Muscle from cattle reared under different finishing regimes (grain vs. forage) and with different growth rates may have divergent metabolic signatures that are reflective of their inherent differences in biochemical processes, which may impact their subsequent transformation into high-quality beef. Differences in muscle lipid profiles were characterized in Angus × Nellore crossbred steers, using multiple reaction monitoring profiling, to identify potential metabolic signatures correlated to beef color and tenderness in the longissimus thoracis muscle of cattle fed in either a feedlot- or pasture-based system programmed to achieve either a high or low growth rate. A total of 440 lipids were significant, which were related mainly to triglycerides and phosphatidylcholine lipids. Distinct clusters between feeding strategies for the lipid dataset were revealed, which affected glycerolipid metabolism (P = 0.004), phospholipid metabolism (P = 0.009), sphingolipid metabolism (P = 0.050), and mitochondrial beta-oxidation of long-chain saturated fatty acid (P = 0.073) pathways. Lipid content and profile differed with feeding strategies, which were related to L*, a*, and tenderness. These findings provide a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of lipidomic profiling of beef cattle finished under different feeding strategies and provide a basis for the relationship between lipid content and profiles and beef quality development.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of applying electrostatic field (EF)–assisted thawing on the quality attributes of previously frozen beef striploin. Beef striploins from both sides of 12 USDA Choice carcasses were halved, frozen at −40°C, and thawed under 4 EF voltage treatments: 0 kV (control), 2.5 kV, 5 kV, and 10 kV. After reaching the internal temperature of −1°C, striploins were weighed for yield calculation, swabbed for microbial analysis, fabricated into steaks, and assigned to either 0- or 14-d aging period and retail displayed for 0 or 7 d. Subjective and objective color measurements were taken during the retail display. Upon completion of retail display, Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), cook loss, sarcomere length, troponin-T degradation, muscle fiber spacing, lipid oxidation, antioxidant capacity, pH, and proximate analysis were performed. All EF treatments increased purge loss compared to the control (P<0.05) and did not improve thawing speed, with samples from 10 kV actually taking the longest to thaw (P<0.05). The 2.5 kV and 5 kV samples aged 14 d showed less discoloration than those from 0 kV and 10 kV, and 5 kV samples aged 14 d had higher a* than those from the other treatments (P<0.05). Samples thawed under 10 kV showed a reduction in WBSF compared to the control (P0.05). Overall, our study determined that there was no economic benefit to apply EF during thawing regarding yield and purge loss. However, the application of EF may improve tenderness and extend shelf life of beef during retail display.

This erratum corrects the title and the description of the thawing systems used in the experiment for “Effect of Electromagnetic Field Assisted Thawing on the Quality of Previously Frozen Beef Striploins.”

The rising demand for using raw meat diets (RMBDs) for feeding companion animals requires improvement in their food safety. Organic acids could be a promising anti-microbial ingredient for mitigating pathogen contamination. This study investigated the effects of encapsulated (E) and raw (R) acids (citric—CE and CR; lactic—LE and LR) on Salmonella survival in RMBDs during refrigerated storage. The acidulants (1.0% LE, 1.0% CE, 0.5% LE + 0.5% CE, 0.5% CE + 0.5% LR, 0.5% LE + 0.5% CR, and 0.5% LR + 0.5% CR) were incorporated in RMBD patties inoculated with Salmonella (ATCC 8326, ATCC 14802, and ATCC 13076) at 6 and 9 log CFU/patty levels. Inoculated (PC) and non-inoculated (NC) patties made without acidulants were used as controls. Patties were stored at 4 °C and Salmonella enumeration was done at days 0, 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, and 22. Salmonella reduction was higher (p < 0.05) in stored patties with both encapsulated and raw acids (3.10–4.10 logs) added relative to using individual encapsulated acids (2.40–3.70 logs) and control (0.70–0.90 logs). Higher inoculation levels resulted in greater (p < 0.05) Salmonella reductions in the patties after storage. The reductions were influenced (p < 0.05) by the treatment × time interaction with longer storage time resulting in higher reductions. The Salmonella inactivation under all acid treatments followed the Weibull model (R²—0.86 to 0.98; RMSE—0.19 to 0.34; β—1.23 to 2.08). The results show that encapsulated organic acids can inhibit Salmonella growth and survival in RMBDs under refrigerated conditions. The results from this study could be used as basis for improving the food safety of RMBDs.