Consumer interest in grass-fed beef has been steadily rising due to consumer perception of its potential benefits. This interest has led to a growing demand for niche market beef, particularly in the western United States. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the impact of feeding systems on the change in microbial counts, color, and lipid oxidation of steaks during retail display, and on their sensory attributes. The systems included: conventional grain-fed (CON), 20 months-grass-fed (20GF), 25-months-grass-fed (25GF) and 20-months-grass-fed + 45-day-grain-fed (45GR). The results indicate that steaks in the 20GF group displayed a darker lean and fat color, and a lower oxidation state than those in the 25GF group. However, the feeding system did not have an impact on pH or objective tenderness of beef steaks. In addition, consumers and trained panelist did not detect a difference in taste or flavor between the 20GF or 25GF steaks but expressed a preference for the CON and 45GR steaks, indicating that an increased grazing period may improve the color and oxidative stability of beef, while a short supplementation with grain may improve eating quality.

The United States’ large-scale poultry meat industry is energy and water intensive, and opportunities may exist to improve sustainability during the broiler chilling process. By USDA regulation, after harvest the internal temperature of the chicken must be reduced to 40°F or less within 16 h to inhibit bacterial growth that would otherwise compromise the safety of the product. This step is accomplished most commonly by water immersion chilling in the United States, while air chilling methods dominate other global markets. A comprehensive understanding of the differences between these chilling methods is lacking. Therefore, we assessed the meat quality, shelf-life, microbial ecology, and techno-economic impacts of chilling methods on chicken broilers in a university meat laboratory setting. We discovered that air chilling methods resulted in superior chicken odor and shelf-life, especially prior to 14 days of dark storage. Moreover, we demonstrated that air chilling resulted in a more diverse microbiome that we hypothesize may delay the dominance of the spoilage organism Pseudomonas. Finally, a techno-economic analysis highlighted potential economic advantages to air chilling compared to water chilling in facility locations where water costs are a more significant factor than energy costs. IMPORTANCE As the poultry industry works to become more sustainable and to reduce the volume of food waste, it is critical to consider points in the processing system that can be altered to make the process more efficient. In this study, we demonstrate that the method used during chilling (air versus water chilling) influences the final product microbial community, quality, and physiochemistry. Notably, the use of air chilling appears to delay the bloom of Pseudomonas spp. that are the primary spoilers in packaged meat products. By using air chilling to reduce carcass temperatures instead of water chilling, producers may extend the time until spoilage of the products and, depending on the cost of water in the area, may have economic and sustainability advantages. As a next step, a similar experiment should be done in an industrial setting to confirm these results generated in a small-scale university lab facility.

The red macroalgae (seaweed) Asparagopsis spp. has shown to reduce ruminant enteric methane (CH ₄ ) production up to 99% in vitro. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of Asparagopsis taxiformis on CH ₄ production (g/day per animal), CH ₄ yield (g CH ₄ /kg dry matter intake (DMI)), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion efficiency (FCE), and carcass and meat quality in growing beef steers. Twenty-one Angus-Hereford beef steers were randomly allocated to one of three treatment groups: 0% (Control), 0.25% (Low Dose; LD), and 0.5% (High Dose; HD) A. taxiformis inclusion based on organic matter intake. Steers were fed 3 diets: high, medium, and low forage total mixed ration (TMR) representing typical life-stage diets of growing beef steers. The LD and HD treatments over 147 days reduced enteric CH ₄ yield 45 and 68%, respectively; however, there was an interaction between TMR type and the magnitude of CH ₄ yield reduction. Supplementing the low forage TMR reduced CH ₄ yield 69.8% ( P <0.001) for LD and 80% ( P <0.001) for HD treatment. Hydrogen (H ₂ ) yield (g H ₂ /DMI) increased significantly ( P <0.001) 336 and 590% compared to Control for the LD and HD treatments, respectively. No differences were found in carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) yield (g CO ₂ /DMI), ADG, carcass quality, strip loin proximate analysis and shear force, or consumer taste preferences. DMI tended ( P = 0.08) to decrease 8% in steers in LD treatment but significantly ( P = 0.002) reduced 14% in steers in HD treatment. Conversely, FCE tended to increase 7% in steers in LD treatment ( P = 0.06) and increased 14% in steers in HD ( P < 0.01) treatment compared to Control. The persistent reduction of CH ₄ by A. taxiformis supplementation suggests that this is a viable feed additive to significantly decrease the carbon footprint of ruminant livestock and potentially increase production efficiency.