U.S. Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Research Service, Lincoln, Nebraska
Date of this Version
2010
Document Type
Article
Citation
Published in Meat Science 84 (2010) 248–256. DOI:10.1016/j.meatsci.2009.06.008
Abstract
One of the most common causes of unacceptability in meat quality is toughness. Toughness is attributed to a range of factors including the amount of intramuscular connective tissue, intramuscular fat, and the length of the sarcomere. However, it is apparent that the extent of proteolysis of key proteins within muscle fibres is significant determinant of ultimate tenderness. The objective of this manuscript is to describe the main endogenous proteolytic enzyme systems that have the potential to be involved in muscle postmortem proteolysis and whether the experimental evidence available supports this involvement.
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