ABSTRACT
Tenderization................................................................................................................ 103 6.4.3 Enzymatic Methods (Plant Enzyme) of Meat Tenderization ........................... 104 6.5 The Physico-Chemical Determinants of Meat Tenderness ............................................ 106 6.5.1 Collagen Content and their Solubility ............................................................. 106 6.5.2 Muscle Fiber Diameter ................................................................................... 107 6.5.3 Sarcomere Length ............................................................................................ 107 6.5.4 Myofibrillar Fragmentation Index ................................................................... 108 6.5.5 Shear Force Value ........................................................................................... 108 6.5 6 Texture Profile ................................................................................................ 109 6.6 Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 109 Keywords ................................................................................................................................ 109 References ............................................................................................................................... 109
6.1 INTRODUCTION
The meat tenderness is defined as a sum total of mechanical strength of skeletal muscle tissue [1]. It is rated as one of the most important quality attribute by the consumers [2] and the most significant factor affecting the consumer satisfaction and perception of taste [3]. The eating satisfaction is the result of the interaction between tenderness, juiciness and flavor. However, the variation in meat tenderness might be due to genetic make of animal or created pre-slaughter and/or post-slaughter or combination of all [4-6] . The variation in the meat tenderness results in the consumer dissatisfaction. It is challenge to the scientific community and to the meat industry to solve the problem of variation in meat tenderness to assure and/or to give guarantee about the meat and meat products to the consumer [7]. In this chapter, the various aspects of meat tenderness such as process of tenderness of meat, practices of meat tenderness, influences of various conditions on meat tenderness, methods of tenderization of meat, and meat products and physico-chemical determinants of meat tenderness are discussed.
