Predicting longissimus dorsi texture characteristics in beef based on early post-mortem colour measurements

Sixty young bulls of Pirenaica breed that were representative of the beef production and marketing systems in Northern Spain were studied. The following parameters were determined with the aim of predicting beef texture characteristics of the longissimus dorsi based on the objective measurements taken on the carcass at the early post-mortem period: colour measurement (CIE L∗ a∗ b∗) readings were taken on the latissimus dorsi (LTD), rectus abdominis (RA), and longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles. s study, it was observed that more information on beef tenderness is obtained with colour measurements taken on the carcass LTD and RA, and LD at 24 h post-mortem. However, the regression analysis showed that beef TI from Pireanica young bulls can be predicted quite accurately by C∗ measured on the RA muscle just 45 min after slaughter.