KANSAS CITY, Mo. – American retailers throw away more than $1 billion each year because of discolored beef.
An American study that tracks beef on the hoof to the retail case showed that feeding cattle at least 500 international units of vitamin E makes a substantial difference in the appearance of beef in the store.
“When a retail customer looks at beef in the supermarket, they account for freshness by looking at the color,” said meat researcher Gary Smith of Colorado State
University.
Short shelf life is costly for retailers.
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Discolored steaks are marked down by as much as $2 a package or get reworked into hamburger or stew meat at a discount price. If the damage is too great, the meat is dumped, said Smith.
By using vitamin E, about $25 per carcass could be recovered, Smith estimated.
The results of a study on the benefits of vitamin E supplements were released Jan. 29 at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention here.
The positive effects of vitamin E have been under study since 1993 but this most recent co-operative research program was the first of this magnitude.
More than 235,000 feedlot cattle were involved. Cattle were placed in three feedlots in California, Texas and Colorado. Packers included Harris, IBP and Montfort. The meat was sent to Holiday Plus stores in Minnesota, Safeway in Denver, Kroger’s in Houston and Scolari’s in Reno. Several Japanese retailers also participated in the study.
More than 1,200 cuts of meat were tracked in stores Oct. 15 to Dec. 24.
“We wanted to determine in numbers of hours how much additional case life we were able to get on key beef cuts if we followed them out to the point to where they were no longer salable,” said Smith.
They got 10 additional hours for ground beef, 22 extra hours for round steak and a full day for loin steaks.
Feeding vitamin E to feedlot cattle is analogous to sprinkling ascorbic acid on apples or bananas to keep the fruit from turning brown.
Brad Morgan of Oklahoma State University said cattle must receive the vitamin E every day for 100 days to be effective.
Animals store the vitamin in their fat tissue. It is not toxic even at higher doses and does not affect people eating the meat.
Beef might turn color because of bacteria speeding up decay. More often, brownish splotches on steaks or rusty looking hamburger occur because of oxidization. While it’s still safe to eat, it looks unappetizing. Most people want their meat to be a bright cherry red with white fat.
Vitamin E slows oxidization because of a component called alpha-tocopherol. But if a store does not handle the meat properly, nothing can prevent damage already done if meat is exposed to bacteria.
“It will not extend the case life of beef if it’s dirty,” said Smith.
Mike Engler of Cactus Feeders outside Amarillo, Texas said in feedlots it costs $3.50 per head to supplement rations with extra vitamins.
