Resumo

HUERTA-LEIDENZ, Nelson; ARENAS DE MORENO, Lilia; MORON-FUENMAYOR, Oneida  e  UZCATEGUI-BRACHO, Soján. Mineral composition of raw longissimus muscle derived from beef carcasses produced and graded in Venezuela. ALAN [online]. 2003, vol.53, n.1, pp.96-101. ISSN 0004-0622.

SUMMARY. A total of 145 beef carcasses derived from cattle produced under tropical conditions in different regions of Venezuela were graded by the current grading system. Rib (longissimus) samples were excised, trimmed to zero fat cover and subjected to spectrophotometric analyses to examine the variation in ash, macro- and micro-mineral contents, according to the beef carcass grade. The analysis of variance indicated that the Venezuelan carcass grade did not affect significantly the ash or individual mineral content of the raw longissimus muscle; only the Na content tended to decrease (P<0.10) as the beef carcass quality decreased from grade AA to grade C. Overall means ± standard deviations are given for ash percentage (1.06 ± 0.16) and content (mg/100g) of Ca (2.77 ± 1.57), Mg (21.62 ± 3.11), P (211.4 ± 35.88), Na (76.06 ± 30.88), K (243.81 ± 63.93), Fe (1.93 ± 0,58), Zn (4.13 ± 0.82), Cu (0.084 ± 0.041) and Mn (0.026 ± 0.016). It was concluded that the variation in mineral composition of beef longissimus observed for this sample of tropical beef cattle, cannot be attributed to the Venezuelan carcass grade.

Palavras-chave : Longissimus dorsi; mineral composition; beef; carcass grade.