BILLINGS, Mont. – New ways to more accurately assess beef carcasses is one of the newest research directions for American meat scientists.
The American beef industry has set goals to introduce mechanical grading and to raise cattle that consistently fit into the top grades.
Instrument grading systems using computers have been under development for several years to help human graders determine quality before a steak hits the plate.
Researchers are recommending to the United States Department of Agriculture that the government implement a combined grading system using computerized camera systems and manual grading by trained staff, said Colorado State University researcher Gary Smith at the recent Montana Stockgrowers Association meeting in Billings.
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With the help of new technology, the grader should be able to more accurately predict the amount of fat on a carcass, and how much of that carcass can be sold for retail.
One system gaining attention is a video image analysis system originally developed in Australia. It is already in use at Cargill Foods in Canada.
“Those things are just deadly at getting the ribeye area right,” said Smith.
It only measures the ribeye size and marbling level but it does augment the work of the human grader who can analyze the amount of fat cover and internal fat around the kidneys and heart.
Installing system
Monfort Packers at Greely, Colorado has bought the system and plans to have it in place in three months, said Smith.
Monfort is also using a camera system to sort carcasses according to the kinds of cuts they would derive from them.
An older technology being revisited is high voltage electrical stimulation to tenderize meat. Meat scientists recommended it in 1974.
“It was exciting to us that two of the three largest packers in America have come to us in the last six months and asked us to do additional research on high voltage electrical stimulation to determine whether or not it will improve the consistency of the product we produce,” said Smith.
These plants include Monfort, which is installing a unit designed to improve meat tenderness.
In the quest for more succulent meat there is also an ambitious 70-70-0 policy initiated by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
It calls for 70 percent of the meat to grade Prime or Choice, 70 percent should be classified as yield one or two, and zero percent tolerance for conditions like exceptionally dark red meat, called dark cutters, or blood-splashed carcasses.
The policy was spurred by a recent survey among all major American packers that said meat quality continues to deteriorate.
Researchers have determined 83 percent of American meat is grading in the middle range at low Choice and Select. About one percent makes Prime, the highest marbling level, 11 percent is upper Choice and six percent are Standard grades, the lowest in quality.
The American system measures levels of marbling by name and red meat yield on a one to five scale. Yield grade one is the leanest.
“We don’t believe we ought to do away with yield grades. We believe we ought to augment yield grades,” said Smith.
Smith said one area for major change is in production of beef cattle which have the genetic potential to marble and produce tender, tasty meat.
Studies show that 72 percent of beef quality is related to genetics, 16 percent is related to maturity of the animal and 12 percent is due to marbling.
To improve this genetic tracking, researchers are advocating source verification to trace where animals came from.
“If we are going to identify quality and safety and consistency I believe it will be through source verification,” said Smith.
Alliances and branded programs may be the answer to tracking an animal’s history, said Smith.
All breeds good
There are 24 branded beef programs in the United States and 21 of them name a specific breed. A recent genetic study showed good meat can come from all breeds.
A sire test that involved bulls from British, Continental and Brahman types showed when they selected the top 25 percent of tender meat bulls, they found all the breeds were represented.
Care of the animals is another means to produce better meat and improvements are growing. In the first U.S. beef quality audit in 1991 it was learned 24 percent of all beef carcasses showed bruises and injection injuries. In a November 1997 audit this problem had been reduced to less than five percent of carcasses.
