The objective of this study was to investigate beef quality of longissimus muscle after ageing in dry ageing bags, traditional dry ageing or vacuum for 8 or 19 days. Lower ageing weight loss, odour score and microbial growth were found in meat aged in dry ageing bags than after traditional dry ageing. The sensory panel detected no differences for most of the sensory attributes between samples using the two dry ageing methods, except for the odour of the cutting surface. The dry-aged steaks had more umami and butter fried meat taste compared with vacuum-aged steaks. Ageing time affected most of the sensory traits in this study, which improved as ageing time increased from 8 to 19 days. In a consumer test, meat aged for 21 days in dry ageing bags was preferred than the samples aged in vacuum. This may be due to the higher tenderness and juiciness obtained during storage in dry ageing bags than meat aged in vacuum.
Keywords: Beef; Consumer preferences; Dry ageing bag; Meat quality; Sensory characteristics; Vacuum.
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