The mineral profile of beef is a subject of human health interest, but also animal performance and meat quality. This study analyzes the relationships of 20 minerals in beef inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) with three animal performance and 13 beef quality traits analyzed on 182 samples of Longissimus thoracis. Animals' breed and sex showed limited effects. The major sources of variation (farm/date of slaughter, individual animal within group and side/sample within animal) differed greatly from trait to trait. Mineral contents were correlated to animal performance and beef quality being significant 52 out of the 320 correlations at the farm/date level, and 101 out of the 320 at the individual animal level. Five latent factors explained 69% of mineral co-variation. The most important, "Mineral quantity" factor correlated with age at slaughter and with the beef color traits. Two latent factors ("Na + Fe + Cu" and "Fe + Mn") correlated with performance and beef color traits. Two other ("K-B-Pb" and "Zn") correlated with beef chemical composition and the latter also with carcass weight and daily gain, and beef color traits. Beef cooking losses correlated with "K-B-Pb". Latent factor analysis appears be a useful means of disentangling the very complex relationships that the minerals in beef have with animal performance and beef quality traits.
Keywords: beef production; beef quality; environmental-minerals; macro-minerals; micro-minerals; multivariate analysis.