Is meat from cull cows tougher?

Hempseed By-Product in Diets of Italian Simmental Cull Dairy Cows and Its Effects on Animal Performance and Meat Quality

“…Since cull cows have a lower percentage of soluble collagen than younger cattle [49], tough meat might be expected. The low WBSF values observed in this study can be explained because, as reported by Alvarenga et al [50], LT is a muscle with low connective tissue content and, consequently, WBSF in this muscle is mainly related to protein degradation. The level of intramuscular fat, 4.18 ± 0.382, may also contribute to explain the WBSF results.…”

Post-Harvest Strategies to Improve Tenderness of Underutilized Mature Beef: A Review

“…Intermuscular differences were also reported by Alvarenga et al (2021) who found that the longissimus lumborum from mature carcasses would decrease in shear force approximately 30.5% from 2 to 28 days postmortem; however, the semitendinosus would only decrease by approximately 3.4%. Consequently, only 7.3% of those longissimus lumborum steaks would be considered tough by 28 days postmortem ( Alvarenga et al, 2021 ), indicating that sufficient aging could overcome the toughness of certain cuts from the loin and rib primal. However, while the study by Franco et al (2009) found that aging would decrease instrumental toughness of the longissimus thoracis from cull dairy cows, additional tenderization past 14 days would not be observed.…”

“…These innovations typically target one or more of the driving factors influencing beef tenderness including postmortem proteolysis, background toughness, and sarcomere length ( Warner et al, 2022 ). In general, cull cow beef would be categorized as having a lower extent of postmortem proteolysis ( Cruzen et al, 2014 ; Xiong et al, 2007 ), a high concentration of highly cross-linked, insoluble collagen ( Alvarenga et al, 2021 ; Dos Santos Fontes et al, 2021 ; Jurie et al, 2007 ), and potentially shorter sarcomeres if rapid chilling occurs ( Gredell et al, 2018 ; Lucero-Borja et al, 2014 ). Post-harvest processing techniques during carcass chilling (e.g., electrical stimulation, delay chilling, hot boning, skeletal separation, vacuum impregnation; Table 1 ), postmortem aging (e.g., wet aging, dry aging; Table 2 ), physical interventions (e.g., blade/needle tenderization, tumbling, hydrodynamic shockwaves, ultrasonication, high-pressure processing, pulsed electric field; Table 3 ), and enhancement with functional ingredients have great promise in improving the tenderness and palatability traits of beef from mature carcasses ( Table 4 ).…”

“…However, the heat solubility of the collagen from mature unfed cattle would be drastically lower (6.1%–8.1% versus 27.3%–32.5%; Gredell et al, 2018 ). In general, most literature supports that total collagen content would be mostly similar between animal maturities ( Couvreur et al, 2019 ; Dos Santos Fontes et al, 2021 ; Lucero-Borja et al, 2014 ; Patten et al, 2008 ), although collagen solubility would decrease with increasing age ( Alvarenga et al, 2021 ; Dos Santos Fontes et al, 2021 ; Gredell et al, 2018 ). A greater amount of perceptible connective tissue in cooked beef from mature carcasses has also been consistently reported ( Jurie et al, 2007 ; Lucero-Borja et al, 2014 ; Roberts et al., 2017 ).…”

“…The study by Roberts et al (2017) reported poorer initial and overall tenderness scores, greater perceptible connective tissue, and higher shear force values in the semimembranosus, biceps femoris, semitendinosus, triceps brachii , and others from carcasses classified as mature by the Canadian grading system relative to those under 30 months of age. In general, the poor tenderness of mature beef relative to youthful carcasses is dependent on the individual cut, where the differences may be less apparent in certain inherently tender muscles such as the psoas major, infraspinatus, and longissimus lumborum ( Alvarenga et al, 2021 ; Roberts et al, 2017 ; Stelzleni et al, 2007 ). Considering these unique challenges in regard to palatability of mature beef, especially tenderness, this review aims to discuss the existing and innovative post-harvest strategies to improve tenderization.…”