A comparison of fatty acid percentages and mass, sensory attributes, and volatile aroma compounds for segregating beef quality grades.

We hypothesized that combining sensory flavor attributes, volatile aroma compounds (VAC), and fatty acid composition would better separate beef quality grades than fatty acid composition alone. Select, Choice, Prime, and Grass-fed ribeye rolls (n = 6 per group) were purchased from a local distributor, so production conditions or cattle type were unknown. Select cooked beef steaks ranked lowest for Beef Flavor, Bloody/Serumy, Brown/Roasted, and Umami (P ≤ 0.048). Prime steaks had greater values than other steak types for the VAC 2-methyl-butanal, 2-methyl-propanal (2MP), 3-methyl-butanal (3MB), and 3-hydroxy-2-butanone (3H2B) (P ≤ 0.025). There was a significant, positive correlation of 3MB and 3H2B with Beef Flavor (P ≤ 0.05), and 2MB, 3MB, and 2MP were significantly, positively correlated with Brown/Roasted (P ≤ 0.05). Principal component analysis (PCA) that included fatty acid percentages indicated that all positive flavor attributes clustered with 2MP and 3H2P, Grass-fed, and Prime. A PCA analysis that included mg fatty acid/100 g muscle (i.e., fatty acid mass) segregated all positive flavor attributes and all fatty acids with Grass-fed and Prime steaks, but VAC were not in the same quadrant. Fatty acid percentages, sensory attributes, and VAC were analyzed by partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) with Beef Flavor Identity as the dependent variable. Fatty acid composition alone could not completely segregate beef types. Analysis by PLS-DA with fatty acid percentage or mass,  combined with sensory attributes and VAC, indicated that all beef types were distinctly separated. We conclude that the combination of sensory attributes, VAC, fatty acid composition better separate beef quality types than fatty acid percentages or mg fatty acid/100 g muscle alone.