The National Food Centre at Dunsinea, Co Dublin, is developing a range of convenience beef products aimed at meeting the demands of changing consumer purchasing patterns.

Restructured steaks, rotisserie roasts and cook-and-ship products using lower-value cuts of beef are being pioneered by scientists from the agriculture and food authority, Teagasc.

The technical problem, according to Mr Declan Troy, head of the meat technology department at the National Meat Centre, is that beef animals are much older and contain much tougher connective tissue.

The challenge is to soften, take out or disrupt mechanically this connective tissue or grizzle or collagen, as it is otherwise described. "The addition of a marinade was traditional. You can do it by the addition of certain food ingredient enzymes or, as in pork, by the addition of salt and phosphate," he explains.

Mr Troy says there is intense interest from two commercial processors. Some bigger processors are already researching this process, but they still have not refined the technique. He says the rotisserie beef which is commonplace in the US, would use beef treated with the transglutominase enzyme. "We're very interested in seeing how it would work on the Irish market. Americans have no qualms about adding water and extra processing; we may be more fussy."

Cook-and-ship products are cooked to a certain degree and finished off within minutes in microwaves or by other fast cooking. Mr Troy says there is a huge potential in this area for beef because it is a full-protein food.

Work on the addition of ingredients to beef is being done in conjunction with UCC and UCD is working with Teagasc on the solubility of the collagen.

Dr Vivian Tarrant, director of operations at the centre, says a major problem of beef, however high the quality, is that tenderness cannot be guaranteed. Starting at the genetic level, scientists are trying to identify which particular genes produce animals with tender, juicy and good-flavoured meat, hence the concentration on a selective breeding programme.

Feeding, he says, can influence the nutritional quality and palatability of beef. "Of interest to consumers are the anti-cancer and anti-disease properties. Our research shows grass-fed animals have a greater concentration of conjugated linoleic acids, which are considered anti-carcinogenic properties, and also higher levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which protect the cardiovascular system from disease. Finishing the cattle on grain gives enhanced tenderness," he says.