EATING QUALITY OF BEEF MEAT

Abstract

When we talk about the edible quality of beef, the habits of a particular population should first be taken into account. One of the most important traits of beef for consumers is "eating quality". It is difficult to generally define the characteristic "eating quality" because it depends on many factors. These are primarily the factors that affect the traditions and habits of a population of consumers who prepare and consume beef in a certain way. Some consumers prefer meat rich in fat and meat of older animals, while others are quite the opposite which in turn depends on the habits and methods of preparation. The manner of culinary processing is different in a way that particular population of consumers traditionally thermally process beef by cooking, baking, grilling or prefer raw fermented processed meat. The process of globalization has an impact on the harmonization of the criteria for eating quality. World restaurants that are present on the planet, such as McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, followed by Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Muslim and other restaurants have played major role in this process, especially in the younger population of consumers. The paper presents the most important criteria of beef meat eating quality such as colour, tenderness, softness and flavour of meat. Also analyzed are the most important pre-mortem and postmortem factors that affect the eating quality of meat. These are primarily factors such as the procedure of transportation, "stress syndrome", method of cooling - "cold shortening".