Introducing an Angle Adjustable Cutting Box for Analyzing Slice Shear Force in Meat

The overall goal of this procedure is to measure slice shear force in cooked beef by using an angle adjustable cutting box. This is accomplished by first collecting a 2.5 centimeter steak from the longis muscle. The second step is to grill the steak to an internal temperature of 71 degrees Celsius.

Next, a five centimeter section across the width of the steak is prepared. The cutting box is set following the angle of the muscle fibers, and a one centimeter thick slice is obtained. The final step is to determine slice sheer force analysis using a texture analyzer.

Ultimately slice. Sheer force analysis is used to evaluate changes in beef texture, such as changes to to different aging time. The main advantage of this technique over existing methods, like the original fly shear force, is that the cutting box can be adjusted to follow the angle of the muscle fibers.

Although this metal can provide information regarding beef tenderness in SMUs muscle, it can also be applied to other muscles such as semiosis. Generally, individuals new to this technique may have difficulty setting the angle on the angle adjustable box, and with using the double bladed knife Following grading at 24 to 48 hours post slaughter, remove the longissimus muscle from the beef carcasses and collect for quality analysis. Trim the muscle of subcutaneous fat and square off, then cut the muscle into 2.5 centimeter thick steaks following safety and food handling protocols.

Following the cutting of individual steaks, appropriate labels are placed on the respective steak. Next, prepare steaks for storage. If they are to remain fresh, they're placed on a tray and taken to the grill.

If the fresh steaks cannot be cooked immediately, cover them with plastic until cooking can begin to prevent dehydration. If steaks are to be aged in a cooler or frozen, the weight is recorded to two decimal places before being placed in an oxygen impermeable vacuum package bag and sealed. Using a vacuum packaging machine.

If the sample has been frozen, remove from the freezer and place an a four degree Celsius cooler to thaw overnight. On the day of cooking, preheat an open hearth grill to 210 degrees Celsius. For sample cooking, prepare the temperature logger system and computer by inserting the thermocouples into the outlets of the scanning device.

Lightly grease the grill with vegetable shortening approximately 10 minutes Before cooking begins. Before beginning to cook, remove steaks from the cooler, remove the sample from its package and blo excess moisture from the steak. With a paper towel, record the raw weight of the steak to two decimal places.

Insert a thermocouple into the midpoint of the steak along its longitudinal axis. Start the thermocouple scan to record cooking data. Place the stakes on the grill, keeping the thermocouple parallel to the flat cooking surface of the steak and the grill.

If the probe is not kept parallel, it can result in improper temperature.Readings. Cook steaks to an internal temperature of 35.5 degrees Celsius. Then flip the sample over and continue cooking to a final internal temperature of 71 degrees Celsius.

Once the internal temperature is 71 degrees Celsius, remove the sample from the grill and pull the thermocouple out of the steak. To obtain a cooking weight, blot the sample with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. After allowing the steak to cool slightly, then weigh the sample to two decimal places.

If cooking data are required, save the thermocouple scan data while the sample is still warm from the grill. Make a cut one to two centimeters from the lateral end of the stake to create a square end. Then prepare a five centimeter section across the width of the stake by using a sample sizing box with a knife notch at five centimeters parallel to the original cut.

The orientation of the muscle fiber angle can be measured by placing a protractor on the knife cut surface of the stake. Then set the variable angle cutting box to the corresponding angle of the sample by sliding the lower metal plate customized with the bottom holes. For guiding the double bladed knife, tighten the knobs to secure the lower metal plate at the corresponding angle.

Place the five centimeter section of the stake into the cutting area of the variable angle cutting box so that the muscle fiber direction is parallel to the angle of the double bladed knife. When placing the stake, ensure that it is touching the edge of the cutting area closest to the user, as the cutting motion will pull the stake towards the user. The double bladed knife is used to cut a one centimeter slice across the previously cut five centimeter piece, so ensure that the knife will pass through the whole sample at the corresponding angle to cut.

Insert the double bladed knife into the cutting box and pull the knife to cut the meat into a one centimeter strip to prevent tearing of the meat. Use a slight sawing motion while pulling the knife towards the user. Keep the knife blades against one edge of the guide plate to maintain equal cutting proportions.

The result should be a warm, one centimeter thick slice that is five centimeters long with the fibers consistently running parallel to the slice. This slice is then used for slice sheer force analysis of texture in meat. Prepare the texture analyzer with a 50 kilogram load cell and set the shear distance to 48 millimeters with a cross head speed of 500 millimeters per minute.

Using a texture analyzer machine with a flat shear slice blade, the slice shear force or SSF protocol is performed on the obtained one centimeter by five centimeter warm slice. Next, place the core so that the muscle fibers are perpendicular to the slice blade. Perform the shear perpendicular to the muscle fibers by clicking the option run test in the computer to provide an accurate analysis of the maximum force required to share the fibers in the slice once the slice has been shared completely through the center, save and record the data for the angle adjustable SSF method differences were observed among muscle location.

The toughest stakes were those sampled from the middle section of the longissimus muscle. Anterior stakes were the most tender samples and posterior samples were intermediate. The same effect was observed in samples analyzed using the reference Warner Bratz shear force or WBSF method.

Greatest shear force values were in the middle area of the longus muscle, lowest in the anterior area, and intermediate in the posterior area. These intramuscular differences have been suggested to be a result of factors including cooling rates, pH decline along the loin muscle fiber, ankles, and tensions during carcass hanging here. The results for the adjustable angle sliced shear force were compared to the standard WBSF.

The coefficient of variation is a measure of the variability among samples within each method, and the overall coefficient of variation in this experiment was similar for both methods regardless of the location along the muscle or within the stake. However, the coefficient of variation for WBSF was consistent between tender andt samples. While for SSF variability ranged from 13.6%for T samples to 34.2%for tender samples.

Thus, more variability was observed for the values from the angle adjustable cutting box in the tender sample while WBSF resulted in more variability in the T samples. After comparing the coefficients of variation, the next step was to determine the correlation between the values obtained by the different methodologies. A high correlation was observed between the values from both methodologies being highest in the lateral samples from the anterior end, and lowest in the medial samples from the posterior end.

So once mastered, this technique can be used to evaluate beef tenderness in 20 to 30 samples per hour While attending this procedure. It's important to control those parameters affecting beef tenderness such as aging time or endpoint temperature. After watching this video, you should have a good understanding of how to use the angle adjustable box to evaluate shear force in beef.