A questionnaire to determine the use of
blade tenderizers in beef fabrication facilities
was sent to 241 members of the North American
Meat Processors Association (NAMP).
Eighty-four percent of the 90 respondents used
blade tenderizers. These subprimals were at
least sometimes tenderized by the following
percentages of respondents: tenderloins, 7.9;
chuck cuts, 18; round cuts, 36; ribeyes, 38;
strip loins, 56; and top sirloin butts, 62. If a
processor blade-tenderized a particular cut,
they tenderized a majority of their production
for that cut, generally with multiple passes
through the tenderizer. For example, the 62%
of respondents who tenderized top sirloin butts
tenderized 87% of their production of that cut
with an average of 1.6 passes. Cuts were aged
by 70.7% of respondents that used blade tenderizers.
The average aging period was 20
days, and the range was 7 to 60 days. Our
respondents fabricated 75.1% of their beef
products for the hotel/restaurant industry,
13.3% for retail, and 6.0% for other markets
such as export or warehouse distributors.
Blade tenderization is used widely by NAMP
members, most often on ribeyes, strip loins, and
top sirloin butts, and often combined with aging.
