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