Determining the Relationship Between PH and Instrumental Color Measurements to Predict Water-Holding Capacity and Sensory Juiciness

The objective of this study was to determine if a relationship between objective color, pH, and water-holding capacity (WHC) exists. Minolta color (L*, a*, b*) and pH were measured on beef strip loin steaks (n=427). Steaks were aged for various time periods and evaluated for purge loss, cook loss, Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), end-point temperature, crude fat and moisture analysis. Several individual color and pH measurements showed significant correlations to moisture content, purge loss, and cook loss. A step-wise regression determined variables effective for predicting moisture content, purge loss, and cook loss. To evaluate sensory juiciness, a subset (n=101) was selected using the prediction equations determined for moisture content and cook loss. The subset samples were then analyzed with a step-wise regression to predict sensory juiciness. Moisture content was able to be predicted with a*, b*, and marbling score (R2 = 0.6808;