A total of 125 13-month-old, entire males of the Pirenaica breed were selected from among the progeny of nine different sires. They were used to study the intrabreed variability of 41 carcass and meat traits, including weights, lengths, diameters and perimeters, grading parameters, dissection of the sixth rib, pH, colour and meat texture variables, and sensory attributes. Pearson correlations were also calculated. Coefficients of variation ranged from 3.5% for dressing percentage to 47.0% for fat red index, and all of the values could be considered within the normal range for cattle. Carcass traits showed lower variability (11.7% on average) than meat variables (14.8% on average). Hence, to achieve a standardised product, it would be desirable to include in the breeding selection programme a variable that could be measured on the carcass and that can predict meat quality. Nevertheless, from the results of the present study, none of the variables studied fulfil this requirement, and further studies would be necessary to widen our knowledge on this subject.Additional key words: beef, linear measurements, meat instrumental quality, sensory quality. ResumenVariabilidad intra-racial y relaciones entre 41 características de canal y carne en la raza Pirenaica Se han utilizado 125 animales de raza Pirenaica, machos enteros de 13 meses de edad, descendientes de nueve toros, para medir la variabilidad intra-racial de 41 variables de canal y carne, incluyendo pesos, longitudes, diáme-tros y perímetros, escalas de clasificación, disección de la 6ª costilla, pH, variables de color y textura y atributos sensoriales. Se han calculado las correlaciones de Pearson. Los coeficientes de variación variaron del 3,53% para el rendimiento de la canal al 47,04% para el parámetro a* de la grasa, y estuvieron dentro del rango normal para el ganado vacuno. Las variables de canal mostraron menor variabilidad (11,75% de media) que las variables de carne (14,84% de media). Por lo tanto, para conseguir un producto más homogéneo, sería deseable incluir en el esquema de selección alguna variable que se pudiera medir en la canal y que fuera capaz de predecir la calidad de la carne. Sin embargo, ninguna de las variables estudiadas reúne estos requisitos, por lo que son necesarios más estudios en este sentido.Palabras clave adicionales: calidad instrumental de la carne, calidad sensorial, medidas lineales, vacuno.Abbreviations used: CV (coefficient of variation), EU (European Union), SED (standard error), WHC (water holding capacity).

Preferencias y aceptabilidad de los consumidores por la carne de vacuno enriquecida en omega-3 y ácido linoleico conjugado en tres ciudades españolas.Palabras clave: Preferencias de los consumidores, experimento de elección, modelo logit generalizado (G-MNL), n-3, CLA. AbstractConsumer preferences and acceptability for enriched beef with omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid in three Spanish cities. 3This study evaluates consumer preferences in three Spanish cities (Barcelona, Zaragoza y Pamplona) with the objective to estimate the relative importance of beef attributes including its enrichment with omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). The impact of sensory evaluation on consumer preferences that differed in the received information, and on the unobserved heterogeneity of the scale factor and the attributes, was also evaluated.Data were collected from a structured and self-completed questionnaire in a controlled environment, tasting 4 different meat samples in the three cities (647 consumers total). The choice experiment, analyzed with the Generalized Multinomial Model (G-MNL), was applied before and after consumer evaluation of the acceptability of enriched beef. Results showed a significant impact of the sensory evaluation on consumer preferences, which was differentiated by the received information. The utility of n-3 enriched beef in the three cities increased significantly after beef tasting, especially for uninformed consumers, whereas the utility of CLA enriched beef was not significant. Scale heterogeneity (variation of the degree of randomness on decision making) decreased significantly after the sensory evaluation.Results showed an increase in the overall acceptability of n-3 or CLA enriched beef relative to conventional beef, and the received information by consumers did not alter significantly their sensory scores.

Small ruminants have been one of the first domesticated species and from their origins have produced multiple benefits to humans. In the last two centuries, world sheep production has become more and more specialised upon geographical areas. But, recent changes in consumer attitudes, together with the increment in artificial fibre industries and human world population, some crisis related with the international wool market and some increments in lamb prices, have provoked that lamb meat has increased its relative importance inside the global sheep income. Also, sheep production systems vary considerably across the world, and reflect the different local environmental conditions, which determine, to a large extent, breeds, housing, levels of intensification and, at the end, local market requirements and qualities. However, among all the meats, sheep meat remains the most internationally traded (16 % of total world production is exported), which explains the potential existence of different lamb products in the same market. Then, the new requirements have created a higher interest for meat production, including its quality and quality marks. This interest from producers and the industry should be reflected in a proportional higher interest from the researches towards sheep and goat, where it exists, in general, important lacks of knowledge and, in particular, in lamb and kid meat Science. In the present speech we will made a special incidence on the relationship between carcass quality and lamb acceptability and on some factors like breed and species, diet and production system, slaughter weight and ageing time and their importance on the variation of the carcass and meat quality, including consumer acceptability.

ResumenSe estudió el efecto del tiempo de maduración y tipo de cocinado sobre la valoración sensorial y el perfil de los compuestos aromáticos de la carne de animales de los cruces de toros de las razas Retinta, Limousine, Pirenaica y Asturiana de los Valles con vacas Retintas. Se utilizaron dos paneles, uno para el efecto de la maduración y otro para el tipo de cocinado. El entrenamiento de los catadores y la temperatura de cocinado fueron idénticos en ambos casos, aunque los perfiles difieren entre sí. En la valoración sensorial no se encontraron interacciones entre efectos. El cruce sólo afectó a la terneza, siendo la carne de Pirenaica x Retinta y Retinta x Retinta algo más dura. La terneza, el flavor a hígado y el flavor ácido aumentaron con la maduración, al contrario que la jugosidad. El tipo de cocinado afectó a la terneza y a la facilidad al tragar, estando ambas variables inversamente correlacionadas. Se identificaron 50 compuestos aromáticos. El cruce tuvo menos influencia que el tipo de cocinado y se encontró una interacción significativa entre efectos para 15 de los compuestos, especialmente hidrocarburos. El cruce afectó al porcentaje de alcoholes, compuestos azufrados y cetonas pero no al resto y el tipo de cocinado, a todos los compuestos. Los hidrocarburos y las cetonas presentaron mayores concentraciones que el resto. Para todos los grupos de compuestos excepto para los azufrados, las cantidades detectadas fueron mayores cuando el método de cocinado fue la cocción.Palabras clave: Panel, compuestos aromáticos, vacuno. Influence of ageing and cooking method on sensory evaluation and aromatic compounds profile of meat from Retinta breed crossbreeding AbstractWe studied the effect of ageing period and cooking method on sensory evaluation and aromatic compounds profile of meat from crosses of Retinta, Limousine, Pirenaica and Asturiana de los Valles bulls and Retinta dams. Two panels were used, one to study the ageing effect and another to compare the effect of cooking method. The training and temperature of cooking were identical in both cases, although the descriptive profiles are different among themselves. No interaction between effects was found in sensory evaluation. Crossbreeding only affected tenderness, being meat from Pirenaica x Re-