Tenderness enhancement of beef from Bos indicus and Bos taurus cattle following electrical stimulation

High voltage electrical stimulation (1130 V peak, 14.28 bidirectional half sinusoidal pulses/s) or low voltage stimulation (45 V peak, 36 alternating square wave pulses/s) was used on cattle: (1) low voltage stimulation applied for 10 or 40 s with fast and slow chilling or high voltage stimulation for 60 s with normal chilling, applied to 100% Bos taurus cattle, (2) low voltage stimulation (40 s) and high voltage stimulation (60 s) with normal chilling applied to mixed Bos indicus and B.taurus cattle, (3) high voltage stimulation (54 s) with normal chilling applied to B. taurus and B. indicus cattle of 0-100% B. indicus composition, and (4) high voltage stimulation (60 s) applied to 100% B. taurus and 100% B. indicus cattle. All stimulation parameters enhanced the tenderness of steaks from M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) aged at 1°C up to 28 days compared with non stimulated LTL. Short low voltage stimulation of 10s was marginally more effective than no stimulation and longer durations of 40s were very effective and high voltage stimulation was most effective. The shear force values for non stimulated B. indicus LTL are much greater than for B. taurus, but following high voltage stimulation LTL of B. indicus were similar to B. taurus and all had lower shear force values than from non stimulated carcasses. Thus adequate electrical stimulation removes any toughness of LTL related to B. indicus genetic composition.