Report Card on Tenderness I.B. Mandell
Department of Animal & Poultry Science University of Guelph
FarmSmart January 18, 2014
Background • Beef consumption has been steadily decreasing
since 2003 with the exception of 2011 – Has product quality been responsible for the decline
with tenderness being the primary factor influencing consumer satisfaction when eating beef? • http://www.beefresearch.ca/factsheet.cfm/impa
ct-of-beef-quality-on-canadian-beef-demand-166 "Products that consistently fail to meet consumers’ quality expectations have a significant negative impact on beef demand.“
• This will be come more of an issue as beef continues to increase in price
Background • Consumers have a wide variety of beef
products available for purchase including commodity and branded beef products – Products available at different price points – Are there “real” tenderness differences between
the various beef products?
Objectives of the Project • Assess beef tenderness in beef products that
Ontario consumers buy everyday at grocery stores
• Examine how beef tenderness is affected by: – Season of the year – Where beef is purchased – Source of beef: commodity vs. branded product – Product cost
• Today’s presentation will focus how tenderness is affected by: – Where beef is purchased – Commodity vs. branded product
Materials & Methods • Rib and top sirloin steaks purchased from 8
municipalities in Ontario – Kingston – Vaughan/Toronto/Mississauga – Hamilton/Burlington – St. Catherines – KWCG – London – Sarnia – Windsor
• Steaks purchased in each of the 4 seasons of the year for each municipality
Steaks Purchased at Mainstream and Discount Grocery Stores
• 4 national grocery retailers with stores from coast to coast – 2 stores with mainstream and discount
operations – 1 “big box” retail operation – 1 large discount retailer
• 1 retailer found in Eastern Canada – Includes mainstream and discount operations
• Major independent grocery retailers and meat shops
Variety of Steak Products Purchased • Commodity beef sold at each grocery chain • Angus beef products
– North American branded product – American branded product – Eastern Canada branded product – Discount store branded product – Generic branded product
• North American packing plant branded product
• Ontario regional branded non-Angus product • Raised w/o antibiotics (RWA) branded product
Materials & Methods • Steaks purchased at a given municipality
– Transported to Mandell lab – Chilled overnight
• Steaks identified with label information recorded (cost of steak, weight, unit price, where product bought, marbling information, branded product information)
• Steak scanned for inventory control • Steak thickness, muscle area, fat cover
measured • Objective measure of lean colour measured • DNA sample collected • Steaks vacuum packaged and then frozen
Packages of almost all steaks scanned, with package information recorded in data base
Materials & Methods • Warner Bratzler shear force (WBSF)
determined as an instrumental measure of tenderness – Tender beef identified by low values for WBSF as this means less force required to “cut” thru muscle fibers • Emulating a person assessing beef tenderness
–Over 1900 steaks evaluated in the study
Does It Make A Difference for Tenderness Where You Buy Your Beef?
Grocery Chain Rib steak WBSF (kg)
Sirloin steak WBSF (kg)
Big Box 3.28 4.05 National Chain 1 3.71 4.57 National Chain 2 3.55 4.45
Eastern Canada Chain 3.69 4.51 Discount 3.87 4.54
Probability value for Comparisons Between Grocery Chains Discount vs. others P-value = 0.009 P-value = 0.24 Big Box vs. Chains P-value = 0.044 P-value = 0.008
Eastern Can vs Natl 1 & 2 P-value = 0.502 P-value = 0.992 Natl 1 vs Natl 2 P-value = 0.103 P-value = 0.164
Commodity vs. Branded Rib Steaks Steak product Shear force
(LSM) Standard
error Minimum Maximum
Commodity (non-branded) 3.82 0.055 1.90 9.38 North American Angus 3.35 0.112 1.94 6.32 American Angus 3.90 0.304 3.11 5.00 Generic Angus 3.39 0.162 1.95 6.12 Eastern Canada Angus 3.28 0.121 1.76 5.82 Big Box 3.26 0.167 2.16 4.94 North American packing plant branded product
3.14 0.119 2.18 5.54
Ontario regional branded non-Angus
3.80 0.159 2.44 6.30
RWA-Angus product 3.84 0.168 2.56 6.31
Note the extensive variation in shear force within each branded product
Commodity vs Branded Sirloin Steaks Steak product Shear force
(LSM) Standard
error Minimum Maximum
Commodity (non-branded) 4.71 0.063 2.16 7.96 North American Angus 3.90 0.104 2.44 5.63 American Angus 3.82 0.304 2.66 5.06 Generic Angus 4.52 0.166 2.92 6.68 Eastern Canada Angus 4.40 0.086 2.72 6.79 Big Box 4.04 0.158 2.26 7.12 North American packing plant branded product
4.32 0.121 2.74 8.66
Ontario regional branded non-Angus
5.14 0.133 3.83 7.83
RWA-Angus product 4.79 0.151 2.98 7.38 Again extensive variation in shear force within each branded product
Grocery Store Classification by Breed Interaction for Rib Steak Tenderness
Grocery Store Classification
Breed Rib steak WBSF (kg)
Mainstream Angus 3.38 Mainstream Non-Angus 3.58
Discount Angus 3.04 Discount Non-Angus 3.99
P-value = 0.096
Grocery Store Classification by Product Classification Interaction for
Sirloin Steak Tenderness Grocery Store
Classification
Product Classification
Rib steak WBSF (kg)
Mainstream Commodity 4.51 Mainstream Branded 4.37
Discount Commodity 4.80 Discount Branded 3.92
P-value = 0.044
Conclusions • Where you shop does influence beef tenderness
– Discount vs Mainstream stores – Differences between Mainstream Stores
• Branded products more tender than commodity beef – Substantial between brand differences in tenderness – Substantial within brand variation in tenderness – RWA beef does not ensure tenderness
• Study found expected and unexpected relationships between tenderness and steak traits (this data not presented here)
Acknowledgements • Funding
–BFO via the Growing Forward Program • Research team lead by Cheryl Campbell • University of Guelph Meat Laboratory