Muscle post-mortem aging

Tenderness. The contractile state of the muscle after rigor mortis is a major factor in meat tenderness, which is affected by post-mortem conditions creating differences in tenderness. Ageing of fresh pork can be used to improve tenderness. The process is based on a continuous weakening of the structural elements by different endogenous muscle peptidases along with an improved palatability (Taylor et al., 1995). 

Figure 3. Relationship between integrin intensity determined in muscle samples 24 h post mortem and the relaxation time ofT2i population measured in muscle samples after 7 days of ageing.

A liver biopsy sample was taken, and the activity of the enzymes of urea synthesis (see Figure 9.11) were determined and compared with activities in post-mortem liver samples from six infants of the same age. The results are shown in Table 9.20. She remained well on a high-carbohydrate, low-protein diet for several days, although the poor muscle tone and muscle weakness persisted. A second liver biopsy sample was taken after 4 days and the activity of the enzymes determined again. 

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