Effects of relative humidity on dry-aged beef quality

Felipe A Ribeiro; Soon K Lau; Rebecca A Furbeck; Nicolas J Herrera; Morgan L Henriott; Nicolas A Bland; Samodha C Fernando; Jeyamkondan Subbiah; Sérgio B Pflanzer; Thu T Dinh; Rhonda K Miller; Gary A Sullivan; Chris R Calkins

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2024.109498

Effects of relative humidity on dry-aged beef quality

Meat Sci. 2024 Mar 18:213:109498. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2024.109498. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0908, United States.
² Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-6205, United States; Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0726, United States.
³ Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-6205, United States; Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0726, United States; Department of Food Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72704, United States.
⁴ College of Food Engineering, Department of Food Technology, University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo 13083-862, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, United States.
⁶ Texas A&M University Animal Science Department, 2471 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
⁷ Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0908, United States. Electronic address: ccalkins1@unl.edu.

PMID: 38520828
DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2024.109498

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of relative humidity (RH) on moisture loss and flavor in dry-aged beef. Sixteen strip loins were assigned to one of the four aging treatments: vacuum (WET), dry-aging at 50% RH, dry-aging at 70% RH, or dry-aging at 85% RH and aged for 42 days at 2 °C. Loins were evaluated for evaporation loss, trim loss, tenderness, sensory, and microbiological characteristics. Results show that lower RH results in accelerated moisture loss during the first 3 days of the aging process without significantly affecting the total amount of moisture loss. Pseudomonadales dominated the aerobically dry-aged loins while Enterobacteriales was the most abundant in the wet-aged samples. Dry-aged samples had increased content of free amino acids in the cooked meat juice compared to the wet-aged counterpart. Dry aging at 50% RH tended to associate with more desirable flavor notes.

Keywords: Dry-aging; Flavor; Meat; Moisture loss; Palatability; Sensory.

Published by Elsevier Ltd.