Improved sensitivity for determining thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in ground beef

To create expected differences in oxidation ground beef samples from grass-fed and grain-fed animals were utilized in six differing percentages with 4 different packaging types. Percentages of grass-fed and grain-fed ground beef (GB) consisted of 100% grain fed GB; 80% grain-fed: 20% grass-fed GB; 60% grain-fed: 40% grass-fed GB; 40% grain-fed: 60% grass-fed GB; 20% grain-fed: 80% grass-fed GB; and 100% grass-fed GB. Packaging treatments included: high oxygen (HO; 80% O2: 20% CO2), low oxygen (LO; 65% N2: 35% CO2), carbon monoxide (CO; 65% N2: 34.6% CO2: 0.4% CO), and overwrap (OV; polyvinyl chloride film wrapped over a styrofoam tray). The modified TBARS method showed greater sensitivity and increased differences between treatments with less variability. The original extraction method showed fewer differences between treatments with greater variability. Data suggest that the modified method of TBARS determination could provide researchers with a better assay to find differences while decreasing the amount of labor.