Ground Beef is defined as “chopped fresh and/or frozen beef with or without seasoning and without the addition of beef fat as such, shall not contain more than 30% fat, and shall not contain added water, phosphates, binders, or extenders” (FSIS, 2015). However, in Brazil there are different commercial kinds of ground meat, whose retailers use expressions like “special”, “prime” and “second” as its own quality grades, based on cut composition used as raw material (Grácia et al., 2010).

Factors like breed, age, cut composition and processing conditions impacts sensorial acceptance of meat derivatives (Abrahão et al., 2008). Work from Legako et al. (2015) showed that taste and juiciness of beef are more influenced by the cut origin than maturation stages. Moreover, Meinert et al. (2007) evidenced the positive effect over frying temperature on taste and odor of pork. The present work aims to evaluate the effect of culinary preparations based on different ground beef grades over composition and acceptability.

Characterization of commercial ground beef presentations

Eleven establishments located in Curitiba, Paraná State, Brazil were evaluated as way of ground beef commercialization. Once the most frequent standards were identified as special (SPE), prime (PRI) and second (SEC), 300 g, in triplicate, of each commercial ground beef presentations were acquired in five retail shops and assessed for chemical composition.

Elaboration of culinary preparations utilizing ground meat with different composition grades

Culinary preparations were developed in a foodservice unit located in Federal University of Paraná, Brazil, with three experimental ground beef grades (SPE, PRI and SEC), similar to previously observed for commercial samples, processed. The three different compositions of ground meat were elaborated from the following deboned beef cuts: SPE (Vastus lateralis muscle removed from apparent fat and connective tissue); PRI (Semimembranosus, Adductor femoris and muscles Gracilis partially removed from same tissues); SEC (Subscapularis, Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus and Triceps Brachii without removal of any tissues). All cuts were minced (CAF, Brazil) with 4.7 mm and 3.1 mm plates and evaluated for chemical composition.

Three cooking methods were chosen for the culinary preparations: meat sauce (braise), meatloaf (roast) and hamburger patty (fry). Each preparation was formulated with 100 g from all three ground beef grades (SPE, PRI and SEC) and applied individually. Additionally to meat, all preparations had the following ingredients: chopped onions (10 g); parsley (0.5 g); garlic (0.2 g) and salt (0.7 g). Soybean oil (2 ml); chopped tomatoes (10 g) and powder beef stock (0.25 g) were used only in meat sauce. For meatloaf and hamburger patty, besides the cited ingredients, were also used eggs (5 g); wheat flour (10 g) and breadcrumbs (10 g).

Braising meat sauce was performed by mixing ingredients with raw meat, followed by heating for 25 min until  internal  temperature of 97°C. To the roasting process, samples were shaped in meatballs and put in oven (RATIONAL 40Gns, United Kingdom) for 17 min, until internal temperature reached 90°C. The frying procedure was realized with immersion of the hamburger patties in soybean oil at 180°C for 8 min (internal temperature of 87°C).

Proximate analysis

Analyses were performed on the commercial, experimental ground meat samples and culinary preparations. Moisture, lipid and as content were determined in triplicate (AOAC, 1995). Carbohydrates were obtained from the difference between 100 g of food and sum of the other components. The total collagen content was determined by measuring hydroxyproline (IAL, 2008), and proportion of collagen related to protein estimated by dividing collagen mean values by protein mean values and multiplied by 100 (Della Torre and Beraquet, 2005). All analyses were performed in triplicate. Caloric value (kcal) was estimated on a basis of 9 kcal/g for fat, 4.0 kcal/g for protein and 4 kcal/g for carbohydrates (Cuppari, 2005).

Sensorial analysis of culinary preparations

Culinary preparations were assessed by a 50-member untrained panel. The panel was randomly selected from users of the university foodservice. Were used 9-point hedonic scale and preference by ranking test, in which panelists chose between grades 1 (least preferred) to 4 (most preferred) (Meilgaard et al., 1999).

Statistical analysis

Differences among the means were compared using Tukey’s multiple range test using software R with significance level at 0.05. Sensorial data were analyzed with Newell and McFarlane table and level of 0.05 was chosen (IAL, 2008). 

Chemical composition of culinary preparations formulated with different ground beef grades

Ground beef from all standards (SPE, PRI and SEC) elaborated in experimental scale showed (Table 2), as expected, similar composition observed on samples from retail shops (Table 1). Therefore, were able to be applied in culinary preparations.

The minced meat quality used as raw material was crucial to composition of culinary preparations. Above all formulations, the highest moisture was observed with samples processed with SPE kind. Protein content was lower in samples elaborated with SEG ground beef and alternated the most expressive means with meats SPE or PRI.   Whereas,  samples  formulated  with  SEG  minced meat showed higher fat content, followed by PRI and SPE products, respectively. The ash and carbohydrate levels varied according to ingredients used for the formulations (Table 2).

Caloric values, influenced by ground meat kind and cooking methods, had variations near 100%, from 141 kcal/100 g (braised meat/SPE) to 272.89 kcal/100 g (hamburger patty/SEC). Preparations showed an increase of caloric content proportional to lipid concentration in meat used as raw material. Hence, in all preparations, SPE had lower calories than PRI or SEC. Frying process used to hamburger patties elevated caloric values when compared to other cooking procedures (Table 2).

The temperatures and particularities from cooking methods also influenced composition of culinary preparations. Braised meat showed higher moisture among all preparations, especially in formulations with SPE meat. Hamburger patty composition reflected the soybean oil frying, resulting in higher lipid content, above all, in SEG preparations. Meatloaf, which was roasted in oven (dry air), showed reduced means for lipid and intermediate values for moisture in comparison to other preparations (Table 2).

Sensorial analysis

The raw material used in each culinary preparation promoted singular effect over sensorial analysis. Braised ground meat had highest acceptance on formulations with SPE or PRI, whilst SEC had lowest approval. On the opposite, meatloaf had highest acceptance when elaborated with SEC or PRI meat, and lowest scores with SPE. In hamburger patty, SEC promoted the best results, followed by SPE and PRI (Table 3). Hamburger patty had higher preference when formulated with SEC (124), followed by SPE (99) and PRI (83), the same  result observed to hedonic scale test (Table 3). The increase of lipids in SEC had positive influence over fried or roasted preparations. Fat gives rise to palatability, flavor and tenderness in meat products (Keenan et al., 2014). On the other hand, lipid content in excess on diet may be a risk factor to several diseases (Kaliora and Dedoussi, 2007).

In general, as in braised meat, moisture had impact over acceptance of meat preparations. Moisture reduces muscular fibers compaction, improves texture (Youssef et al., 2007; Rocha Garcia et al., 2013) and juiciness of the meat products (Dubost et al., 2013). However, cooking method is able to reduce its levels (Table 2), taking in account the importance oflipid content over acceptability, as seen on meatloaf and hamburger patty. Early works from Badiani et al. (2002) showed that cooking procedures interferes on final composition values, lipid oxidation, cholesterol content and cooking loss, and may influence sensorial perception from panelists.

Collagen concentration and its proportion to protein increased as the relation SEC>PRI>SPE (Table 1). Even this protein is known to provide toughness, temperatures above 75°C promotes tenderness by gelation and degradation of connective tissue (Dubost et al., 2013), and might explain why higher concentrations of collagen had no influence on acceptance of meatloaf and hamburger patty with SEC meat. Nevertheless, cannot be neglected that collagen has a limited digestibility and lack of essential aminoacids, factors which may be considered on sensorial adjustment.