Influence of blade tenderization, moisture enhancement and pancreatin enzyme treatment on the processing characteristics and tenderness of beef semitendinosus muscle.

The combined effect of blade tenderization (BT), moisture enhancement and enzymatic tenderization on drip loss, cook loss, Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) and sensory characteristics of beef semitendinosus (ST) steaks from cattle under 30 months of age was investigated. Injection with phosphate/chloride solution improved tenderness and juiciness of ST muscles (P<0.01). No additional improvement in tenderness was observed with incorporation of a pancreatin enzyme preparation into the moisture enhancement solution (P>0.1). Injection of pancreatin alone tended to improve overall tenderness (P=0.09) and did not adversely affect other palatability attributes. Blade tenderization of ST muscles improved tenderness, as indicated by lower WBSF and increased sensory tenderness scores than for control samples, without decreasing flavour and juiciness. The results suggest that moisture enhancement and blade tenderization can be effectively utilized to reduce the variability in and improve both tenderness and palatability of ST muscles. Pancreatin was not particularly effective at the 0.02% level used.