Food Sci. Biotechnol. 22(3): 651-658 (2013)

DOI 10.1007/s10068-013-0127-4

Influence of Particular Breed on Meat Quality Parameters,

Sensory Characteristics, and Volatile Components

Hoa Van Ba, Kyeong Seon Ryu, Nguyen Thi Kim Lan, and Inho Hwang

Received: 15 October 2012 / Revised: 20 December 2012 / Accepted: 6 January 2013 / Published Online: 30 June 2013

© KoSFoST and Springer 2013

Abstract The present study demonstrates the effect of

breed on meat quality, sensory characteristics, and flavor

components. Longissimus dorsi of ‘Angus’ and ‘Hanwoo’

breeds aged for 29 days were used for investigation of the

aforementioned characteristics. Our results revealed that

intramuscular fat (IMF) was higher for ‘Hanwoo’ beef as

compared to ‘Angus’ (p<0.05). A total of 62 flavor

compounds were identified, the amount of these compounds

varied significantly among ‘Hanwoo’ and ‘Angus’ cattle.

The ‘Hanwoo’ beef produced high level of pleasant flavor

compounds such as octanal and nonanal derived from oleic

acid. Also, the amount of unpleasant flavor compounds

such as benzaldehyde derived from linolenic acid was

lower than that of ‘Angus’ (p<0.05). Moreover, the

tenderness, juiciness, and flavor scores were also higher for

‘Hanwoo’ beef when compared with ‘Angus’. In conclusion,

our results clearly demonstrated that the breed had a

potential impact on the meat quality, sensory, and volatile

components.

Keywords: ‘Angus’ breed, ‘Hanwoo’ breed, meat quality,

sensory, volatile flavor component

Introduction

Flavor, tenderness, and juiciness are considered as the most

important criteria for acceptability and palatability of beef

and thus affects consumer purchasing decisions (1). The

raw meat has little flavor and only blood-like taste.

However the meat develops its aroma characteristics during

cooking due to the complex interaction of precursors

derived from both the lean and fat compositions of meat to

generate volatile compounds (2). Previous workers (3)

have identified a large number of important volatile

compounds contributing to the aroma characteristics of

cooked beef. It has been already well documented that

these volatile flavor components are formed by 4 main

pathways such as the Maillard reaction of amino acids with

reducing sugars, thermal oxidation and degradation of fatty

acids, vitamin degradation, and interaction of the

intermediates of Maillard reaction with lipid-degradation

products during cooking (4). Furthermore, it is also known

that there is a great variation in meat quality parameters,

flavor components as well as sensory traits due to factors

such as; diet, sex, and chiller ageing (5,6) Besides the

aforementioned factors, breed (genetics) also is one of the

most important factors affecting the beef quality since they

are related to traditional production systems, for instance

local breeds adapted to special environments and handling

systems. Earlier studies have demonstrated that breed

differs considerably in meat quality parameters (7). A

recent study by Koutsidis et al. (8) showed that the water-

soluble precursors of beef flavors differed among the

‘Aberdeen Angus’ × ‘Holstein-Friesian’ breed and a dairy

breed (‘Holstein-Friesian’). On the other hand, some studies

have reported that breed is one of the factors directly

influencing the intramuscular fat content that subsequently

influences the flavors of cooked meat of different breeds

(9). Boylston et al. (10) indicated that level of lipid-derived

volatile compounds were higher in the ‘Wagyu’ beef

compared to the ‘Angus’, ‘Longhorn’, and US Choice

beefs. The authors suggested that the higher neutral lipid

content of the ‘Wagyu’ breed may be responsible for this

Hoa Van Ba, Kyeong Seon Ryu, Inho Hwang (�)Department of Animal Science and Institute of Rare Earth for BiologicalApplication, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 561-756,KoreaTel: +82-63-270-2605; Fax: +82-63-270-2605Email: inho.hwang@chonbuk.ac.kr

Nguyen Thi Kim LanFaculty of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Thai NguyenUniversity of Agriculture and Forestry, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam

RESEARCH ARTICLE

652 Ba et al.

particular effect. More to the point, the chiller ageing is a

traditional method commonly used to improve eating

quality traits of meat typically tenderness (11). The ageing

of beef for certain days yields an increase in water-soluble

flavor precursors, characteristic flavor and taste intensity

(12).

In the present study we compared the effect of breed on

meat quality, flavor components, and sensory characteristics.

