Texture of beef M. semitendinosus heated before, during and after development of Rigor Mortis

Samples of beef M. semitendinosus were heated at different rates at times up to 3 days after slaughter and the texture determined instrumentally. Rapid heating soon after slaughter produced normal shear values for cooked meat but slow heating gave very tough meat. At later times, shear values were unaffected by the heating rate and decreased with increasing time after slaughter. Multivariate analyses of the effects of holding‐time after slaughter, heating rate, pH, sample length and weight before and after heating, showed that variations in shear values of meat heated within 18 h after slaughter were largely due to the combined influences of shortening and of muscle pH after heating.