INVESTIGATIONS ON POTENTIAL UTILIZATION O F VARIOUS MUSCLES FROM INTENSIVELY FATTENED YOUNG HEIFERS

25 different muscles from 27 defined anatomical locations were taken f rom intensively fattened heifers providing carcass weights of 201 +/- 14 kg with an age of 377 +/- 42 days and evaluated in order to judge s uitability for grilling or panfrying. Colour, pH, water-, fat- and col lagen-content as well as solubility of collagen, cooking loss, Warner- Bratzler shear force and extension were measured in all muscles. Besid es, ten muscles were evaluated for sensory firmness, juiciness, tender ness, flavour, sustainable juiciness, durable toughness and overall ac ceptance. Based on this results, tenderness and acceptance was estimat ed for the remaining muscles conducting multiple regression. Additiona lly, clustering and discriminant analysis provided a sufficient reliab le classification of all muscles into quality classes. Results reveal, that - beside conventional steak-cuts - spinalis et semispinalis, rec tus femoris and teres major of intensively fattened heifers may be wel l suitable to be used as steak. Second choice steaks may be obtained f rom gastrocnemius, infra spinatus, rectus abdominis, semimembranosus, serratus ventralis, tensor fascie latae and triceps brachii.