Effect of prolonged heat treatments at low temperature on shear force and cooking loss in cows and young bulls.

Long term heat treatment at low temperature (LTLT) is known to decrease toughness of meat. However, the contribution from the connective tissue to the toughness of LTLT treated meat is not clear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of LTLT treatments on shear force and cooking loss in semitendinosus from cows (4-6 years) and young bulls (12-14 months), representing 2 categories of beef with varying thermal strength of connective tissue. Vacuum packed muscle samples were heat treated at 53°C, 55°C, 58°C and 63°C in water baths for 2½, 7½ and 19½ h. Cooking loss and Warner-Bratzler shear force were measured after heat treatment and subsequent cooling. Shear force of semitendinosus from young bulls heated at 53°C for 2½ h was significantly higher compared with all other heat treatments. A decrease of app. 40 N was observed when increasing the heating temperature from 53°C to 55°C, or when increasing heating time from 2½ to 7½ h at 53°C. In semitendinosus from cows shear force decreased significantly with increasing temperature, and with increasing heating time from 2½ to 19½ h at 55°C and 63°C. Cooking loss increased with increasing heating temperature in both beef categories. The results show that prolonged heating at low temperatures reduce toughness in beef semitendinosus, and that a reduction in toughness require higher temperatures and longer heating times in semitendinosus from cows compared with young bulls.