It is well known, an animal’s diet and the varying components or supplements of the diet may promote biochemical changes in meat products, thus impacting overall palatability and acceptability of beef products. Supplementation with garlic-citrus extract (GCE) has been reported to promote a reduction of enteric methane emissions in ruminants. Previous research has evaluated the detectability of garlic aroma and/or flavor in red meat when garlic or garlic components were included in the animals diet as a means to mask other meat off-flavors, increase feed palatability and intake of animals, or improve performance and meat quality. Garlic-containing products are rich in sulfur compounds, providing multiple antimicrobial, biological, and nutritional benefits to the ruminant diet. Via ruminal digestion of plant components, garlic supplementation is suggested to alter protein and fatty acid composition, which promotes biochemical transformations in meat products including meat color and biochemical profiles. Limited information exists regarding the effect of feeding GCE upon beef palatability. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of finishing cattle with a GCE feed additive on retail color, palatability, volatile compounds, and fatty acid profiles of beef steaks and patties.

Akaushi-cross cattle (n = 19) were supplemented with 0 (CON) or 27g/d GCE for 9 or 12 months (9MO; 12MO). Treatments enlisted 5 hd per each diet and duration-fed combination (except only 4 hd within CON-12MO). From each animal, strip loin steaks (mean marbling score = Moderate¹⁴) were retained; clods and outside rounds were ground and mixed to generate patties (mean fat percentage = 11.98%). Consumers (n = 100) evaluated steaks and patties for palatability traits, acceptability, and eating quality. Trained panelists evaluated each sample for 13 beef flavor lexicon attributes and garlic intensity. Volatiles and fatty acid profiles were quantified. Data were analyzed via mixed models using a 2 × 2 treatment structure; treatment comparisons were tested using α = 0.05.

Diet and duration-fed interactive effects existed (patties: off-flavor intensity, premium quality level, oxidized, α-linolenic and eicosadienoic fatty acids [FA]; steaks: total percent polyunsaturated FA; P ≤ 0.039), suggesting duration of GCE supplementation impacted beef palatability attributes. Of particular note, trained panelists detected greater (P = 0.013) garlic intensity among GCE steaks and a tendency (P = 0.064) among GCE patties, especially when fed for a longer duration (12MO). Consumers rated GCE-12 patties higher (P = 0.020) for off-flavor intensity than GCE-9; whereas CON patties (both CON-9 and CON-12) remained intermediate for off-flavor ratings. This suggests, the longer cattle were fed with the GCE supplement, the greater the perceivable off-flavor. Differences existed among descriptive panel attributes, volatile analysis, and fatty acid profiles for diet and duration-fed. Results indicate cattle finished with GCE supplementation produce similar biochemical composition of steaks and patties when compared to a CON diet, though differences in prevalence of off-flavors and perceived overall liking, as well as garlic flavor in beef from GCE-fed cattle suggests GCE supplementation may negatively impact beef sensory attributes.

No diet × day interaction occurred (P ≥ 0.106) for the retail color analysis. For all other ground beef patty color assessments, a significant day effect occurred (P ≤ 0.042) for all attributes, except for 9MO-patty lightness (L*) values (P = 0.169). Values for 9MO-patties, redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) declined (P ≤ 0.011), whereas discoloration percentage increased (P < 0.001) over time for 9MO-patties. Notably, upon transportation, 9MO-patties produced considerable discoloration (mean = 33.36% discolored), abnormal for d-0 display. Regarding 12MO-patties, all instrumental color values declined (P ≤ 0.042) over time, whereas discoloration percentages increased (P < 0.001). Interactions among steak 9MO-diet treatments by day included instrumental L* values (P = 0.008) in which, generally GCE-9 steaks sustained higher brightness (L*) values through d 5 of display when compared to CON-9 steaks. Moreover, 9MO steaks declined in instrumental redness (a*) values over time (P < 0.001) and differed (P = 0.011) among diets. Within 9MO steaks, redness values were higher (P = 0.011) for GCE-9 than CON-9 steaks.

Duration of GCE fed minimally impacted palatability, whereas diet resulted in numerous effects including proximate analysis, consumer ratings and acceptability of palatability traits, descriptive trained sensory, biochemical composition, as well as retail color, with no effect on instrumental tenderness. Despite similar eating experiences of GCE steaks and patties when compared with a CON diet for consumers’ overall liking, and ultimately no differences in percentage acceptability for palatability (juiciness, tenderness, flavor and overall liking) of steaks and patties derived from cattle of different supplemented-diets, trained panelists confirmed initial olfactory garlic detection via garlic flavor intensity ratings from steaks and patties of GCE-fed cattle. Nonetheless, data from this study suggests cattle of the same breed composite produce carcass characteristics as used in our study are likely to produce negligible quality and palatability differences between GCE-supplemented beef and beef of standard finishing diets.

Eckhardt, M. E., Hernandez, M. S., Legako, J. F., Lawrence, T. E. & Lucherk, L. W., (2025) “Supplementing Finishing Cattle With Garlic-Citrus Extract Affects Palatability Attributes of Beef Steaks and Patties”, Meat and Muscle Biology 9(1): 19039, 16. doi: https://doi.org/10.22175/mmb.19039