THE EFFECT OF TIME OF MATURATION AND CaCl2 ON QUALITY OF YOUNG BEEF **

Abstract: Investigations were carried out on four muscles (M. longissimus dorsi, M. semimembranosus, M. semitendinosus, M. biceps femoris) taken from five young cattle (crosses Domestic Spotted x Limousine) of average body mass prior to slaughtering of 587 kg. On all muscles, 24 h after slaughtering, sensory evaluation was carried out and the following parameters determined: pH value, colour, water binding ability, cooking loss and tenderness (initial values). The remaining part of each muscle was divided into 6 parts, 3 were packaged in plastic foil (control samples), and other 3 were soaked in solution containing 0,4 % CaCl2 and 0,4 % NaCl and packaged in plastic foil. Pieces of meat prepared in this way were left on temperature of + 4 0 C 7, 14 and 21 days to mature. After this period, all mentioned analyses were carried out on meat samples. It was established that pH value during maturation increased, that meat packaged in plastic foil after 14 days of maturation becomes unusable, whereas the increase of pH values of meat whose maturation occurred in solution CaCl2 and NaCl wa