The key factors include tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and texture.
Tenderness is crucial as it determines how easy the meat is to chew, impacting overall enjoyment.
Juiciness enhances the flavor and mouthfeel, making the meat more enjoyable to eat.
The physical structure of muscle, including any damage to the structure, which can lead to water loss. Connective tissue sheaths around the fibers can help retain water and act as a barrier.
Weep
Ageing is mainly done for red meat.
Positive charges increase.
If solubility of collagen is low, tenderness is low; if collagen is soluble, tenderness is high.
1. Water Holding Capacity (WHC) 2. Tenderness 3. Colour 4. Flavour
Freezing reduces WHC due to increased drip.
It can't hold water and comes out.
It adds negative charges that replace or neutralize positive charges, leading to more negative charges and increased repulsion.
Broiling is slightly more tender than frying and roasting.
Fine grain muscle has smaller bundles and less connective tissues, leading to tender meat.
Ageing improves the tenderness of meat.
Frying and roasting make meat tougher.
Electrical stimulation improves tenderness, accelerates post-mortem glycolysis (PMG), allows for quick freezing, and reduces bacterial activity.
Cold shortening reduces tenderness due to contraction.
The main factors affecting WHC include pre-slaughter factors such as animal stress, nutrition, and handling, as well as post-slaughter factors like processing methods and storage conditions.
The primary factor influencing tenderness is the amount of connective tissue present in the meat.
Coarse grain muscle has larger bundles and more connective tissues, resulting in tougher meat.
Drip
Tenderness mainly depends on connective tissue protein (amount and solubility of collagen) and myofibrillar protein (how actin and myosin are present).
The ability of meat or meat products to retain its own or added water during the application of some external force or treatment.
It increases tenderness due to the enzyme papain.
Frying or deep-frying tough meat makes it even tougher.
Actomyosin is associated with toughness in meat.
Quick freezing prevents the development of cold shortening or thaw rigor.
Different cooking methods can either enhance or reduce tenderness; slow cooking methods often improve tenderness.
A lower pH level can lead to increased tenderness due to the breakdown of proteins.
Loose water is part of free water that remains in meat and can easily come out with very little external force.
During post mortem glycolysis, WHC is reduced, leading to decreased tenderness and tougher meat.
The time needed for ageing depends on the ageing temperature.
If the meat takes longer to break into smaller parts, it is considered tough.
Muscle proteins are broken down into small pieces during ageing.
Fat can make meat feel wet, contributing to the perception of juiciness, as seen in examples like pork fat and butter.
Cold shortening and thaw rigor meat has low WHC, which increases toughness and reduces WHC.
Pineapple.
Immobilized water is indirectly held by electrically charged reactive groups of meat proteins.
Age of the animal.
Tender meat from the hind quarter has a higher WHC.
Phosphates are additives that increase WHC.
WHC depends only on water.
Only 4-5% of water is tightly bound to muscle proteins.
Texture affects the perception of tenderness and juiciness, contributing to the overall eating experience.
At the iso-electric point, as there is minimum gap between the fibers.
Accelerated PMG, characterized by quick pH reduction, decreases WHC, which is very common in pork.
Collagen is very efficiently converted into gelatin in young animals, while in mature animals, most collagen does not convert into gelatin.
Grain-fed animals produce meat with more water than forage-fed animals.
Meat should be held above freezing point for a few days under chilling conditions, such as in a cold room or refrigeration.
WHC mainly depends on myofibrillar protein, specifically myosin and actin.
The appearance, size of the bundles, and amount of connective tissue present in the muscle influence the texture.
Meat becomes tougher.
Water Holding Capacity (WHC) refers to the ability of meat to retain water during processing and cooking, which affects its juiciness and overall quality.
Electrical stimulation can complete post-mortem glycolysis within 5 minutes.
No, tightly bound water cannot be removed even by drying.
