Journal of Animal Science, Vol 75, Issue 4 975-985, Copyright © 1997 by American Society of Animal Science

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Observations on rheological, electrical, and optical changes during rigor development in pork and beef

H. J. Swatland
Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Electrical and optical changes were measured in bovine sternomandibularis and porcine sternocephalicus strips tested sinusoidally in a rigorometer up to 3 h postmortem. Rigor development was detected by decreased muscle elongation, decreased stress-strain hysteresis area, and increased elastic modulus. Elastic modulus was affected by loading rate (r = .98, P < .005) from loading rates of 3.6 to 13.3 kPa/s. Capacitance decreased and resistance increased at 120 Hz, 1 kHz, and 10 kHz as rigor developed. Sometimes changes were irregular at one frequency but steady at another. The most consistent electrical predictors of rigor development were capacitance at 120 Hz and resistance at 10 kHz. Electrical impedance changed as muscle strips were stretched in the rigorometer, so that dimensional effects could be a source of error if testing causes muscle contraction. The dominant fiber-optic reflectance changes during rigor development were increases toward 400 nm and decreases toward 700 nm, although transient increases were sometimes detected toward 700 nm. Optical changes generally were later than electrical changes. All these complex changes are an obstacle to the early prediction of pH-dependent aspects of meat quality from electrical and optical measurements.