Chinese livestock breeders are going to the world premium meat market with their goods

In CHINA, they will promote the local breed of beef cattle as an alternative to the famous Angus, since the yellow ones were Xiangxi breeds give MEAT no worse

The advent of refrigerated transport has made fresh beef a global commodity, linking South American and Australian producers to consumers around the world. The premium beef market continues to grow in all countries and China is not going to stand aside.

If once China did not have its own specialized breeds of beef cattle, cattle were mainly used as draft animals, crippled and old animals were slaughtered for meat, now, in order to systematically develop breeding work, with the support and coordination of the Ministry of Agriculture, many breeding organizations, including Chinese White and Black Dairy Cattle Breeding Coordinating Group, China Simmental Breeding Committee , China Water Buffalo Association and National Yak Improvement Coordinating Group, Chinese Yellow Cattle Breeding Committee.

A group of experts from the Hunan Agricultural University, together with colleagues from other institutions, conducted a study to examine the meat quality of yellow Xiangxi cattle of different ages in comparison with the Aberdeen Angus breed.

At 6, 18 and 30 months of age, 10 female yellow Xiangxi and Aberdeen Angus cattle were randomly selected and slaughtered. Rapid composition analysis, fatty acid profiles and flavor compounds were measured on the longissimus pectoralis muscle.

One boneless chop was cut out and used for sensory evaluation by a trained tasting panel of 10 people.

The data obtained showed that yellow Xiangxi cattle deposited the same high level of intramuscular fat as Angus at 18 months of age, and polyunsaturated fatty acids in the muscles, together with the ratio of PUFA/UFA, reached the highest levels at this age.

Inosine 5'-monophosphate was the predominant umami compound in beef, with concentrations significantly higher (p < 0.05) at 18 months of age, but not different between Angus and Xiangxi yellow cattle.

Several volatile aromatic compounds were higher (p<0.05) in concentrations in the meat of Xiangxi yellow cattle at 18 and 30 months of age compared to Angus.

Organoleptic analysis showed that yellow Xiangxi cattle (18 and 30 months) and Angus (30 months) were superior in meat palatability to yellow Xiangxi cattle (6 months) and Angus (6 and 18 months).

This study showed that the yellow Xiangxi cattle breed is an excellent breed of cattle with the same or even better meat quality characteristics compared to the Angus breed. To produce high quality beef, it is correct to slaughter yellow xiangxi cattle at the age of 18 months.