Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of crude fat content and fatty acid composition on sensory characteristics of beef. Samples of M. longissimus dorsi were taken from the carcasses of 108 Japanese Black steers to determine physicochemical characteristics and to evaluate sensory characteristics by trained analytical panel. Monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) concentration was divided into two groups according to concentration, high level group (average of MUFA 59.6%) and low level group (51.2%), and was compared the sensory characteristics between the two groups. Only the sensory evaluation value of Sweet aroma of the high level group was significantly higher than that of the low level group. We also carried out bivariate regression analysis for each Sweet aroma and Oily aroma fitting three models with two independent variables which were crude fat content and one of the following : saturated fatty acid concentration, MUFA concentration or polyunsaturated fatty acid concentration. Partial regression coefficients of crude fat content to Oily aroma and Sweet aroma were both positive and significantly different from zero regardless of the models. On the other hand, only a partial regression coefficient of MUFA concentration to Sweet aroma was positive and significantly different from zero. These results indicate that crude fat content has a positive relationship to Sweet aroma and Oily aroma, and MUFA concentration positively affects Sweet aroma in sensory characteristics of aroma.