To the best of our knowledge; relatively limited scientific

information regarding the meat quality parameters, sensory

traits, and especially objective flavor components of these

beef from 2 breeds is available. The beef from ‘Angus’

cattle imported from Australia is very common beef in

Korea and is getting more attention by Korean consumers

after the Korean native cattle beef (‘Hanwoo’). Thus the

current work aimed to evaluate the potential of the breed

on meat quality parameters, sensory characteristics, and

volatile components.

Materials and Methods

Sample preparation Cattle ‘Hanwoo’ (Bos taurus coreana,

n=10) and ‘Black Angus’ (Aberdeen angus, n=20) at 22

months of age were used in the present investigation. Both

‘Hanwoo’ and ‘Angus’ breeds were grazed on pastures

until 18 months of age prior to transfer to the feedlots of

farms. At the feedlots, the selected animals were then fed

ad libitum with a same finishing diet consisted of whole

crop barley silage supplemented with 500 g rolled barley/

kg dry matter for 120 days. At the end of the feeding

period, the fed animals were transported to slaughterhouses

and were slaughtered by conventional procedures in

commercial abattoirs. After slaughter, all of the carcasses

were immediately transferred to chilled rooms for 24 h, the

left side of carcass was ribbed between the 13th rib and the

1st lumbar vertebrae. The next day, longissimus dorsi

muscles were taken from the right sides of the carcasses

and vacuum packaged. The ‘Hanwoo’ samples were then

immediately transferred to the Meat Science Laboratory of

the Chonbuk National University (Jeonju, Korea) and aged

at 4oC for 29 days in a chilling room. After vacuum packaged,

the ‘Angus’ samples were also immediately transported

from Australia to Incheon International Airport (South

Korea) under chilled conditions (4oC). After that the

‘Angus’ samples were immediately transported to the Meat

Science Laboratory of the Chonbuk National University

and aged at 4oC in a chilling room for additional days to

reach an ageing period of 29 days postmortem as

aforementioned ‘Hanwoo’ samples. After chiller ageing,

the longissimus dorsi samples of both breeds were carefully

trimmed off from all visual fats, vacuum packaged and

then stored at −20oC in a freezer until use. The frozen

muscle samples from the 2 breeds as aforementioned were

cut into sub-samples and used for measurements of meat

quality parameters, volatile flavor components and sensory

characteristics. Sub-samples were vacuum-packed in oxygen

impermeable polyethylene bags and stored at −20oC until

analysis.

Measurement of meat quality parameters The pH of

the samples was measured in duplicates using a portable

pH meter (Orion model 301; Orion, Beverly, MA, USA)

following the procedure of Bendall (13).

The intramuscular fat (IMF) was analyzed using the

Soxhlet method as described by Ji et al. (14). Briefly,

minced samples (5.0 g each) were placed in an extraction

thimble, dried at 102oC for 5 h, then cooled in desiccators

and placed in Soxhlet extractor. The samples were then

kept in petroleum ether for 6 h to extract the fat and the

residual solvent was removed by keeping the extract in the

dry oven at 102oC for 1 h. The IMF content was quantified

as the weight percentage of wet muscle tissue.

Color, cooking loss, and Warner-Bratzler shear force

(WBSF) were determined by taking approximately 300 g

of same sample blocks. Meat color (L*, a*, and b*)

coordinates were measured on the surfaces of the sample

blocks via a film lid using a Konica Minolta spectro-

photometer (CM-2500d; Milton, Keynes, UK). Color was

expressed according to the Commission International de

l’Eclairage (CIE) system and reported as CIE L*

(lightness), CIE a* (redness), and CIE b* (yellowness).

Three color coordinates were measured at 3 different

locations on the cut surface of meat with D65 illuminant

and 10 observers. After color measurement, the sample

blocks were immediately placed in plastic bags and cooked

in a preheated water bath (maintained at 70oC) for 1 h. The

cooked samples were immediately cooled in 18oC running

water for 30 min. The excess moisture was removed and

samples were finally weighed. The samples were weighed

before and after cooking to determine cooking loss.

Subsequent to cooking loss measurement, each sample was

cut into minimum of 6 strips that had an average diameter

of 0.5 inches and fiber parallel to the longest dimension of

at least 2 cm. WBSF values of these 6 strips of each sample

were measured on an Instron Universal Testing Machine

(Model 3342; Instron Corporation, Norwood, MA, USA)

and expressed as kg of force (kgf).

Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were

assessed following the procedure of Buege and Aust (15).

The TBARS value was calculated by multiplying the

absorbance value by 5.88 standard dilution factor and

expressed as mg malonaldehyde (MA)/kg meat sample.

Fatty acids in the meat samples were extracted by a

direct trans-esterification technique developed by Rule (16),

and were determined using a GC/FID system (6890N

Effect of Particular Breed on Meat Quality 653

network GC system; Agilent, Santa Clara, USA) following

the method of Ji et al. (14). Individual fatty acids were

confirmed on the basis of retention time through

comparison with a commercially available mixture of fatty

acids (FAME; Supelco, Bellefonte, PA, USA).

Sensory evaluation The sensory evaluation was performed

by following our previously established protocols (17). The

consumer panels consisted of untrained male and female

university students. The vacuum packed frozen sample

blocks were cut. Six thin slices (50×40×4 mm) of each

sample block were sliced according to fiber direction

across the sample block. Cooking was done on an open tin-

coated grill (surface temperature ranged from 240-250oC).

The cooked samples were immediately dispensed on

individual plates and served to the panelists. The cooked

strips of the samples were evaluated by panelists for

tenderness, juiciness, flavor, overall acceptability, and

rating using a 100 mm unstructured line scales with verbal

anchors where the left anchor represents scores of either

tough, dry, extremely dislike the flavor or unacceptable.

After evaluation of each sample, the panelists were asked

to refresh their mouth with the distilled drinking water and

salt-free crackers.

Volatile component analysis Volatile compounds of

cooked longissimus dorsi muscle of ‘Hanwoo’ and

‘Angus’ breeds aged for 29 days were analyzed using solid

phase microextraction equipped with GS/MS following our

standardized method (18). The preliminary identification of

volatile compounds was carried out by comparing the

obtained mass spectra with those already present in the

Wiley library and secondly by comparing their linear

retention index values (LRI) calculated from the standard

alkane retention times. The obtained LRI values were

compared with the published values reported in literatures

(19). The final confirmation was made by running various

authentic standard compounds. The calculated amount of

the volatile compounds was approximated by comparison

of their peak areas with that of the 2-methyl-3-heptanone

(internal standard), obtained from the total ion chromatogram

using a response factor of 1.

Statistical analysis Effect of breed on the meat quality

parameters, sensory characteristics, and volatile components

were evaluated by using analysis of variance (ANOVA)

test following a general linear model. The means of the

measurements were compared using the Duncan’s multiple

range test at the significance level of 0.05 (SAS Institute,

Cary, NC, USA).

Results and Discussion

Effect of breed on meat quality parameters Meat

quality parameters of the longissimus dorsi muscle of

‘Hanwoo’ and ‘Angus’ chiller aged at day 29 post-mortem

are summarized in Table 1. Mean values for pH, CIE L*,

a*, b*, and TBARS were different for ‘Hanwoo’ and

‘Angu’s breed (p>0.05). Warren et al. (20) have also found

that the meat color, pH, and TBARS of ‘Holstein-Friesian’

breed and ‘Angus’ didn’t differ when both the breeds were

fed with the same diet and slaughtered at the same age. Our

results are consistent with the previous findings. Furthermore,

the TBARS values of longissimus dorsi muscle from both

the breeds were below the critical limit of 0.5 mg MA/kg

meat in the present study. It was reported that the TBARS

values above 0.5 mg MA/kg indicate a level of lipid

oxidation products which impart a rancid flavor and odor

that can be detected by consumers (21). Therefore it can be

concluded from our results that chiller ageing for 29 days

of longissimus dorsi muscle of the selected breeds did not

result in excessive oxidation of lipids. It is already

established that the high level of IMF in beef or a high

marbled beef is considered as the most important factor to

determine the beef palatability (22). In the present study

the IMF content was found significantly different between

the 2 breeds. The IMF content of ‘Hanwoo’ beef was found

to be 25.97% whereas it was found 14.75% in ‘Angus’

beef. From these results and previous reports, it could be

concluded that diet and breed are the main factors which

can affect levels of IMF content. Nevertheless it is difficult

to determine the exact cause of variation at this stage,

however, the most probable reason could be the genetic

Table 1. Mean values for meat quality characteristics oflongissimus dorsi muscles of ‘Hanwo’ and ‘Angus’ cattle

