Rhonda K. Miller

My research program centers on three areas:
1) Factors affecting the palatability and quality of red meat;
2) Development of automated grading technology to determine quality in beef and pork;
3) Methods to improve the safety of red meat. In addition,I direct the Sensory Testing Facility within the Department of Animal at Texas A&M University.

Highlights of my past research accomplishments include the revision of beef cooking guidelines for the foodservice industry, identification and documentationof the role of sodium lactate to extend the shelf-life and enhance the flavor of cooked beef, utilization of calcium injection of pre-rigor beef from mature cattle to improve meat tenderness, identification of cooking methods to maximize the palatabilityof lean beef, evaluation of value-determining systems for pork, examination of the use of ultrasound and a new technology called 3elastography2 to identify composition and quality attributes of beef and pork carcasses, determination of customer satisfaction for beef, and determination of consumer1s perception between beef tenderness and value.

Current research is examining the effect of 10 Bos indicus sires on the subsequent tenderness of their steers. We are looking at the individual chemical factorsthat are effecting the tenderness of these animals. Additionally, we are assisting animal breeding experts and animal genetists in identifying genetic markers for meat tenderness and carcass characteristics. In the food safety arena, we are examining theuse of hot water to reduce the microbiological and food borne pathogen level of beef trimmings while simultaneously not impacting the quality or sensory characteristics of the subsequent ground beef patties. We are continuing to examine non-meat ingredients to reduce food borne pathogen level and growth in ground beef products destined for school lunch. We will begin examining the effect of breed type and nutritional management on the palatability and shelf-life of goat meat in the Fall of 1996. Our elastography machine will be installed in the Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center in Summer, 1996. Our research to examine the use of this technology to detect difference in palatability and quality in beef and pork will be proceeding. We have made significant improvements in elastography image quality in the past two years and we will be utilizing these advances to examine the efficacy of elastography as an automated grading technology.

Academic Experience:
Rhonda Miller was the recipient of the 1992 American Meat Science Association Achievement Award for her contribution as a young scientist to the field of muscle food research/technology and to the American Meat Science Association.

She has and currently serves on the Carcass Assessment and Graduate Research Poster Competition committees of the American Meat Science Association. She is currently a member of the Genetic Program Committee, the Research Committee and the Quality Solutions Team Committee of the National Pork Producers Council