Effect of dietary vitamin E supplementation on textural and aroma attributes of enhanced beef clod roasts in a cook/hot-hold situation

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementing vitamin E into the diets of finishing cattle on quality characteristics of beef pumped with a phosphate/salt solution (enhanced) the cooked and held in a simulated foodservice situation. Twelve steers were fed either a control (E-) diet or a diet supplemented with DL-alpha-tocopheryl-acetate (E+). Paired clod roasts were either used as controls (C) or were pumped (P) to 110% of raw weight to contain 0.4% sodium chloride and 0.4% phosphate in the finished product. Following injection, clods were allowed to equilibrate then frozen. A flavor profile panel evaluated texture attributes and aroma characteristics of roasts immediately after cooking and after I and 2 h of hot-holding. Pumping improved taste and textural attributes of the hot-held clod roasts. Dietary vitamin E supplementation reduced thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) from similar to0.61 to similar to0.42, but over the 2-h time period, did not significantly improve aroma quality of beef roasts. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.