CharacteristicsBreed

Hanwoo Angus

pH 005.47±0.03a1) 05.48±0.02a

Cooking loss (%) 18.54±1.80b 20.99±1.85a

CIE L*2) 46.32±1.95a 46.16±3.41a

CIE a* 20.52±2.50a 19.12±3.16a

CIE b* 17.94±1.56a 18.01±1.26a

IMF (%) 25.97±4.56a 14.75±3.62b

WBSF (kgf) 01.90±0.38b 2.56±0.5a

TBARS (mg MA/kg) 00.37±0.08a 0.40±0.1a

Moisture (%) 50.53±4.2b0 60.48±5.0a0

1)Values are expressed as mean±SD; Means in the row with differentsuperscripts are significantly different at p<0.05.

2)CIE L*, lightness; CIE a*, redness; CIE b*, yellowness

654 Ba et al.

factor. The outcome of our analysis also showed that

‘Hanwoo’ beef with the higher IMF content possessed the

low moisture (50.53%) content as compared to ‘Angus’

beef (60.48%). Our results agree with the findings of Kim

and Lee (23). Moreover, in the present study we observed

significant influence of breed on cooking loss. ‘Angus’

beef had a higher cooking loss (20.99%) than the

‘Hanwoo’ beef (18.54%). The higher IMF content had a

lower cooking loss and vice versa (24). WBSF values

differed (p<0.05) among the selected breeds. In particular,

the WBSF values were found significantly lower in

‘Hanwoo’ beef (1.90 kgf) as compared to the ‘Angus’ beef

(2.56 kgf). The WBSF values obtained herein were

generally very low. This could be due to chiller ageing of

the samples for a long period (29 days). Another probable

reason might be genetic variations between the 2 breeds

which ultimately determines the typical characteristics.

Vieira et al. (7) have also reported that breed differences in

WBSF values among ‘Limousine’, ‘Brown Swiss’, and

‘Asturiana de los Valles’.

Effect of breed on sensory characteristics The results

of the sensory evaluation of steaks from the 2 breeds at day

29 postmortem are presented in Table 2. Significantly

higher tenderness, juiciness, flavor, overall acceptability,

and rating scores were given by panelists for steaks from

‘Hanwoo’ beef than those in ‘Angus’ beef. Tenderness

evaluation showed a full response with WBSF values

(Table 1). Studies have shown that the sensory parameters

of cooked beef are affected by a number of factors such as

muscle, sex, diet, and ageing (6,7,12,25). Based on the

earlier studies it can be suggested that diet, sex, animal age,

ageing period, and so on affect the sensory parameters. In

our study we have kept all the above mentioned factors

constant for the selected breeds for sample preparations but

still a great difference in the sensory parameters between

the breeds was observed. Therefore, from the results/

observations of our investigation it could be concluded that

the great difference in the sensory parameters among the

breeds might be the genetic effect. Our sensory results are

in good agreement with the previous findings (26).

Effect of breed on volatile components Sixty-two

volatile compounds with different chemical constituents

were identified (Table 3). These compounds could be

formed via either Maillard reaction or thermal oxidation of

fatty acids. The compounds formed from lipid oxidation

pathway were straight chain aldehydes, alcohols, ketones,

hydrocarbons, and alkylfurans whereas the compounds

generated from the Maillard reaction include heterocyclic

nitrogen and sulfur compounds such as pyrazines. Aldehydes

have a low odor detection threshold, hence even a small

amount of them can contribute to meat flavors. Out of 23

aldehydes identified, 5 were formed via the Strecker

degradation of amino acids, as a part of Maillard reaction

including acetaldehydes (alanine), 2-methylpropanal (valine),

2- and 3-methylbutanal (leucine and isoleucine, respectively),

and methional (methionine) (27). A higher amount of 2-

and 3-methylbutanal was observed in ‘Angus’ beef, while

the methional (characterized as cooked potato-meat) (3)

was formed at a higher amount in cooked ‘Hanwoo’ beef.

The differences in the amounts of these Strecker aldehydes

are probably due to the differences in free amino acid

contents between the 2 breeds (data not shown).

