EATING SATISFACTION AND VISUAL FRESH MEAT CUES DRIVE CONSUMER PURCHASING DECISIONS OF FRESH BEEF. BECAUSE TENDERNESS 'BIOLOGY' HAS WANED IN RECENT YEARS AND DARK BEEF IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A RESULT OF ADVERSE ANIMAL HANDLING EVENTS, THERE IS A CRITICAL NEED TO EXPAND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF DARK BEEF DEVELOPMENT AND ITS MATURATION INTO TENDER MEAT. OUR LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO UNDERSTAND THE MOLECULAR AND BIOCHEMICAL EVENTS INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING HIGH QUALITY MEAT. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS APPLICATION IS TO UNDERSTAND HOW ANTEMORTEM MUSCLE ENERGY METABOLISM CAUSES DARK BEEF DEVELOPMENT AND HOW THESE CHANGES IMPACT POSTMORTEM PROTEOLYSIS. OUR CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THATMUSCLE CHANGES INRESPONSE TOMANAGEMENT STRATEGIES. AS A RESULT,FRESH BEEF QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS CHANGES, ESPECIALLY COLOR AND TENDERNESS THROUGH UNKNOWN MECHANISMS. WE WILL TEST OUR CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS BY STUDYING ATYPICAL DARK BEEF DEVELOPMENT, NOVEL PROTEASES AND NATURALLY OCCURRING DARK BEEF IN COMMERCIAL SETTINGS. THIS WORK IS NOVEL BECAUSE IT CHALLENGES THE CENTRAL DOGMA THAT DARK BEEF RESULTS FROM ABERRATION(S) IN ANIMAL HANDLING OR HARVESTING EVENTS. MOREOVER, IT REVISITS MEAT TENDERNESS FROM A DIFFERENT VANTAGE POINT, THE MITOCHONDRIA. OUR RATIONALE IS IF WE UNDERSTAND FRESH BEEF COLOR AND TENDERNESS MORE THOROUGHLY THEN WE CAN DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO EXPLOIT THIS KNOWLEDGE INTO PRACTICES THAT MAY IMPROVE THE EATING SATISFACTION AND VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FRESH BEEF. WE ARE UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT THE AFOREMENTIONED STUDIES BECAUSE WE HAVE CONSIDERABLE EXPERIENCE, A COMPELLING PRELIMINARY DATA AND HAVE RECRUITED ONE OF THE WORLD'S FOREMOST EXPERTS IN BEEF QUALITY DEVELOPMENT.