Intramuscular variation in beef tenderness

Intramuscular variation of beef tenderness was investigated in three muscles: Semitendinosus (ST), Triceps brachii (TB) and Rectus femoris (RF). The aim of the study was to evaluate a French process (called “affranchi”) used to improve meat tenderness. Two groups of 72 muscles (24 ST, 24 TB and 24 RF) aged 10 and 14 days respectively, were assessed for tenderness by sensory analysis and compression measurements. For all three muscles, sensory evaluation showed a significant intramuscular variation in tenderness with a longitudinal gradient. Compression measurements on the raw meat showed similar results but of reduced accuracy. It appears that the process “affranchi” which consists in removing a part of the muscle, is very useful to improve meat tenderness and could be used by meat processors. The low relationship between compression measurements and sensory evaluation suggest compression measurements on raw meat are not suitable to predict meat tenderness as perceived by consumers.