The added value of aged beef

Abstract

Beef ageing does not refer to the age of the cattle, but to the amount of time that the meat has been stored and refrigerated after slaughter. Beef ageing is a common practice in the meat industry, because it improves the sensory quality of meat (increased juiciness and better aroma and flavour), and the texture is effectively improved through complex changes in muscle metabolism after slaughtering. Two types of beef ageing are considered: vacuum or wet ageing, and dry ageing. Vacuum ageing is a widely used practice in the beef industry in which meat is aged in a sealed barrier package under controlled low temperature to improve tenderness and extend the shelf-life. On the other hand, dry ageing, refers to ageing meat without packaging, and requires greater environmental control practices (strictly controlled conditions, including temperature, moisture, and air speed) to achieve a consistent product quality. For this reason, vacuum ageing is widely used in industry due to its high production yield and convenient storage and transport, whereas dry ageing is an expensive process due to high ageing shrinkage, trim loss, contamination risk, and requirement of ageing conditions and space. However, when consumers become familiar with this type of meat, they are willing to pay more for dry-aged products and may also prefer the dry-aged flavour. For the academic community it remains controversial whether the sensory quality of dry-aged beef is higher than that of wet-aged. Beef ageing is considered a premium product, with an added value, and its price is substantially higher than that of good quality fresh meat. For this reason, it is of extreme importance for meat producers, but also for consumers, that the method of obtaining ageing meat is well studied and defined to guarantee constant high quality and safety standards. The Food Technology group at the University of Évora has recently developed a study on the safety and quality of Cachena meat. In this autochthonous breed, beef ageing has been considered an opportunity to valorize some meat cuts, with lower tenderness, that are usually sold at lower prices than the so-called noble meat cuts.