Beef for baby food from bulls and castrates

Abstract

The research was conducted to compare bulls and castrates in relation to the morphological composition of carcasses, the yield of beef suitable for the production of baby food products, and the quality and safety of raw meat. The research was based on the results of monitoring the safety of the environment, feed, and meat raw materials during the growing and fattening of steers with a meat productivity direction. The pre-slaughter weight and the yield of lean beef of 16-month-old Hereford bull-calves are higher in comparison with castrated animals of the same age, by 6.4 and 1 %, respectively. The muscle tissue of castrates contained 11.5 % of fat, and bulls 9.7 %. The protein content in the longest muscle of bulls was 19.8 %, and in castrates-17.0. The amount of fat beef that is not suitable for baby food is higher in castrate carcasses by 4.7 % compared to bull calves. A high protein quality index of the longest muscle of bulls (6.5) indicates a higher biological value of beef compared to meat from castrates (4.1). In terms of the content of residual amounts of pesticides, toxic elements, and antibiotics, the meat of castrates and bulls of the Hereford breed had no significant differences.