The effect of maturing in vacuum on the sensory properties of Friesian bulls

The authors studied the effect of maturing in vacuum on the sensory properties of wholesale meat cuts of Friesian bulls slaughtered at an average body weight of 607 kg. The M. longissimus dorsi (LD) and the M. semimembranosus (SM) were the muscles considered. After 10 days of maturing in vacuum four of the five sensory properties considered, i.e. tenderness, mouthfeel, flavour and overall acceptability were significantly improved (p=0.001). The tenderness, which was estimated at 3.96 (LD) and 4.40 (SM) points (48 h post mortem), improved to 5.67 and 5.60 after 10 days of maturing. The mouthfeel changed from 5.17 and 4.94 to 5.83 and 5.81. The flavour changed from 5.29 and 5.23 to 5.87 and 6.02 and overall acceptability from 4.81 and 4.98 to 5.71 and 5.77 points. The juiciness of the original samples (48 h post mortem) was estimated at 6.06 and 5.79 and after 10 days of maturing only an insignificant improvement was noticed. An extra four days of maturing in vacuum did not contribute significantly to the improvement of the sensory properties considered.