Spotlight on dry aging beef: effects of loin type, aging methods, and aging time (2009)

Abstract

Dry aging is an old-time process used to produce a high quality beef product marketed to high-end customers. Its most unique quality is the distinctive dry-aged flavor. Dry aging has been accomplished through many protocols over the years, but an optimum protocol has not been adopted. Practitioners of this art are very interested in providing a consis- tent, quality, safe product. Traditionally, dry aging is done without packaging, which places more emphasis on plant quality control practices to achieve a consistent product. This limits the number of processors that have the ability to produce dry-aged product. Packaging bags with a very high water vapor transmission rate that may simulate traditional dry aging are now avail- able. If the quality from dry aging in these bags is equal to that obtained with the tradi- tional unpackaged method, other processors might consider dry aging because this bag allows for less stringent facility needs and potentially greater yields. Overall, an in-the- bag dry-aging system would require fewer controls and still result in decreased weight losses, which would provide a significant yield advantage. Objectives of this research were to determine the combined effects of two different dry- aging methods (unpackaged and in the bag), two loin-cut styles (bone-in shell loins and boneless strip loins), and two aging times (21 and 28 days) on flavor, juiciness, tender- ness, palatability, development of the unique dry-aged flavor, moisture vapor loss, and microbial growth. An additional objective was to determine effects of vacuum packaging after