Ground beef, selective

Ground beef has a typical fat level of 20% to 30%. Consumers can select retail ground beef with decreased levels of fat however, they usually perceive leaner grinds as being less palatable. To some extent this is true. In order to assure qualities such as texture, mouthfeel, tenderness, juiciness, flavor, appearance, and overall acceptability, a certain fat content is necessary in ground beef. The fat level can affect the texture of cooked ground-beef patties. 

Ahn et al., (2002) evaluated the effectiveness of selected natural antioxidants added to meat samples at levels of 0.02%, 0.05% and 0.1% to reduce warmed-over flavor development in cooked ground beef. They foimd that 0.1% grape seed extract reduced hexanal content by 97% after 3 d of refrigerated storage, while treated meat showed significantly lower TEARS values than control meat. These authors reported no adverse effects of this natural plant extract on flavor and aroma at the 0.02% level. 

Textured Soy Proteins. Textured vegetable proteins, primarily textured flours and concentrates (50% protein and 70% protein, dry basis, respectfully) are widely used in the processed meat industry to provide meat-like structure and reduce ingredient costs (3-6, 9-10). Available in a variety of sizes, shapes, colored or uncolored, flavored or unflavored, fortified or unfortified, textured soy proteins can resemble any basic meat ingredient. Beef, pork, seafood and poultry applications are possible 03, 4-7, 15, 19) Proper protein selection and hydration is critical to achieving superior finished product quality. Textured proteins have virtually no solubility and, thus, no ability to penetrate into whole muscle tissue Therefore, textured soy proteins are inherently restricted to coarse ground (e.g. sausage) or fine emulsion (e.g. weiners and bologna) products, and comminuted and reformed (i.e. restructured) meat products. None are used in whole muscle absorption or injection applications (2-4, 6, 11). 

Trinuclear clusters have been detected in over 20 proteins as well as a number of enzymes, among them aconitase, beef heart succinate-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (120), Escherichia coli nitrate reductase (121), E. coli fumarate reductase (122), and succinate dehydrogenase (123). Selected instances of the occurrence of [3Fe-4S] clusters are listed in Table II. Because of the paramagnetic ground states of both oxidation levels, these clusters can be uniquely identified by a number of spectroscopic techniques. Among these, Mossbauer spectroscopy in applied magnetic fields (124, 128, 132, 141-143) and low temperature MCD spectroscopy (127, 138, 144-146) are decisive. While there are small spectroscopic differences among certain [3Fe-4S] centers, the similarities dominate and support the essential structure 3 for all. In a number of the earlier papers on protein... 

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