The biochemical changes that accompany the post-slaughter metabolism and post mortem ageing in the conversion of muscle to meat give rise to conditions whereby the process of lipid oxidation
is no longer tightly controlled and as a consequence there may be a peroxidative damage. In the post-slaughter phase, it is highly unlikely that the set of antioxidant defensive systems (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, ceruloplasmin, transferrin) available to the cell in the live animal are still functioning, due to the quantitative changes that occur in several metabolites and physical properties.