Effect of weaning status and storage time under vacuum upon physical characteristics of meat of the Rubia Gallega breed.

Seven to nine months old calves are the typical production of Rubia Gallega, which is the most important beef breed in Spain. A study about the influence of weaning status and vacuum storage time on veal quality characteristics is needed. The muscle longissimus thoracis from 22 non-weaned (NW) and 21 weaned (W) calves at 1day post-slaughter, and vacuum packaged for 7 and 14 days were analysed. NW showed higher yellowness and hue values than W but lower pigment concentration. The differences disappeared at longer storage times. The redness, yellowness, hue and chroma increased with aging, but the pigment concentration, expressible juice and toughness decreased with aging. Principal component analysis showed that colour variables were the most determinant characteristics in quality variation. The canonical discriminant analysis separated the samples in three groups: 1 day post-slaughter W, 1day post-slaughter NW, and vacuum packaged W and NW.