| Abstract: | ![]()
Beef Sternomandibularis muscle, restrained from shortening, was more tender if it entered rigor at 37°C than at 15°C. Raising the pre-rigor holding temperature of unrestrained muscle above 15°C resulted in progressively greater shortening above 28°C, and greater tenderness, particularly between 34 and 37°C. Muscles allowed to shorten during rigor at 37°C were actually more tender than if restrained. In M. rectus abdominis, the muscles shortened at 37°C were a little tougher, but much less so than the degree of shortening would indicate. A study of the time course of tenderness changes, and other evidence, indicated that these effects were not due to ageing. Muscles which went into rigor at 37°C showed a slightly higher cooking loss than the 15°C controls and were softer, and usually paler in colour. There was an increased tendency of fibres to slip over each other. Loading experiments with raw muscle strips showed that where rigor occurred at 37°C, the strips yielded and “flowed” at lower loads than the 15°C controls. The various physical changes described indicate that rigor at 37°C differs considerably from rigor at lower temperatures. Some of the changes appear to be a mild form of the “pale soft exudative” condition seen in pork. |
