LAUSR

Effects of marbling and chilled ageing on technological quality traits, volatile compounds and sensory characteristics of Hanwoo beef were investigated. Three marbling groups of longissimus dorsi muscles (n = 10 each), namely, high marbling (HM), moderate marbling (MM) and slight marbling (SM), classified according to the Korean carcass-grading system, were used. Each longissimus dorsi muscle from each marbling group was divided into two equal portions, vaccum-packaged and then assigned to 1- and 7-day ageing groups. The ageing was conducted in a chilling room at 4°C. Marbling level was significantly correlated with intramuscular fat content, shear force, cooking loss, tenderness and flavour. Particularly, the HM group had a lower shear force value, and higher fat content, lightness, tenderness, flavour and overall-liking scores than did MM and SM groups. Ageing significantly reduced the shear force value and increased tenderness, flavour and overall-liking scores for the HM group. Twenty-four volatile compounds were significantly influenced by marbling and/or ageing. The SM group had the highest concentration of benzaldehyde, while HM group had the highest concentrations of octanal, nonanal and dimethyl sulfide. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that a high marbling positively affected some technological quality traits and eating quality of beef, and ageing for 7 days reduced the shear force and improved eating quality of samples in the HM group, suggesting that the highly marbled beef responds to the ageing at a faster rate.