Among the lipids-derived aldehydes, heptanal, octanal,

nonanal, (E)-2-decenal, and 2-undecenal are among the 5

oxidation/degradation products of oleic acid (C18:1n-9)

(28). The C18:1n-9-derived compounds are the most important

which contribute to cooked beef flavor because they have

been found to possess pleasant fruity-fatty-sweet-green-

oily odor notes (3,29). Our results show that the amounts

of these C18:1n-9-derived aldehydes in ‘Hanwoo’ beef

were significantly higher than in the ‘Angus’ beef. Especially,

the compounds such as octanal (fruity-green-sweet-fatty-

oily) and nonanal (sweet-fatty-green-oily) were quantitatively

the most dominant compounds originated from C18:1n-9,

and were found the highest in ‘Hanwoo’ beef. These

results could be explained due to the significantly higher

levels of C18:1n-9 in ‘Hanwoo’ beef (50.52%) as compared

to the ‘Angus’ beef (46.207 %) (Table 4). Melton et al.

(30) also reported that higher level of C18:1n-9 in beef

could positively be correlated with desirable flavor

characteristics.

Additionally, the compounds such as pentanal, hexanal,

(E)-2-heptenal, (E)-2-octenal, (E)-2-nonenal, and (E,E)-

2,4-decadienal (Table 3) were formed by the oxidation of

linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) (31). Among these compounds,

(E)-2-heptenal, (E)-2-octenal, and (E)-2-nonenal were

formed in higher amount in ‘Hanwoo’ beef as compared to

the ‘Angus’ beef. These results did not correspond to the

Table 2. Sensorial characteristics of longissimus dorsi musclesof ‘Hanwoo’ and ‘Angus’ cattle

Sensory traits1)Breed

Hanwoo Angus

Tenderness 77.32±10.26a2) 52.83±6.0b

Juiciness 76.45±6.7a 57.10±8.3b

Flavor 67.35±7.15a 61.15±7.13b

Overall acceptability 73.65±8.25a 55.45±6.52b

Rate 02.64±0.42a 1.758±0.3b

1)Tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and overall acceptability, 100 mmunstructured line scales: 0 (very tough, dry, bad, or bad) to 100(very tender, juicy, good, or good), respectively; Rate, 9-pointhedonic scale: 1 (very dissatisfaction) to 9 (very satisfaction)

2)Values are expressed as mean±SD; Means in the row with differentsuperscripts are significantly different at p<0.05.

Effect of Particular Breed on Meat Quality 655

results of fatty acid analysis (Table 4), this might be due to

the effect of the oxidation of linolenic acid (C18:3n-3),

since the level of this fatty acid was the highest in ‘Angus’

beef. Previous studies have demonstrated that high level of

n-3 fatty acids (i.e., C18:3n-3) in beef may result in

reduction or inhibition of other flavor compounds (31). As

a consequence, benzaldehyde associated with unpleasant

bitter almond-burning odor notes (29) was the most

abundant oxidized product of C18:3n-3 and the amount of

this compound was found higher in ‘Angus’ beef than that

in the ‘Hanwoo’ beef. Our results are similar to the

previous report (32) which also determines the higher

levels of aldehydes in the beef steaks with high levels of

polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).

Alcohols generally have a low odor threshold, thus they

partly contribute to the flavor of cooked beef. The differences

Table 3. Approximate quantities (µg/g) of volatile components of cooked beef longissimus dorsi muscles of ‘Hanwoo’ and ‘Angus’cattle

LRI1) ID2)Breed

Hanwoo Angus

Aldehydes

Acetaldehyde ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.04±0.01a3) 0.04±0.01a

2-Methylpropanal ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.03±0.01b 0.04±0.01a

3-Methylbutanal ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.02±0.0b 0.35±0.05a

2-Methylbutanal ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.15±0.03a 0.21±0.05a

Pentanal ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.28±0.01a 0.24±0.01a

