Organoleptic Identification of Roasted Beef, Veal, Lamb and Pork as Affected by Fat

SUMMARY— A taste panel was used to study the identification of roasted beef, pork, lamb and veal by flavor alone and the effect of fat on identification. Only about one-third of the panel could identify correctly all four meats by memory of the flavors. There was an increase in the total number of correct identifications made by comparison of the unknown roasted meat samples with known standards but this was not significantly greater than the total correct responses by memory of the flavor alone. Beef and lamb, but not pork and veal, were identified significantly less often when lean ground roasts were tested than when normal ground roasts (containing fat) were used. Texture, color, mouth feel, and other factors may be important in the identification of meat. Beef, lamb and pork fat, as well as these fats after extraction with chloroform: methanol, were added to lean veal prior to roasting. Addition of beef fat did not increase recognition of veal as beef. Pork fat contained a factor increasing identification of veal as pork, but this factor was water-soluble and could be removed. Lamb fat contained a component, or a fat-soluble component, that significantly increased the identification of veal as lamb.