Abstract
We examined the effect of BMSNo (4, 7, and 9), sex (Heifer and Steer), and mono-unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content on the eating quality of Japanese black cattle. Ten panelists evaluated 54 sirloin beef samples using 10 attributes by an 8 stage evaluation standard. The results of the evaluation showed that BMS No influenced all the attributes except the “desirable taste,” and high BMS No had positive effects on all the attributes. The gender of animals influenced the attribute of “juiciness,” “strength of flavor,” “favorable taste,” and “overall quality” as evidenced by the superior meat quality of heifer compared to that of steer. Although, high and medium MUFA levels had significantly superior effects on the “strength of flavor” than low MUFA levels, high MUFA had no significant effect on “tenderness” “fibrous characteristic,” and the “overall texture” of the meat compared to medium and low MUFA. In addition, the MUFA ratio significantly correlated to the panelist’s score (r=0.432, P<0.001) on “strength of the flavor”. Because the effect of MUFA on the eating quality had shown a quadratic curve relationship, there is a possibility that an appropriate MUFA percentage existed.
