Assessment of the Potential Use of an Electrical Method for Evaluating Beef Tenderness and Composition

This study examined relationships between electrical parameters, namely impedance (Z), admittance (Y), parallel capacitance (Cp), and series capacitance (Cs), and beef tenderness in the semimembranosus muscle during ageing for 3, 7, 14, and 28 days at 4 ± 1 °C. It also assessed selected compositional traits after 14 days. The effects of electrode configuration and signal frequency on measurement sensitivity were evaluated. Beef from Holstein–Friesian bulls (n = 8) representing two feeding treatments was used. Electrical measurements were performed with an in-house sensor and an LCR-based system. Two electrode configurations were applied: T, across the muscle fibres, and L, along the fibres. pH, Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF), and cooking loss were determined during ageing. Chemical composition and fatty acid profile were analysed after 14 days. WBSF decreased during ageing, whereas cooking loss showed a non-linear pattern, increasing up to day 14 and decreasing after 28 days. Electrical parameters were strongly affected by frequency and electrode configuration. After 14 days of ageing, the strongest relationship with tenderness was found for Z in the T configuration at 1 kHz (r = −0.834). The T configuration better reflected moisture content and fatty acid groups, whereas the L configuration was more informative for ash. Cs provided additional information related to protein. These findings indicate the potential usefulness of this approach for rapid beef quality screening under strictly standardised measurement conditions, although the observed relationships require confirmation in a larger sample set.