Tenderness of steaks was determined as WarnerBratzler peak shear force but the small sample size necessitated using a modified holder to allowthe small fibre-length samples to be adequately secured for shearing. Briefly, the samples (fibres approximately 25 mm long) were cut so that they had a rectangular cross-sectional area of 0.2 cm2 (6.42 mm × 3 mm). Shear force was measured (n = 8) using a rectangular blade pulled upwards at a speed of 100 mm/min at right angles to the muscle fibre direction, as described previously (Bouton & Harris, 1972; Bouton, Harris, & Shorthose, 1971). Tenderness of each sample, without further cooking, was assessed as peak shear force (N). Because of the different cross-sectional area, shear force values reported for these samples cannot be compared with other values measured using the standard device (Sikes et al., 2010).