The basis of meat texture

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The tenderness of meat is probably the most important single factor in the consumer's assessment of its quality. This review describes the fundamental factors believed to be involved in determining the tenderness of meat. The contribution due to the pre‐rigor contraction of the myofibrils and the possible control of this phenomena is discussed. The role of the connective tissue proteins is reviewed, particularly the effect of the age‐related changes in the properties of collagen.