1. Major changes have taken place in the beef industry over recent years - in particular, the introduction of several continental breeds which have the potential for producing larger and leaner carcases. The Canadian Holstein has also been used extensively in the dairy industry, replacing British Friesians, with the result that beef cross carcasses from the dairy herd have tended to be larger and have poorer conformation.

2. As a consequence of these changes there is concern in the industry that beef of poorer eating quality is now being produced. For this reason, and to aid in the development of MLC's Blueprint for beef eating quality, this trial was set up in collaboration with Genus to evaluate the eating quality of two traditional British beef breeds and four continental breeds slaughtered at different fatness levels.

3. All progeny included in the trial were from Holstein Friesian type dams. They were sired by the following breeds:- Limousin (LM), Charolais (CH), Belgian Blue (BB), Piemontese (PM), Aberdeen Angus (AA) or Hereford (HF) and were finished on an 18 month beef production system.