Quality of aged meat from Charolais vs nellore cattleQualidade da carne maturada de bovines Charolês vs nelore

The aim of this study was evaluate the physical-chemical changes in aged meat from Charolais x Nellore cattle. For that, 38 male with an average weight of 437.08 ± 15.06 kg, were used. After 24 hours of refrigeration, the half right carcass was cut in the 13ª rib to collect 35cm samples from Longissimus dorsi muscle. The samples were sliced, vacuum packed and aged for zero, seven and fourteen days, after the ageing time, the samples were frozen, to make analysis of exudate water loss, shear force, pressing water loss, pH, color (L, a*, b*, chroma and hue value), sensorial analysis, microbiology, and myofibrillar fragmentation index. The experimental design was completely randomized and the data were submitted to analysis of variance and the means compared by Tukey test in 5%. The microbiological analysis showed that all the bacterium evaluated had their growth period until the aged day seven, and decreased to the aged day 14. The pH decreased with the increasing of time. The water loss and myofibrillar fragmentation index weren’t affected by the ageing period. Shear force and color components (L*, a*, b* chroma and hue value) were affected by the ageing, being the 14 days the best result. The sensorial analysis has only show differences to tenderness. The aged cattle beef vacuum packed did not lose the fresh meat characteristics, however improved the tenderness.Com o presente trabalho objetivou-se avaliar as alterações físico-químicas na carne maturada de bovinos Charolês x Nelore. Para isso foram utilizados 38 bovinos inteiros, abatidos com peso médio de 437,08 (± 15,06 kg). Após 24 horas de resfriamento, as meias carcaças direita foram seccionadas na altura da 13ª costela para retirada de uma amostra de 35 cm do músculo longissimus dorsi (contra-filé), em sentido caudal – cranial. As amostras foram fatiadas, embaladas a vácuo e maturadas por zero, sete e quatorze dias. Após o término do período de maturação as carnes foram congeladas para posterior realização das análises de: perda de água por exsudato, força de cisalhamento, perda de água por pressão, pH, cor (valor de L*, a*, b*, croma e tonalidade), análise sensorial, microbiologia e índice de fragmentação miofibrilar. Todas as análises foram realizadas no Laboratório de Análise de Produtos de Origem Animal, da Universidade Estadual de Londrina. O delineamento experimental foi completamente casualizado e os dados foram submetidos à análise de variância e as médias comparadas pelo teste de Tukey a 5%.