SUMMARY–Paired short loins from carcasses representing five degrees of marbling, slight through slightly abundant, were randomly assigned one from each pair to air and vacuum aging in a 35°F cooler before cutting into New York steaks and prepackaging for display. Half of the packaged steaks were held in a dark cooler at 35 ± 2°F for 24 hr before being placed in a lighted, open‐top display case; the orher half was put immediately into the display case. Color description and color desirability of all steaks were evaluated daily by a three‐member panel. Case life was terminated when a visible spot resulting from formation of metmyoglobin appeared on the surface of the meat. Vacuum‐aged short loins had a higher yield of trimmed retail cuts than air‐aged short loins. There was no difference in case shrink attributable to type of aging. The steaks held in a dark cooler for 24 hr had 23.8 hr less case life than those put immediately into the lighted display case. Degree of marbling had a significant positive linear effect on color description scores at 24 and 48 hr post‐cutting, but did not affect color desirability score. Marbling had a significant curvilinear effect on case life with slight (the least) and slightly abundant (the greatest) amounts having the shor
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