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Effect of Altered Muscle pH on Beef Tenderness¹

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70803

Abstract

The semitendinosus muscles from the right and left sides of five beef steers were utilized for studying the effect of induced muscle pH on tenderness. Muscle segments from each side were restrained and randomly assigned to one of four treatments—air control, distilled water control, pH buffer solution 4.60, and pH buffer solution 6.65. Samples were removed from muscles at 2, 48, 120 and 240 hr postmortem for pH and fragmented fiber length determinations. Samples were also taken at 240 hr postmortem for determinations of percent cooking loss, Warner-Bratzler shear (WBS) values and sarcomere length.

A pH range of 4.9 to 6.5 was induced but the meat under these conditions were not edible. Treatment differences were significant (P<.01) for pH and fragmentation lengths of uncooked muscles at all time periods. At 240 hr postmortem, high induced pH muscle had longer sarcomere lengths, shorter fragmentation lengths, lower percent cooking loss, and lower WBS as compared to low induced pH muscle. Thus the high pH muscle was more tender than low pH muscle or controls

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. Cooperative with Southern Regional Meat Tenderness Project, SM-43.

² Animal Science Department.

³ Experimental Statistics Department.

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