Pre-slaughter factors such as stress, diet, and handling can significantly impact the muscle's ability to retain water, thereby affecting WHC.
Collagen converts into gelatin, which is softer, but this conversion depends on the age of the collagen.
The ability of the muscle to hold water is lost due to denaturation of muscle protein.
Any change in myofibrillar protein can affect WHC.
Pre-slaughter factors include animal handling, stress levels, and the age of the animal at slaughter.
Shrink
Flavor contributes significantly to the overall sensory experience and satisfaction when consuming meat.
Higher Water Holding Capacity in meat leads to greater moisture retention, resulting in juicier meat after cooking.
Electrical stimulation is normally given to beef carcasses and not for pork or chicken.
Cooking generally makes meat tougher due to changes in collagen and myofibrillar proteins.
European breeds typically produce better quality meat than Indian breeds, with Bos Taurus being superior to Bos indicus.
Changing the physical or chemical factors can change the WHC of meat.
By cutting meat into small pieces and keeping it for some time, some water will come out.
It neutralizes some negative charges, leading to more positive charges in the fibers, which causes them to repel each other and create more space to retain water, thus increasing water holding capacity.
Cooking reduces WHC.
Very light color
If collagen amount is high, tenderness is low.
No, ageing is not done for fish and white meat as they are already tender.
It increases toughness, but it can be added to fish.
Watery Pork
Pressure cooking makes tender meat compared to broiling.
Free water is water that is held by muscle membranes and capillary action.
Different species have varying water holding capacities, with pork generally having higher than beef.
Tenderness and texture are closely related but not the same.
Pale Soft and Exudative pork
Enzymes in sarcoplasm hydrolyse the muscle proteins during ageing.
Post-slaughter factors such as aging, chilling rate, and processing methods can significantly impact meat tenderness.
WHC increases due to the repulsion caused by more negative charges.
Ageing is not done at high temperatures due to spoilage through microbial growth.
Broiling is recommended for tough meat.
It alters the pH, which can influence tenderness.
Hydrogen bonds help to retain water by allowing water to bind to proteins through polar charges.
WHC and juiciness are not the same, but they are related. Juiciness does not depend solely on water; fat also plays a significant role.
High pH meat is tender.
More residue indicates that the meat is tough, while no residue suggests it is tender.
Negative charges increase.
Profitability depends on WHC; low WHC can lead to significant weight loss and reduced profit.
The hind quarter yields better quality meat than the front quarter.
It affects the pH, which can impact tenderness.
Females have higher water holding capacity than males.
Ageing of meat increases WHC.
The polar charges in proteins, which can be either negative or positive, enable water to bind to proteins through hydrogen bonds.
It indicates that the meat is tender.
Normally 5.5, which is closer to the iso-electric point of muscle protein.
Soft
If a lot of water comes out, the meat loses weight, which reduces profitability.
Young animals generally produce better quality meat than old animals.
Factors such as muscle pH, temperature, and the presence of connective tissue can significantly influence the Water Holding Capacity of meat.
Generally, younger animals produce more tender meat due to less developed connective tissue.
The tendency for accelerated PMG is a genetic characteristic, particularly noted in pork.
Ageing improves the tenderness of meat.
A lot of water on the surface
It becomes tender again.
Balance water consists of free water and immobilized water.
During accelerated PMG, pH reduces quickly, which can lead to a combination of low pH and high temperature, causing denaturation of muscle protein.
Capillary forces allow very small gaps between muscle fibers to retain water.
The effect of pH on WHC is high.
High pH meat increases WHC, but it is generally not produced due to low keeping quality caused by high microbial activity.
Post-slaughter factors, including the methods of processing, chilling, and storage, can alter the meat's structure and moisture retention, influencing WHC.
There is not much influence of sex on meat quality.
Different species have varying qualities, with beef generally being superior to buffalo, and pork better than goat.
Marbling, or the intramuscular fat, contributes to a more desirable texture and juiciness in meat.
