As seen in Table 6, both muscle and quality grade influenced (P . 0.05) the percentage of samples rated as acceptable for tenderness, juiciness, flavor liking, and overall liking. The SM showed the lowest (P b 0.01) percentage of acceptability for all palatability traits. For tenderness, LL and GM had the greatest proportion of acceptable samples, while SV was intermediate. According to consumers, SV and GM had the greatest percentage of samples with acceptable juiciness, followed by LL, which was intermediate to SM. The percentage of samples that were rated acceptable for flavor and overall liking was similar (P N 0.05) for GM, SV, and LL. A decrease (P . 0.05) in the proportion of acceptable samples for each palatability trait was observed as quality grade decreased from Top Choice to Select.