Determination of Physico-chemical Properties and Quality Attributes of Hanwoo Beef with Grade and Sex

This study was carried out to determine the physico-chemical components and to examine it the consumers can tell the difference in eating quality of loins of Hanwoo with grade and sex. Loins of 36 carcasses were selected and their intramuscular fat, color, pH, water holding capacity, shear force, the amount of myoglobin and moisture content were measured. The result was that only intramuscular fat was significantly different with grades. In Pearson correlation coefficients among quality factors, moisture content increased significantly with the amount of myoglobin(0.514) and shear force(0.503) and decreased as intramuscular fat(－0.957) and water holding capacity(－0.491) increased. Also, content of intramuscular fat decreased as shear force(－0.565) increased. According to descriptive analysis, aroma and acceptability in the 2nd grade steer showed the highest score. Aroma, juiciness and tenderness may affect acceptability of cooked meat. Also, juiciness, tenderness and acceptability had a negative correlation with moisture content and the intramuscular fat did not affect tenderness directly.