tenderization of the PRE‐48 samples from these locations relative to their controls ( P < 0.05). There was no treatment effect on the semimembranosus, whereas the semitendinosus toughened after being excised pre‐rigor. Mean bacterial numbers were held within the range 10 2 −10 5 /cm 2 muscle surface after 48 hr storage at 15°C in a sealed, gas‐impermeable bag. The investigation shows that a procedure for the pre‐rigor excision of bovine muscle can produce organoleptically acceptable beef of a satisfactory microbiological standard.