Tenderness And Marbling

Results take about two weeks for parentage verification and two or three weeks for marbling and tenderness analysis.

Tenderness and marbling.

It is fairly tender but because it has very little marbling it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Many lean carcasses that testing has shown were tender have received lower grades because they don t have enough visible fat marbling to be classified as usda choice or higher. Marbling affects meat s juiciness tenderness texture and flavor attributes that determine eating experience in this case more of all the above is better. Incidentally genetic solutions introduced the world s first commercial dna test for a beef production trait two years ago with the genestar marbling evaluation.

It has the fat and marbling that break down well in low and slow cooking and gives you something to shred. Two enzymes play a part one inhibiting and one encouraging cell breakdown. In addition because the relationship between marbling and tenderness is known to be positive though weak any tenderness gains should not be at the expense of increased marbling. Whereas the picnic on the other hand is most of the front arm so you get more.

Select grade beef is somewhat leaner and very uniform in quality. The fat in lean muscle creates a marble pattern hence the name. Igenity profile tenderness is a dna genetic marker panel test comprised of three markers uogcast1 calpain 4751 and calpain 316. It has less marbling than prime however still contains sufficient marbling for tenderness and taste.

Although marbling or the intermingling of fat with lean has been equated with palatability and tenderness for years increasing concerns regarding animal fat in the diet has caused the perceived health benefit from fat reduction to receive greater importance than assurances of tenderness or palatability. Cost per test depending on number sampled and test used ranges from 40 to 85 per head. In the usa where cattle are fed grains and other supplements to lay down extra fat within the muscle marbling consumers often choose the most marbled cuts as an indication of tenderness. Marbling is the white flecks of intramuscular fat in meat most notably red meat.

The usda grading system rewards marbling above all else so the eight grades that a cut could receive will prize a heavily marbled cut of meat regardless of the history or flavor. An increase in tenderness is associated with substituting a c allele at calpastatin uogcast1 and a c allele at both μ calpain loci calpain 4751 and calpain 316. Yet marbling accounts for a mere 10 of the variation in tenderness. Mmi hopes to offer testing for traits like reproduction efficiency and fertility in the future.

There are markers for other traits such as the color black which is important in certain breeds and the amount of marbling expected from the meat for usda grading. Well marbling refers to the white flecks of intramuscular fat in each cut of meat. There is also a genetic marker for potential tenderness which is an inherited trait.