Hexanal 816 MS+AC+RIL 1.01±0.05a 1.06±0.07a

Fufural 875 MS+AC+RIL 0.03±0.01a 0.02±0.01b

Heptanal 920 MS+AC+RIL 0.61±0.04a 0.21±0.01b

Methional 938 MS 0.11±0.01a 0.05±0.0b

(E)-2-Heptenal 1188 MS+AC 0.10±0.01a 0.04±0.0b

Benzaldehyde 1335 MS+AC 1.19±0.02b 1.45±0.06a

Octanal 1025 MS+AC 0.59±0.01a 0.35±0.01b

Benzenacetaldehyde 1189 MS+AC 0.03±0.0b 0.05±0.01a

(E)-2-Octenal 1068 MS+AC+RIL 0.12±0.01a 0.05±0.0b

Nonanal 1128 MS+AC+RIL 0.58±0.08a 0.34±0.04b

(E)-2-Nonenal 1171 MS+AC 0.09±0.01a 0.04±0.0b

Decanal 1235 MS+AC 0.02±0.0a 0.01±0.0a

(E)-2-Decenal 1277 MS 0.10±0.01a 0.02±0.0b

Benzeneacetaldehyde alpha 1296 MS 0.02±0.0a 0.02±0.0a

(E,E)-2,4-Decadienal 1313 MS+AC+RIL 0.02±0.0a 0.02±0.0a

2-Undecenal 1324 MS 0.05±0.02a 0.01±0.0b

Tridecanal 1745 MS+AC 0.00±0.0 ND

Tetradecanal 1877 MS+AC 0.03±0.01a 0.05±0.03a

ΣAldehydes 5.59±0.2a 4.72±0.12b

Alcohols

Ethanol ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.03±0.01 ND

1-Pentanol ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.10±0.01b 0.12±0.01a

2-Furanmethanol 1028 MS+AC 0.03±0.02a 0.02±0.0b

1-Hexanol 1296 MS+AC 0.04±0.0a 0.02±0.0b

1-Octen-3-ol 2593 MS+AC 0.22±0.01b 0.27±0.02a

ΣAlcohols 0.38±0.02a 0.42±0.02a

Ketones

2-Propanone ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.04±0.0b 0.05±0.01a

2,3-Butanedione ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.01±0.0a 0.02±0.01a

2-Butanone ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.10±0.01a 0.13±0.03a

3-Hydroxy-2-butanone ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.03±0.0b 0.10±0.04a

1-(Acetyloxy)-2-propanone 860 MS 0.01±0.0a 0.01±0.0a

2-Heptanone 885 MS+AC 0.02±0.01a 0.01±0.0a

ΣKetones 0.18±0.03b 0.29±0.05a

656 Ba et al.

between the selected breeds were also observed on the

basis of 1-pentanol, 2-furanmethanol, 1-octen-3-ol, and 1-

hexanol compounds. Moreover, the amounts of 2-propanone

and 3-hydroxy-2-butanone were also affected by the

breeds. Hydrocarbons with high odor detection threshold

contribute less significantly to flavor development. Our

results depict that only toluene and pentadecane show

breed difference. The level of methanethiol (rotten cabbage

odor note) was found higher in the ‘Hanwoo’ beef whereas

the levels of dimethyldisulfide and dimethyltrisulfide were

found higher in ‘Angus’ beef. The variations in the

amounts of the sulfur compounds were probably due to the

differences in the sulfur-containing amino acid content

among the breeds (data not shown). No differences in

pyrazines were found between the breeds. Furan generally

has relatively high odor detection thresholds therefore

these compounds are unlikely to make a significant

contribution to the flavor characteristics of the cooked meat

(32). Only 2-pentylfuran showed significant difference

between breeds.

Table 3. Continued

LRI1) ID2)Breed

Hanwoo Angus

Hydrocarbons

Hexane ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.30±0.09a3) 0.32±0.13a

Benzene ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.08±0.04a 0.20±0.12a

