ASAS Centennial Paper: A century of pioneers and progress in meat science in the United States leads to new frontiers

• Published in: Journal of animal science 2009-03, Vol.87 (3), p.1192-1198
• Main Author: Beermann, D.H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: agricultural history; animal husbandry; Animal productions; animal science; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; carcass characteristics; cytoskeleton; food consumption; food contamination; Food Handling - methods; Food industries; food marketing; food packaging; food processing; food spoilage; Food Technology - education; Food Technology - history; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; literature reviews; livestock and meat industry; Livestock industry; Meat - history; Meat - standards; Meat and meat product industries; meat packing plants; Meat processing; meat products; meat quality; meat tenderness; modified atmosphere packaging; Muscles - metabolism; Postmortem Changes; poultry industry; proteinases; refrigeration; Science history; Terrestrial animal productions; United States; universities; Vertebrates
• ISSN: 0021-8812; 1525-3163
• DOI: 10.2527/jas.2008-1542

Discoveries, understanding, and innovations in meat science during the last century have led to revolutionary changes in meat and poultry production, processing, marketing, and consumption. American Society of Animal Science members have made key contributions in most, if not all, categories of advancement. The first US university meat science program was begun in Minnesota in 1905. Use of mechanical refrigeration in the meatpacking industry, improved transportation and packaging, and home refrigeration provided more flexibility, variety, and consistency in meat and meat products in the early 1900s. Cooperative meat research was begun by 27 universities in 1925, with a focus on the observational characterization of carcass traits and composition, meat quality attributes, and causes of the wide variation in these variables. Scientific study of genetic, nutritional, and environmental influences on the growth, physiology, and postmortem biochemistry of muscle often used muscle-comparative investigations. Rigor mortis, cold shortening and thaw rigor, postmortem muscle metabolism, postmortem tenderization and tenderness variation, and postmortem myoglobin and lipid oxidation were studied vigorously in the 1960s and beyond, defining the biochemical bases for associated outcomes in fresh and processed products. Value-added benefits resulted from implementation of electrical stimulation, boxed beef and modified-atmosphere packaging, restructuring technologies, collagen recovery, and muscle profiling work. Isolation, purification, and definition of the primary structure and biophysical properties of the myofribillar and cytoskeletal proteins in muscle aided the understanding of contraction and postmortem changes. The role of Ca-dependent proteases in meat tenderness and muscle growth is being clarified. The chemistry of meat curing, meat emulsion formation, fermentation, and other processing methods led to new technologies, new meat products, and new benchmarks in product shelf life and quality. Meat safety assurance and our ability to manage the microbiological causes of food-borne illness and spoilage are imminently important now and in the future.