Heather Smyth at NBRUC in Darwin: Flavour is the new tender for beef

Tenderness is now taken for granted by the discerning beef consumer. Australia needs more to advance its premium reputation.

This was the advice from sensory scientist and flavour chemist associate professor Heather Smyth, who was the opening keynote speaker at a major beef industry conference in Darwin this week.

It might even be time to take Australia's eating quality system, Meat Standards Australia, up a level with new language and objective tools to measure flavour, she cheekily suggested at the Northern Beef Research Update Conference.

Dr Smyth, from the University of Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, said current terminology falls well short of describing quality Australian beef.

She explained that with significant improvements in production systems, genetics and post mortem handling, the tenderness in Australian beef across all categories had improved.

"With this bar lifted, tenderness has arguably become a baseline expectation among customers," Dr Smyth said.

For beef brands to differentiate in terms of eating quality, what's next?

Dr Smyth pointed to numerous studies indicating flavour had now overtaken tenderness in terms of what the discerning beef consumer was seeking.

She said while beef brands were chasing additional value through things like provenance and sustainability claims, flavour was king.

"It's the marriage of the flavour to the marketing messages that creates the optimal experience," she said.

"If you don't deliver on flavour, those other messages will become less important.

"We know from decades of sensory research that if it doesn't taste good people won't eat it just because it's healthy or sustainable."

Dr Smyth, who also works in wine, beer, coffee and native Australian tucker among other food industries, believes Australian beef producers could lead the world by developing 'flavour profiles' for premium products.

The architect of the Westholme Wagyu Wheel created for Australian Agricultural Company a few years ago to provide an extra level of information for consumers and chefs, Dr Smyth argues Australian beef as a whole should be highlighting the unique flavour qualities from its environments, genetics and the way its cattle are managed.

"We need more objective measures of sensory qualities, similar to what is used in other industries like wine," she said.

"We need sophisticated tools to support research into the genetics and the diets we feed cattle that can influence the flavour nuances in beef.

"That will mean we will be able to link sensory terms to particular flavour compounds in the beef.

"In doing this we will be able to optimise and control beef flavour and also communicate those flavours to our customers.

"Consumers paying premium prices really do want that level of sophistication.

"The beef industry globally suffers the same problem, so this is a chance for Australia to lead the way in creating elite brands based on flavour."

Flavour was a function of inherent characteristics in beef that can't be changed in post mortem handling, Dr Smyth explained.

Compared to tenderness, it is far more complex.

Of the five basic tastes detected by the tongue, umami is the most important to beef flavour, followed by sweetness, saltiness and sourness.

Umami has a distinctive savory property and is associated with glutamic acid and monosodium glutamate - or MSG.

In terms of aroma, there are more than 880 volatile compounds that have been detected in cooked beef, making it comparably as complex as wine, Dr Smyth told the conference.

It is largely the aroma component of beef that characterises the flavour types experienced from different cuts, marbling, genetics and brands.

While cooking 'liberates' the flavour, it is largely a function of inherent qualities in fresh meat.

Intramuscular fat is a key deciding factor of beef flavour but only to a point.

The animal's diet is also a very important factor, especially immediately prior to slaughter.