Assessment of dry-aged beef from commercial aging locations across the United States

Modern dry-aging is a culinary-inspired practice that involves storing meat at refrigerated temperatures without protective packaging. The dry-aging process has been observed to create unique flavors. The objective of the current study was to survey commercial dry-aging facility environments and observe palatability differences related to consumer acceptance. Seventy-two bone-in beef strip loins (Institutional Meat Purchase Specification #175) were acquired. Strip loins were randomly assigned to each of ten commercial dry-aging facilities. Additionally, a set of strip loins were wet-aged at the University of Idaho meat laboratory. Strip loins were shipped overnight to respective aging locations and dry-aged for 45-days then returned overnight to the University of Idaho meat laboratory. Strip loins were fabricated into steaks, vacuum packaged, and then frozen until further analyzed. Commercial dry-aging facility cooler conditions were observed to be different (P < 0.01) for temperature (0.74–5.26 °C), percent relative humidity (64.87–99.21%), and wind speed (0.56–2.03 m/s). Intrinsic meat quality parameters including pH and water activity were not different (P > 0.05) among treatment-locations. Consumer taste panels indicated a difference (P < 0.01) in acceptability (6.27–7.24), tenderness (6.65–7.54), and flavor (5.58–6.79) based on aging treatment-location. Overall, the findings indicate that conditions within individual dry-aging facilities aid in producing unique dry-aged beef flavors.