Our objective was to determine the effect of extending postmortem aging from 21 to 84 days on consumer eating quality of beef longissimus lumborum. Strip loins were collected from 108 carcasses. The longissimus lumborum muscle was isolated from strip loins and assigned to one of ten postmortem aging periods from 21 to 84 days (7-day increments) and balanced within four anatomical positions within the muscle. Consumer evaluations for tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and overall liking were conducted using untrained consumer sensory panels consisting of 1080 individual consumers, in accordance with the Meat Standards Australia protocols. These scores were then used to calculate an overall eating quality (MQ4) score. Postmortem aging had no effect (P > 0.05) on tenderness, but juiciness, flavor liking, overall liking, and MQ4 declined (P < 0.05) as aging period increased. Samples aged 21 to 42 days were most preferred having greater (P < 0.05) overall liking and greater (P < 0.05) MQ4 scores than samples aged 70 to 84 days postmortem. These results suggest that longissimus lumborum samples should not be wet-aged longer than 63 days to prevent potential negative eating experiences for consumers; however, altering storage conditions, specifically reducing temperature, could potentially allow for longer chilled storage without such negative effects on flavor and overall liking.
Keywords: beef; consumer; eating quality; extended postmortem aging; sensory testing.