Benefits of Natural Branded vs. Conventionally-Fed, Commodity Bee

Beef ribeye rolls (IMPS#112A) were purchased to compare the fresh color and cooked tenderness of steaks from natural-fed beef to that of commodity beef. Ribeye rolls were purchased from 5 natural-branded programs (designated N1, N2, N3, N4, and N5) and commodity 2 beef packers (designated C1 and C2), shipped to the University of Arkansas Red Meat Abattoir, and aged at 2°C for 14 d from the box date. Then, pH of each ribeye roll was recorded before being cut into 2.54-cm-thick steaks, and steaks from each ribeye roll were allowed to bloom for 30 min at 4° C before measuring instrumental color. One steak was cooked to 71°C on flat-top griddles to measure cooking loss and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF). Another steak was trimmed free of all subcutaneous fat and connective tissue, freeze-dried for 72 h, and pulverized for moisture content and fatty acid analysis. Steaks from the C1 and N3 programs had the greatest pH values. Steaks from C2 and N3 were darker (lower L* values, P<0.05) than steaks from N1 and N5. Cooking losses were greater (P < 0.05) in steaks from C1 and C2 than those from N2 and N5. Steaks from C1 had greater (P < 0.05) WBSF values than steaks from C2 or N1, N2, or N5. Steaks from N1 had the greatest percentage of palmitic acid (16:0) and for total saturated fatty acids (P<0.05) while N2 was similar for total saturated fatty acids than the rest of the natural and commodity programs. For total monounsaturated fatty acid, C2 had the greatest percentage and N2, N3, N4, and N5 were similar while N1 had the lowest percentage and was similar to N2, N3 and C1. C1 and N3 had the greatest percentage of total polyunsaturated fatty acids while N1 had the lowest percentage while N2, N4, N5 and C1 were similar. There were no significant differences in total CLA, total n-6 fatty acids, n-3 fatty acids and PUFA to SFA ratio. With the exception of price, there are little to no difference in fresh color and cooked tenderness between commodity beef and natural beef programs.