Effect of cooking on the quality of beef Semitendinosus muscle

The purpose of the experiment reported here was to determine the effectiveness of heat treatments in water and in steam at 80 degrees C to inactivate the bacterium Clostridium botulinum type E in samples of beef Semitendinosus muscle. The product's tenderness was evaluated based on a Warner-Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF) analysis and its attributes of juiciness, subjective tenderness, flavor and connective tissue were evaluated sensorially. The treatment at 80 degrees C effectively killed the bacterium, but no significant difference was found in the attribute of objective tenderness (shear force) evaluated after the two treatments. The sensorial analysis indicated a positive correlation between the attributes of juiciness and tenderness, while the connective tissue showed a negative correlation to tenderness. Flavor proved uncorrelated with tenderness, juiciness and connective tissue.