Abstract:Tenderness，meat color，and water holding capacity are three important eating qualities of beef.The pH-temperature decline has a great influence on beef quality，especially tenderness.However，there is still a lack of comprehensive database of beef tenderness in China，and the research on the influence of pH-temperature window on beef qualities is still insufficient.Therefore，the pH-temperature decline during carcass chilling was determined based on 581 beef carcasses from two representative beef abattoirs in China within 24 h after slaughter，and the quality indexes during the post-mortem aging were analyzed based on 60 carcasses.The results showed that 88.1% of the carcasses in abattoir A fell within the ideal pH-temperature window（Temp@pH6 ranged from 12℃ to 35℃），while 37.7% of the modeled carcasses in abattoir B underwent heat toughening，which did not lead to tougher meat in abattoir B.Moreover，the tenderness of beef from both abattoirs was not acceptable to China consumers even after 21 days of aging.In addition，high a*values were maintained in two abattoirs during the aging period，and the rapid pH decline had an adverse effect on water holding capacity in abattoir B.Furthermore，the incidence of dark，firm，and dry（DFD）beef in abattoir B was as high as 17.1%.Therefore，to provide high-quality beef，Chinese beef producers should strengthen pre-slaughter management of cattle and improve the electrical stimulation parameters to reduce the occurrence of DFD beef and heat toughening.