Butanoic acid ≤800 MS 0.04±0.03a 0.03±0.01a

Toluene ≤800 MS+AC 0.09±0.01a 0.04±0.01b

3-Ethyl-2-methyl-1,3-hexadiene 1110 MS 0.04±0.0 ND

2-Methyldecane 1023 MS ND 0.05±0.0

3-Methyldodecane 1097 MS 0.03±0.01a 0.03±0.01a

Decane 1421 MS 0.05±0.01 ND

Undecane 1121 MS 0.03±0.01a 0.03±0.01a

Dodecane 1223 MS 0.02±0.0a 0.02±0.0a

Tridecane 1323 MS 0.01±0.0a 0.01±0.0a

Tetradecane 1386 MS 0.01±0.0a 0.01±0.0a

Pentadecane 1491 MS 0.01±0.0a 0.00±0.0a

ΣHydrocarbons 0.23±0.09a 0.19±0.07a

Methanethiol ≤800 MS+AC 0.11±0.01a 0.01±0.01b

Carbon disulfide ≤800 MS 0.03±0.0 ND

Dimethyldisulfide ≤800 MS+AC+RIL 0.04±0.0b 0.07±0.0a

Dimethyltrisulfide 1864 MS 0.19±0.01b 0.23±0.01a

Dimethyltetrasulfide 1916 MS 0.01±0.0a 0.01±0.0a

2-Acetylthiazole 1030 MS+AC 0.04±0.01a 0.04±0.01a

ΣSulfur and nitrogens 0.28±0.01b 0.36±0.03a

Pyrazines

Pyrazine ≤800 MS+AC ND 0.01±0.0

2-Methylpyrazine 868 MS+AC+RIL 0.03±0.0a 0.03±0.0a

2,5-Dimethylpyrazine 943 MS+AC+RIL 0.09±0.01a 0.08±0.01a

3-Ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine 1004 MS 0.03±0.01a 0.04±0.0a

ΣPyrazines 0.13±0.01b 0.16±0.01a

Furans

2-Butylfuran 905 MS 0.01±0.0a 0.01±0.0a

2-Pentylfuran 1007 MS+AC 0.53±0.08b 0.73±0.04a

2-Hexylfuran 1110 MS 0.02±0.0a 0.02±0.0a

2-Heptylfuran 1615 MS 0.01±0.0a 0.02±0.01a

2-Octylfuran 1317 MS 0.01±0.0a 0.01±0.0a

ΣFurans 0.57±0.02b 0.77±0.04a

1)Linear retention index calculated by applying a series of n-alkanes (C8-C20) using fused silica column (DB-5MS)2)Identification method: MS, compound identified based on mass spectrum that agrees with the standard spectra in the Wiley Registry of MassSpectral Database 7th ed.; AC, compound identified using authentic compounds; RIL, compound identified in agreement with linear retentionindex values from previous literatures (21)

3)Values are expressed as mean±SD; Means in the row with different superscripts are significantly different at p<0.05; ND, not detected

Effect of Particular Breed on Meat Quality 657

Furthermore, the results of sensory evaluation (Table 2)

might be partly explained by those from the volatile

compounds. We assumed that the variations in the quantities

of volatile compounds especially the lipid-derived aldehydes

were large enough to produce an effect on the scores of

flavor characteristics, and these compounds influenced to

the flavor differences between the 2 selected beef breeds in

the present study. In order to explain the ability of panelists

to distinguish beef samples of the 2 breeds, the lowest

flavor scores given by panelists for ‘Angus’ is probably

due to the reason that this breed contains lower levels of

the certain important C18:1n-9-drived aldehydes and and

the presence of higher levels of C18:3n-3-derived aldehydes.

Elmore et al. (31) also suggested that if n-3 PUFAs levels

are raised too high, the undesirable flavor may result.

In conclusion, the breed has great impact on the meat

quality parameters, sensory characteristic and volatile flavor

compounds. ‘Hanwoo’ beef showed better meat quality

parameters, sensory quality, and more quantity of important

volatile compounds. The IMF content difference between

the ‘Hanwoo’ and ‘Angus’ breeds was found to be the

most important factor for explaining the different quality

parameters, sensory characteristics, and volatile compounds.

Lastly, we suggest that the increase in the IMF level in beef

through the genetic improvement, breed hybridization, or

suitable feeding program can help to improve the meat

quality parameters and finally eating quality as well.

Acknowledgments It should be acknowledged that this

work was partly supported by grants from the FTA issue

project (No. J907055 and No. J008525), Rural Development

Administration, Republic of Korea.

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Fatty acid1)Breed

Hanwoo Angus

C8:0 0.01±0.01a2) 0.01±0.01a

C10:0 0.07±0.0a 0.07±0.0a

C12:0 0.12±0.0a 0.08±0.0b

C14:0 3.84±0.12a 3.53±0.11a

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C18:0 8.45±0.5b 10.0±0.28a

C18:1 n9 50.50±0.12a 46.20±0.11b

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C20:0 0.04±0.02a 0.19±0.04a

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C22:1 0.08±0.01a 0.04±0.01b

C24:0 0.06±0.01b 0.13±0.01a

ΣSFA 39.68±0.5b 45.52±0.46a

ΣMUFA 57.66±0.66a 51.04±0.5b

ΣPUFA 2.65±0.14b 3.42±0.1a

PUFA/SFA 0.0±0.0a 0.07±0.0a

1)SFA, saturated fatty acid; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acid;PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acid

2)Values are expressed as mean±SD; Means in the row with differentsuperscripts are significantly different at p<0.05.

658 Ba et al.

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