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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

THE EFFECT OF ANIMAL MATURITY AND FAT DISTRIBUTION ON THE QUALITY OF IRRADIATED BEEF. Report No. 7 (Final), September 6, 1957-June 30, 1960

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4045322
The effects of animal maturity and fat distribution on the quality of irradiated beef were investigated. For ground beef the preference ratings decressed as the irrsdiation dose increassd. When the meat was stored at 40 deg F, those samples treated with low doses of irradiation quickly decreased in preference. Meat treated with 0.5 megarad of gamma radiation had little irradiation flavor change. Ground meat from animals slaughtered at 12 months of age was generally preferred, followed by products from 24 and 6 month old animals. Altering the fat content of the ground meat caused some change in eating preference of the irradiated product during storage. Meat of low fat content from animals slaughtered at 12 months of age was generally preferred. For steak, shear and taste panel values indicated that some tenderness variation does exist among animals. Flavor and texture difference also occurred among beef muscles. Aging the meat 14 days prior to being irradiated did not greatly improve the flavor. An irradiation treatment was found to improve the tenderness of hoth the semitendinosus and longissimus dorsi muscles. No improvement in flavor, arorua, or texture was observed when beef was irradiated prior to the on-set of rigor. (auth)
Research Organization:
Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater
NSA Number:
NSA-15-021925
OSTI ID:
4045322
Report Number(s):
AD-248855
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English