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ANSC 2340 > Unit 13 - Beef Carcass Grading > Flashcards

Unit 13 - Beef Carcass Grading Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two aspects evaluated during carcass grading?

A

yield grade - evaluates how much meat can be produced from a carcass

quality grade - predicts how good the quality of the meat produced is

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2
Q

What is the main purpose of carcass grading?

A

group carcasses based on the quality of the saleable meat yield

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3
Q

What are the two benefits to carcass grading?

A

producers - bonus payments based on carcass merit. help them on decision-making at the production level

meat industry - increases consistency, allows a marketing strategy, possibility to be more specific on market demand

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4
Q

What is the difference between grading and inspection?

A

grading:
- not mandatory
- measures amount (yield) and quality of meat produced

inspection:
- mandatory
- ensures the safety of the saleable meat

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5
Q

What are three major factors affecting carcass value?

A

carcass weight
cutability or sealable meat yielf
quality of the lean meat

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6
Q

How does carcass weight affect the carcass value?

A
  • correlated to how much meat we can produce from a carcass
  • weight used to pay the producers
  • need a certain amount of weight before slaughter so the weight dictates when the producer can send the animal to slaughter
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7
Q

How does cutability or sealable meat yield affect the carcass value?

A
  • related to lean meat production
  • excess of fat can become a problem
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8
Q

How does quality of the lean meat affect the carcass value?

A

carcass characteristics influence appearance, shelf life and eating quality of final product

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9
Q

What are some criteria used in beef grading?

A

Maturity/age of carcass
Gender determination
Fat colour
Yield grade - measurements at ribeye
Quality grade - marbling score

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10
Q

How does maturity/age of the carcass affect meat quality?

A

collagen in connective tissue presents covalent crosslinks between collagen molecules which causes collagen stabilization -> however causes tougher meat

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11
Q

What is collagen in connective tissue?

A

collagen is a structural protein synthesized by fibroblasts and the main component of connective tissue

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12
Q

What is the relationship between tough meat, collagen and age?

A

older animals -> lower solubility of collagen -> tougher meat

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13
Q

Explain the maturity/age of the carcass and the collagen levels table

A

WBSF - instrumental tenderness, the higher the number, the tougher the meat, can be seen that as the animal ages the number gets higher
TCC - amount of collagen, goes up as the animal ages
CS% - collagen solubility, goes down as the animal ages

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14
Q

What is ossification?

A

when the bone mineralizes, it reforms new bone through osteoblasts

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15
Q

What can ossification be related to?

A

assess for cartilaginous caps on the thoracic vertebrae
it is correlated to collagen insolubility and consequently decreases in tenderness

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16
Q

How does gender determination affect carcass grading?

A
  • sex alters the tissue deposition pattern
17
Q

What are graders assessing for in gender determination of meat?

A

assess for pronounced masculinity

18
Q

What is the difference between male castrated vs non-castrated meat?

A

non-castrated
- greater lean tissue deposition
- less fat deposition - decreased marbling
- greater predisposition to produce DFD meat
- darker colour: more oxidative metabolism
- less acceptable

19
Q

How can you tell the difference between a male and female when alive vs when slaughtered?

A

crestiness on the neck
presence of an erector muscle only in males

20
Q

How does fat colour influence beef grading?

A

if the fat is too yellow - it won’t qualify for A/prime grading
fat must be assessed as firm and consistent

21
Q

How does yellow fat occur?

A

associated with the type of feeding
grass-fed animals have a greater deposition of beta-carotene
cattle fed diets rich in grains will change the colour of the fat and decrease the yellowness

22
Q

How is yield grade assessed on the carcass?

A

evaluating the cross-section between the 12th and 13th rib
site of the longissimus muscle with a high and positive correlation with muscularity of the carcass

23
Q

What is the relationship between the longissimus muscle and yield?

A

increase in ribeye area (longissimus dorsal area)
increase in amount of lean tissue in the carcass

24
Q

What are the three things measured during yield grading?

A
  1. ribeye length
  2. ribeye width
  3. subcutaneous fat thickness
25
Q

Where is subcutaneous fat thickness measured?

A

fat is measured on the ribeye at the 3/4 point

26
Q

How to measure ribeye length?

A

top of ruler, go across the longest part of the ribeye, if its longer than 2 it is good grade

27
Q

How to measure ribeye width?

A

use smaller “2”, longer than 2 is AAA

28
Q

How to measure fat on ribeye?

A

use fat class score on ruler for colour and thickness

29
Q

How to get the muscle score on the ruler?

A

use both the width and length measurements and get total

30
Q

How to get the total yield score?

A

take fat class score
and muscle score
and find the number that they both correlate to on the yield chart

31
Q

Why does the yield grade go up as the total score goes down?

A

because it measures the amount of salable meat, therefore if there’s more fat, there is less meat able to be sold

32
Q

What do the numbers on the yield grade chart mean?

A

e.g. 50.3 - 50.3% of carcass is going to retail cuts

33
Q

What is assessment of marbling based on?

A

amount, size, and distribution of fat particles or deposits in the rib eye
distribution affects how the steak will be prepared
big chunks of fat in the middle of the cut will affect the cooking - uneven

34
Q

What are the USDA marbling standards?

A

moderately abundant (prime)
slightly abundant (prime)
moderate (high choice)
modest (average choice)
small (low choice)
slight (select)

35
Q

What are the canadian vs marbling score vs USDA (USA) score?

A

Canada prime and USDA prime -> abundant, moderately abundant, slightly abundant

Canada AAA and USDA choice -> moderate, modest, small

Canada AA and USDA select -> slight

Canada A and USDA standard -> trace, practically devoid

36
Q

What is the carcass quality segregation chart?

A

carcass -> youthful -> steer/heifer -> quality fat -> well muscled -> bright red -> marbling -> A, AA, AAA, prime

ANSC 2340 (13 decks)

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