Handbook of Meat Processing

Restructured Whole-Tissue Meats 413

preferred raw steak were infl uenced by the

color and the appearance of the cut steak

surface. Five of the representative comments

used by the panelists for the most preferred

raw steak with fi bers parallel to the cut

surface include “ most uniform appearance, ”

“ the most consistent color, ” “ least obviously

restructured, ” “ looks more natural, ” and

“ closest to real meat. ” The fi ve comments for

fi bers aligned parallel to the cut steak surface
were ranked highest in acceptability by a
consumer panel compared with steaks with
fi bers aligned perpendicularly or mixed; the
panelists ranked the raw steaks in the follow-
ing order of acceptability: parallel > perpen-
dicular > equal mixture of parallel and
perpendicular. The panelists ’ comments indi-
cated the reasons for their choice of the most

Figure 23.5. Aesthetic - related appearance problems in whole tissue restructured cooked beef steak (top) and
raw offal steak (bottom), depicting the improper alignment of muscle fi bers and the nonuniformity of meat
pieces during restructuring, respectively.