Meat Science

INTRODUCTION

• The most important physico – chemical qualities of meat include pH, Water Holding Capacity (WHC), colour, tenderness, tyrosine value (TV) and thiobarbituric acid number (TBA) .
• Both pH and WHC play a major role in determining the quality of fresh meat.
• pH and WHC have a major impact on the yield, sensory qualities, of processed meat products also.
• Both pH and Water holding capacity are influenced by the animal (species of animal, genetics), the manner in which the animal is handled peri –slaughter (immediately prior to and during slaughter) and post –mortem handling of meat.
• Both pH and WHC vary from individual animal to animal and importantly muscle to muscle.