Forty-eight carcasses from suckler breeds (Charolais, Maine Anjou) were randomly selected at an industrial slaughterhouse. They were selected from a population of high carcass weight to obtain large muscles. Fat (5 classes from 1=lean to 5=fat) and conformation (E.U.R.O.P. classification: 5 classes from E=‘‘good’’ to P=‘‘bad’’ conformation) scores, according to the EC system, and cold trimmed carcass weight were recorded. The carcasses were destined for sale as vacuum pack- aged meat.
The carcasses were quartered 24 h post mortem and cut 48 h post mortem. By carcass, three muscles Triceps brachii (TB), Semitendinosus (ST), Rectus femoris (RF) were removed and vacuum packaged. Two groups of 72 muscles (24 ST, 24 TB and 24 RF) were randomly selected and aged for 10 and 14 days respectively at 0– 2 C. They were then frozen at 25 C until evaluation. Before tenderness evaluation, each muscle was thawed and cut according to professional specifications (Fig. 1). Four slices (300–500 g) were removed. Slice A was removed from the potentially less tender part of the muscle, slices 1 and 2 were removed immediately after the cut and slice T was removed from the potentially most tender part. Instrumental measurement and sen- sory evaluation were conducted on the same slices (A, 1, 2 and T) for the three muscles.