Research is indicating that giving beef carcasses a shock of
electricity improves tenderness, the brightness of the meat colour and thus
results in higher grading scores.
“High voltage ES has been shown to
cause a 23 percent improvement in lean maturity scores and an 11 percent
increase in marbling scores compared to unstimulated carcasses,” says the
report from the United States.
‘This increase in marbling scores is
most likely due to the brighter color at grading.
“In addition, although there are very
few premiums for producing more tender beef, high voltage ES has been shown to
improve tenderness by over 20 percent,” the report says.
Electrical stimulation was first used
by Benjamin Franklin who found that when it’s applied at slaughter of turkeys,
it enhanced bleedout.