Animal Science and Food Technology

 For the support of consumer choice when beef is purchased, there is a need for information on the objective characteristics of its quality by organoleptic assessment, which could be used for sales. The paper presents the data on aroma, juiciness, tenderness, ease of chewing of cooked meat from musculis longissimus dorsi as well as the color, taste and saturation of broth made from beef of domestic bull calf, the most widespread Ukrainian black and white dairy breed, depending on the age of slaughter and fe atures of weight gains. There is no difference in aroma, juiciness, tenderness and ease of chewing between boiled beef of different ages. With increased animal slaughter age, the color and saturation of broth tend to improve by 9.1 and 34.8%, respectively. Regardless of the actual live weight of bull calf, before the slaughter, no significant difference is observed in terms of color and saturation of broth. The taste of broth with increased live weight tends to deteriorate by 20 %. By increasing the live weight of bull calf before slaughter from 350-400 to 451-500 kg, the aroma, tenderness and ease of chewing of cooked beef deteriorate by 24.1, 9.4 and 27.6 %, respectively, due to the increased content of fibers, which become thicker and too coarser, reducing the ability of collagen to degrade when heated. In the broth of animals weighing 350-400 kg when slaughtered, the taste and aroma of beef are more intense compared to those of larger live weight animals. With the increased rate of growth of animals from birth to slaughter, the color of broth is light strawyellow, featured by a distinct taste and small inclusions of fat, and it tends to improve by 18.2 %, while the taste and strength do not change. When average daily weight gains are increased, the aroma, juiciness, tenderness and ease of chewing of boiled beef of bull calf tend to slightly deteriorate. The juiciness of cooked beef deteriorates the most (12.5 %). 

beef, organoleptic assessment, Ukrainian Black-and-White dairy breed, steers