Tempo de transporte rodoviário pré-abate sobre características qualitativas da carne bovina.

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate different times of pre-slaughter road transport on beef qualitative characteristics and acceptability by consumers. Fifteen farms were selected, according to the estimated time trip to the beef plant, and three animals from each farm, adding up forty-five animals were selected for the study. The experiment was performed in a completely randomized design, with three treatments and fifteen replicates per road transport time, distributed as follows: I) ≤ 2 hour; II) <4 hours and III) 4 ≤ 6 hours. The transportation time was obtained over the difference between the departure time from the farm and the arrival in the beef plant. The animals were slaughtered and, for meat evaluation, a sample from the Longissimus muscle was sampled between the 12th and 13th ribs. No effect of transport time on pH0h, pH24h, pH decline between 0 and 24 hours after slaughter, initial carcass temperature, warm carcass weight and subcutaneous fat thickness (p> 0,05) was observed, however, there was an effect on the final carcass temperature. Road transport time did not influenceany meat quality characteristics (p> 0.05) measured objectively. Furthermore, consumer acceptability was also not affected. In conclusion, the transport of pre-slaughter cattle with a duration of up to 6 hours does not alter the qualitative characteristics of the meat of zebu animals in pasture systems measured instrumentally and from the point of view of the consumer.