COMPARISON OF INSTRUMENTAL AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF TEXTURE OF CUREDAND COOKED BEEF MEAT

The instrumental and sensory texture attributes of beef muscles (M. lo ngissimus dorsi and M. semimembranosus) were compared after curing and thermal treatments. Shear, compression and puncture tests were carrie d out with an UTM Instron 4301 and the sensory evaluation was made wit h the score method. The force values obtained for puncture test gave a greater degree of correlation with the sensory tenderness, hardness a nd elasticity than the shear test forces. The shear test forces were f ound to significantly correlate with sensory tenderness only for muscl es with perpendicular orientation of fibres to the direction of shear blade movement. The evaluation of beef texture with compression test w as dependent on the level of sample deformation degree. The force valu es of compression were found to correlate significantly with elasticit y and juiciness of meat up to 60% deformation levels, but at deformati on levels higher than 60% appeared significant correlation with tender ness and hardness. The obtained results showed the usefulness of punct ure test with proposed parameters for the instrumental measurements of beef texture.