Studies on meat aging have comprehensively been reviewedl
- 3
) during
the past years. The common belief is that the aging has profound effect
on myofibrils. Many past studies were concerned with the interaction of
actin and myosin in the region of thick and thin filament overlap. The
consensus is that if rigor linkages between these two sets of protein were
weakened, meat would become more tender4
- 5
). But, an alternative view
has also been postulated which suggests that the aging is due to disintegration
of the Z lines of sarcomeres leading to the loss in tensile strength of myofibrils
and to increased tenderness in cooked meat 7-8). Despite these intensive
studies any direct correlation between structural and tenderness changes
is still very much a mystery.