The presence of marbling has an extremely positive effect on the eating quality of beef in terms of tenderness juiciness moisture and flavour.
What causes marbling in beef.
The fat makes the meat softer and easier to chew as there is simply less muscle fibre and collagen per unit volume of meat.
Graders evaluate the amount and distribution of marbling in the ribeye muscle at the cut surface after the carcass has been ribbed between the 12th and 13th ribs.
Marbling is the main component used to divide beef cuts in to usda quality grades like choice and prime.
Grades are used to assign value to cuts of beef.
Many conditions can cause mottled skin.
Blood circulation problems and blood vessel spasms are two common causes.
Cattle that are raised on grain will have more marbling than grass fed beef this is fairly intuitive since you can imagine how difficult it would be to get fat by eating grass.
But if marbling is what consumers want we can increase marbling at different times in the feeding cycle without making the cattle fatter and that would be a huge benefit for the beef industry.
A recent beef crc project led by dr paul greenwood principal research scientist at new south wales primary industries has sought to determine if it is possible to increase marbling through the strategic use of high energy supplements immediately post weaning.
Beef carcass quality grading is based on 1 degree of marbling and 2 degree of maturity.
Feed and finishing may also impact marbling with grass finished cattle offering a leaner beefier flavor whereas grain finished beef are much milder.
But beef marbling is not always a good gauge of tenderness in grass fed beef cattle.
Marbling is a measure of quality and as such the meat industry is always using meat science to make production more predictable and uniform to boost profits.
Marbling is fat so it is largely determined by the diet of the animal and to a certain degree the breed of cattle.
More marbling results in a juicier and more tender eating experience.
Certain breeds have higher marbling scores on average due to the way they metabolize food.
The white fat streaks in beef are simply a convenient gauge of whether those all important microscopic fat cells within the meat fibers are present in sufficient amounts.
Marbling scores are combined with maturity scores the age of the animal to determine those quality grades.
The following factors affect marbling in beef.
