Acute stress induced by the preslaughter use of electric prodders causes tougher beef meat

Abstract

Adrenergic activation and hormone release preslaughter is an inevitable outcome of the systems used to move cattle to slaughter. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effects of acute preslaughter stress in beef cattle on postmortem muscle metabolism and the meat quality, including consumer-assessed eating quality. Eighty-four cattle were used on three separate days, with 'mobs' of four cattle allocated to either a 'control' (no electric goads used preslaughter) or a 'stress' (six prods given with an electric goad over 5-10 min) treatment at 15 min preslaughter. Cattle undergoing the 'stress' treatment had higher plasma lactate at slaughter. The prerigor pH and temperature, ultim..