BROOKINGS, S.D. — For many consumers, the color of the meat they purchase matters. If there is a way to improve color stability in the meat products, that in turn will create a better market for producers.

That’s what South Dakota State University undergraduate researcher Hailey Mouser is studying right now. Mouser is a junior at the university studying animal science.

Her research project, which is funded in part with the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation, is looking to see if there is a way to improve color stability through utilizing a technology called MagnaWave.

MagnaWave is a pulsed electromagnetic frequency therapy that is currently used on live animals to improve their muscle function and metabolism. It is a rope that has small electromagnetic frequencies that are running through it.

“And the results that you see from that is tissues healing and repair,” Mouser said.

This product is not common in the industry and is used more for rodeo and show cattle type operations. Mouser says there could be potential for MagnaWave to become more common for production agriculture in the meat science realm.

“We can truly add value back on to producers if we can increase shelf life,” Mouser said. “As soon as the product in the case starts to get discolored, either it’s not going to get sold or it’s going to get discounted. So, if we can even add on half a day or one day of shelf life, then we have the potential to capitalize on a bigger market, and that is something producers could see come all the way back to their operation.”

However, Mouser says there has not been a lot of research conducted on that therapy when it is used postmortem, which she believes could impact the color stability of the meat. Her study is looking at what happens to the muscle when this technology is used while it’s undergoing rigor.

“We found that it works on calcium within the muscle and live tissue. Well, when we’re looking at tenderness and water holding capacity, a lot of those processes in meat science are based on calcium,” Mouser said.

Mouser was able to conduct her research at a meat processing plant in Iowa. She used the MagnaWave on carcasses once they came off the kill floor before they were put in the cooler.

“We applied it for just five minutes. It was just a rope that we laid over the carcass that was safe for us to touch. Once that was done, after five minutes, then it was put in the cooler and it went under standard processes of being aged, graded and then fabricated,” Mouser said.

After the meat was processed, Mouser brought the products of loins and muscles of the round back to the lab, where she ran a 10-day color panel to analyze how the MagnaWave affected those products.

When it came to water holding capacity, there was little to no difference between the control and treatment products observed through purge loss and cook loss, but there was a difference in color.

“We found that specifically the loin steaks — so, similar to a New York Strip is what I was analyzing — they stayed more red and they stayed lighter longer than compared to our controlled steaks,” Mouser said. “Now the difference between how much longer and how much more red is what we’re still working on analyzing. But there are promising results that we’ve seen so far that this technology has potential to be beneficial.”

This color change would only be for a short time span in the meat. It would not prolong the color change for a significant amount of time.

“We’re not talking about an extra week. It’s not a food safety concern as in how much longer is it going to be sitting there and still looks fine, because we are talking about short timeframes right now,” Mouser said. “There is potential for that research in the future, but our research is really focusing on even half a day or one day because that could see even that little bit of time could see great returns come back to the producer.”

For the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation, research projects like this one are important to their organization because the findings could directly impact the cattle industry. That’s why they started investing in undergraduate research programs.

“We saw a need to invest in innovation within our industry,” said Tyler Melroe, director of education programs at the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation.

Melroe says the foundation funds a variety of research projects surrounding the cattle industry.

“It’s not that we’re specifically looking for a certain type of project. What we’re interested in is people that are willing to do the work and innovate for our industry as a whole,” Melroe said. “We need to continue to be competitive and I think as you visit with the students doing these projects, you can understand that they’re thinking outside not only how do we make better animals genetically, but also make a more palatable product that the consumer enjoys and is willing to pay a premium for.”

Mouser hopes to have the findings of her research finalized by June and then the research will be presented at the American Meat Science Association conference in Ohio this summer.